| 1803 |
6 December: Susanna Strickland born in Bungay, Suffolk, England. |
| 1808 |
After renting at Stowe House near Bungay, Thomas Strickland purchases Reydon Hall in the village of Reydon, near the coastal town of Southwold, Suffolk. |
| 1818 |
Thomas Strickland dies in Norwich, Norfolk, where he also had a residence and was in business. |
| 1822 |
Susanna publishes Spartacus: A Roman Story (London: A. K. Newman). |
| 1820s |
Writes for children's publishers, the popular gift-book annuals, and for magazines like La Belle Assemblée (London), edited by Thomas Harrall. Her children's books, published mostly by Dean and Munday and/or A. K. Newman, are usually not dated. They include The Sailor Brother or, The History of Thomas Saville (London, n.d.); The Little Quaker or, The Triumph of Virtue (London, n.d.); The Little Prisoner or, Passion and Patience (London, n.d.); Hugh Latimer or, The School-Boy's Friendship (London, 1828); Rowland Massingham or, I Will Be My Own Master (London, n.d.); Profession and Principle or, The Vicar's Tales (London, n.d.). |
| 1830 |
Converts from the Anglicanism of her family to Congregationalism under the guidance of the Rev. James Ritchie of Wrentham. In the Ritchie home she learns flower painting. |
| 1830-31 |
While living in London with the Thomas Pringle family, Susanna writes down the life stories of two Caribbean slaves, Mary Prince and Ashton Warner. Both narratives are published in 1831 as anti-slavery fund-raisers. |
| 1831 |
Patriotic Songs (J. Green, Soho) is published in London. A volume of poems set to music, it includes three poems by Susanna and four by her older sister, Agnes. Her own volume of poems, Enthusiasm, and Other Poems, is published by subscription by Smith, Elder and Co. of London and printed by Bungay family friends John and Robert Childs. |
| 1831 |
4 April: marries John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie, a retired (Half-pay) officer of the 21st Northern Fusileers, in London. Writing for the Athenaeum (London). With Susanna expecting a child early in 1832, they move to Southwold. |
| 1832 |
14 Feb: birth of Catherine Mary. The Moodies leave Southwold for Edinburgh, staying a month before embarking for Canada on the brig Anne. Arrive in Cobourg in early September. Buy a partially cleared farm on Gage's Creek in Hamilton Township. |
| 1833 |
9 June: birth of Agnes Dunbar. |
| 1834 |
In February the Moodies move north to Douro on Lake Katchewanooka, having sold their first farm. They are now neighbours of the Traills and Samuel Strickland and his family. Name their new farm "Melsetter" after John Moodie's Orkney home. 20 August: birth of John Alexander Dunbar. Susanna writing for the North American (Quarterly) Magazine. |
| 1835 |
John Moodie's Ten Years in South Africa published by Richard Bentley (London). |
| 1836 |
21 May: birth of Donald. |
| 1837-38 |
The Rebellion breaks out in Upper Canada in early December 1837. John appointed a Captain in the Queen's Own Regiment and sent to the Niagara area for six months. |
| 1838 |
Susanna writes rebellion poems for Charles Fothergill's Toronto newspaper, the Palladium of Upper Canada. 16 October: birth of John Strickland. John Moodie receives a second six-month military appointment as paymaster of the Victoria District stationed in Belleville. |
| 1839 |
Susanna endures a very difficult winter at Melsetter. John receives news that he will be appointed the Sheriff of Hastings County and makes plans to move his family to Belleville. Susanna begins writing for the Literary Garland, a Montreal magazine published by John Lovell. Her first serialized novel, Geoffrey Moncton, begins in the December issue. |
| 1840 |
19 July: birth of George Arthur (d. 6 August 1840). The Moodies suffer a house fire. John Moodie begins to have problems with the tory lawyers of Belleville and with George Benjamin, editor of the local tory newspaper, the Belleville Intelligencer. |
| 1844 |
18 June: John Strickland Moodie, aged five, drowns in the Moira River. |
| 1847-48 |
John and Susanna edit the Victoria Magazine in Belleville (it lasts one year). The first published versions of several of the sketches that will comprise Roughing It in the Bush appear in the Victoria Magazine and the Literary Garland. |
| 1852 |
February: in London Richard Bentley publishes Roughing It in the Bush or, Life in Canada. George Putnam publishes a pirated edition in New York, months later. Susanna suffers a serious illness and takes a recuperative trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls. |
| 1853 |
Life in the Clearings versus the Bush and Mark Hurdlestone or, The Gold Worshipper (London: Bentley). |
| 1854 |
Life in the Clearings versus the Bush and Mark Hurdlestone or, The Gold Worshipper (London: Bentley). |
| 1855 |
Geoffrey Moncton or, The Faithless Guardian (New York: by DeWitt and Davenport). The Moodies meet Kate Fox, the celebrated spiritualist in Belleville. |
| 1856 |
Geoffrey Moncton published in London. Proceedings against John Moodie as Sheriff begin in Belleville. |
| 1857 |
The Moodies travel to Montreal and Maine. |
| 1858-59 |
John Moodie writes articles for the Spiritual Telegraph in New York. |
| 1861 |
John suffers a stroke. |
| 1863 |
Faced with an appeals-court decision against him, John resigns as Sheriff, though he is found innocent of intentional wrongdoing. |
| 1865 |
Through the efforts of Richard Bentley, the Royal Literary Fund in England grants Susanna an award of £60. |
| 1867 |
The World Before Them (3 volumes) published by Bentley in London. |
| 1869 |
22 October: death of John Moodie in Belleville. |
| 1869-85 |
Susanna lives variously in Belleville, Seaforth, Lakefield and Toronto. She paints watercolours for pleasure and some profit, having given up writing except for occasional pieces. |
| 1871 |
The first Canadian edition of Roughing It in the Bush published by George Rose in Toronto. |
| 1885 |
8 April: death of Susanna Moodie at the Toronto home of her daughter, Katie Vickers, after a lengthy illness. |
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