Mary Maud Needler & Lotta Burrows

One of the albums that came in this summer was from the Cave family.  Amongst the photographs was one of two young girls - Mary Maud Needler and Lotta Burrows wearing some rather fantastic hats!  Luckily their names had been written on the back of the picture but no one knew who Lotta was or why she appeared in the family album.

Then later in the summer in scanning the Neelands cottage guest book (1892-1916), both Mary Maud and Lotta appear.  They both signed the guest book in August 1893 when they came to call of the Neelands girls.  The Neelands cottage was called Waldheim and it was located on Lake Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets.  The guest book has remained with the cottage and the Clarks were kind enough to let me copy it.

A little research showed that Mary Maud Needler and Lotta Burrows were cousins.

Mary Maud Needler (b. 1877) was the second of three daughters of William Walker Needler, a miller, and his wife Sarah Waddell.  She was the granddaughter of Walker Needler, also a miller, & his wife Sara Learey.  The Needler family had a cottage on the east side of 3rd Street at Lake Avenue.

The Needler home was at No. 10 Russell Street East in Lindsay.  In later years, Mary Maud Needler lived there with her husband, Frank Robinson, and their daughters, Helena and Eva Grace – who was the mother of Dawn Knight.

Lotta Evalin Burrows (b. 1882) was the daughter of Charlotte Susanna Needler & Dr. Phillip Palmer Burrows, and the granddaughter of Walker Needler & his wife, Sara Learey.  They lived on Sussex Street North in Lindsay. Lotta's father died in 1908 and the family left Lindsay.