Mazo de la Roche was a Canadian author who wrote the Jalna novels, which were one of the most popular series of books at the time. On January 15, 1879, de la Roche was born in Newmarket, Ontario, which is north of Toronto. She was the only child of William Roche, a salesman, and Alberta (Lundy) Roche, a great-great-niece of David Willson, the founder of the Children of Peace, via the latter's elder half-brother Hugh L. Willson. On her father's side of the family, her uncle Francis signed himself as "Francis J. de la Roche," claiming descent from Sir Richard de la Roche (1199-1283), a member of Strongbow's army; Mazo subsequently took the "de la Roche" moniker, stating it was a tribute to French heritage. During her childhood, the Roche family relocated frequently throughout Southern Ontario due to her mother's illness and her father's job as a traveling salesman. She resided in Newmarket (1879-85), at least two different addresses in Toronto (1885-88), and multiple homes in Orillia (1888-91), Galt (1891-92), Orillia (again, 1892-94), and Toronto (1894-1900). She was a lonely youngster who became a voracious reader and built her own fictional universe, "The Play," in which she invented situations and people. One of the family's transfers resulted in several years on a farm owned by a wealthy guy who farmed for a pastime.