Born just 23 months apart, the Strickland sisters, Catharine and Susanna, were raised along with their six brothers and sisters, at Reydon Hall in rural Suffolk, England, and educated at home. The sisters were extremely close, and both married and moved to Canada in 1882. They settled on adjoining farms near what is now Lakefield, Ontario. The busts are finished in pages from IN THE BACKWOODS OF CANADA (Traill), and ROUGHING IT IN THE BUSH (Moodie), chronicles of early bush settlement in Canada that are still read today.