Artist Info
Hazel Chisholm Mathews
Hazel was born and lived much of her life in Oakville. She was married twice, first to Montgomery Hart (with whom she had three children, Montgomery, John and Nancy), and later to Webster Mathews.
In the 1930s, Hazel restored the previously boarded-up Custom House. The building became the permanent home of Hazel and her children. When her mother died in 1951, Hazel became co-owner of Erchless with her sister, Juliet.
Hazel had a deep interest in local history. She was instrumental in moving the Old Post Office to its present site in Lakeside Park in order to found Oakville's first museum on land she and Juliet deeded to the Town of Oakville. Hazel was also a founding member of the Oakville Historical Society.
Hazel is probably best known locally for writing Oakville and the Sixteen, the History of an Ontario Port, published in 1953. Her other books include The Mark of Honour, Frontier Spies and British West Florida and the Illinois Country. Hazel spent her final days in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, with her daughter Nancy. She died in 1978.
