Elizabeth Caroline ‘Lizzie’ Masters Ascher

Posting Member: Jenn
Topic: Heroes
Family Name Associations: Unrelated – Masters and Ascher, also spelled Asher

While we were in Niagara on the Lake we managed to get a fair amount of graves photographed in Saint Mark’s Cemetery.  It’s a beautiful old example of Ontario Church cemeteries just thriving with history.  In the back of the cemetery we came across a memorial with a wreath, which was rather odd because a lot of those memorials were so old.  The wreath was from the Polish Chambers of Congress, and we made a mental note to search up this woman when we got back home.

Research was the easy part, Elizabeth was a remarkable woman.  Writing a biography that reflected her works was a little more complex, but I think we’ve done it justice.  I’m including a copy of what we wrote here, because this woman was an amazing example of love and compassion, a true hero.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsr=41&GSmcid=47115530&GRid=136828339

Elizabeth was the daughter of Margaret Clench and Joseph Masters, born at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. She had 4 brothers and two sisters, her family memorials are located in St. Mark’s cemetery. In 1894 she was married to Frank Ascher, the pair had one daughter, Eleanor Frances Ascher who did not survive infancy. Frank Ascher was an American, he left Canada during the Spanish American War and never returned.

Elizabeth became devoted to public works. She was one of the founding members of the local Historical Association and served as Regent for 14 years. She co-founded and was Regent for 12 years of the Newark Chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire. She was Director of the Niagara Agricultural Society, of Board Member of the local Red Cross and co-founder of the Women’s Hospital Aid. She was a board member of the Boy Scouts and Niagara High School Alumni. Beginning in 1904 she became a correspondent for the St. Catherine’s Standard, she served as such for 37 years. Her articles appeared in Canadian and American Newspapers and the Niagara Historical Society’s publications. She staged a press campaign on behalf of the Polish Army and Polish Nation when she became aware of the people’s suffering during the First World War.

We’ve managed to link Elizabeth to her family, her mother Margaret Anderson Clench Masters and father Joseph Masters on FindAGrave.com
Sources: Essay by Roman Baraniecki, Article by Karen Gibson published in the St. Catherines Standard 3 May 1991 and research completed by CSGS. Online resources and additional information available at Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library: www.notlpubliclibrary.org
Images from http://search.ourontario.ca/search

Jenn

Always one for making things pretty, Jenn is our resident artist. Métis, British Home Child Descendant, family historian and genealogist, she is always looking into some new branch of research and encourages historical preservation and education.