Constance Fairbanks was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, May 10, 1866. She belonged to an old provincial family nearly all of whose representatives possessed more or less literary ability, and several of whom were long associated with the history of Nova Scotia. She was the second child and oldest daughter of Lewis Piers Fairbanks and Ella Augusta (DeWolfe) Fairbanks, granddaughter of Charles Rufus Fairbanks,^[1] and was one of a family of nine children.^[2]

Owing to delicate health when a child, Piers was able to attend school in Dartmouth only in an irregular manner, but, being precocious and fond of the company of those older than herself, she gained much knowledge outside of the school-room. At the age of thirteen years, she ceased to have systematic instruction, and with patient determination she proceeded to carry on her education by means of careful reading.^[2]

Constance's father’s business reversals obliged her to work for a living, which was highly exceptional among daughters of the upper middle class.^[3] Finding it necessary to obtain employment, she became, in 1887, secretary to Charles Frederick Fraser, the blind editor of the Halifax Critic, and in that position, gained a practical knowledge of the work which became her occupation. Gradually, as her ability to write became known, and as she developed a keen recognition of what was required by the public, Piers was placed in charge of various departments of the paper, until in June, 1890, the management of the editorial and certain other departments was virtually transferred to her.^[2] She took editorial charge of the Halifax Critic, as assistant editor, 1890–92; and associate editor of the St. Johnsbury, Vermont Caledonian, 1893-94.^[1]

She was a writer of numerous articles in the Critic, the Caledonian, and others, and many poems, which appeared in the Week (Toronto), Canadian Magazine (Toronto), and other journals, and some of which were contained in Dr. Theodore Harding Rand's A Treasury of Canadian Verse. She contributed papers to the Halifax Ladies' Musical Club and various literary societies. She selected and edited, jointly with husband, the poems of Mary Jane Katzmann, published under the title of Frankincense and Myrrh: Selections From the Poems of the Late Mrs. William Lawson (Halifax), 1893.^[1]

On January 7, 1901, in Halifax, she married Harry Piers (curator of the Provincial Museum of Nova Scotia, and librarian of the Provincial Science Library). They had one son: Edward Stanyan Fairbanks Piers.^[1][4]

Piers was interested in music, literature, and art. She favored woman suffrage, but not militant methods. She was a member of the Church of England, and the Ladies' Musical Club (a society organized for the study of music and of the lives of composers and their works).^[1]

Piers died in 1939.^[4]

Attribution edit

•   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Leonard, John W. (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915 (Public domain ed.). American commonwealth Company.
•   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1893). "FAIRBANKS, Miss Constance". A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life (Public domain ed.). Moulton. ISBN 9780722217139.

•   Works related to Woman of the Century/Constance Fairbanks at Wikisource
• Works by or about Constance Piers at Internet Archive
• Works by or about Constance Piers at Internet Archive