A Tribute to Alice Eastwood 
3 
A grandfather had been a rebel in youth, and later became a 
founder of the Unitarian Church in Toronto with her mother’s 
cousin, Dr. Joseph Workman, Canada’s leading alienist and 
neurologist. 
Her early years passed securely and happily in a rather ma¬ 
cabre setting—the grounds of the Toronto Asylum for the In¬ 
sane. Here Dr. Workman served as superintendent, and Colin 
Eastwood as steward. When little Alice was six her lovely mother 
died, leaving the little family rudderless and adrift. For a time 
the three children (Alice, the oldest; Catherine, four; and Sid¬ 
ney, only fourteen months old) stayed with their uncle, Dr. 
William Eastwood, at his country place on Highland Creek. 
Here was planted the seed of Alice Eastwood’s lifelong in¬ 
terest in botany. She roved freely and independently in the 
meadows and nearby woods, sometimes with cousins but more 
often alone. Her uncle recognized a kindred spirit, even in one 
so young, and taught her names she never forgot—like the wild 
raspberry which she learned to call Rubus odoratus y and Mitchella 
refens the red partridge berry. 
In 1867 she returned to live with her father (now a store¬ 
keeper) and took considerable responsibility for the younger 
children, even at eight years of age. She made friends and dis¬ 
tinguished herself at the neighborhood school. Elizabeth Fry’s 
“The Prisoner’s Friend” was awarded to Alice Eastwood for ex¬ 
cellence in spelling. But the father’s store did not prosper and, 
once again, the family circle was broken. Mr. Eastwood took little 
Sidney out west, and placed his daughters in a convent where they 
stayed for six years. 
