Susan Olivia Poole: An Iconic Woman for the Bank of Canada’s new Banknote

The Academic Entrepreneur has nominated Susan Olivia Poole (1889-1975), an immigrant slash indigenous slash inventor slash entrepreneur slash mom slash exporter slash musician, as an iconic woman for the new Bank of Canada Bank note to be printed in 2018.

The reasons for this nomination are that Susan Olivia Poole was:

–An immigrant She was born on a First Nations reserve in Minnesota, USA, and moving to Canada to study music in Manitoba, where she met her husband;

-An Objibwe – an indigenous people of the USA and Canada;

–An inventor. She invented the Jolly Jumper;

-An entrepreneur;

-A mompreneur – she had 7 children herself;

-An exporter, selling her product all over the world;

-A talented musician in her own rite;

-A Vancouverite*

Other reasons include:

-The Jolly Jumper is a timeless invention, being invented over 100 years ago in 1910 but it continues to solve problems of parents today and makes many a baby happy;

108_jolly-jumper-on-a-stand

– Jolly Jumper continues to be manufactured in Canada and exported abroad; the Jolly Jumper brand now houses and markets over 200 items;

-The Jolly Jumper is just plain FUN;

-The Jolly Jumper has probably indirectly saved numerous lives over the last 100 years;

-Arguably, there is perhaps no better time in a human’s life than that time spent in the Jolly Jumper, listening to music, bouncing with mom in the foreground

……The Good Ole’ Days as put by Twenty One Pilots if you will in “Stressed Out”

Twenty One Pilots – Stressed Out on YouTube

Here is the evidence:

Twins Irish Dancing here: Jolly Jumper Twins Irish Dancing

And Happy Baby jumping Happy Baby Jolly Jumper

Moreover:

-Susan Olivia Poole represents Western Canada as Canada is trending westward; Vancouver is the hottest Canadian city in terms of economic development, growth, and immigration and diversity

-She did her inventing and original test marketing and built the company in British Columbia, the up-and-coming centre of innovation in Canada

-Susan Olivia Poole’s process of invention is an excellent example of translation and lateral thinking,which serves as a model for others to follow. (See “History” below).

*Some will argue, however, that the Jolly Jumper actually came from Toronto and NOT Vancovuer

“Today, every Jolly Jumper made is manufactured at the plant in Mississauga. This fact, coupled with the fact that the record only shows that Joseph was born in ‘Ontario’ leads me to believe that it’s okay to claim that The Jolly Jumper Came From Toronto!”

– Jesse Wallace “It Came From Toronto: The Jolly Jumper”

However, as we know from the history of the Jolly Jumper below, it actually came from the fields of The White Earth Indian Reservation and the Objiway moms. It seems they were the true inventors, and Susan Olivia Poole was merely the translator turned entrepreneur.

History

According to “History” from the JollyJumper.com website:

The first Jolly Jumper was invented by Susan Olivia Poole in 1910 and produced for the retail market in 1948.

As a child Olivia watched her elders strap their babies to cradle boards to carry them as ‘papooses’. While working in the fields, a mother would often hang the papoose on a sturdy tree limb and soothe the baby by occasionally pulling on the limb to create a bouncing motion.

Olivia remembered this in 1910 when her first child, Joseph, was born in Ontario, Canada. She made him a swing and called it a Jolly Jumper. She made the harness or saddle from a cloth diaper and a blacksmith created a soft-action steel spring. An axe handle was used for the spreader bar.

In 1942 Olivia and her husband moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. When grandchildren arrived, she continued to make Jolly Jumpers as she had for all of her seven children and by 1948 Jolly Jumpers were ready for mass production.

Olivia Poole and her son, Joseph Poole patented Susan’s invention in 1957 and manufactured ‘Jolly Jumpers’ at Poole Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in British Columbia, Canada.

Fortunately, this wonderful Canadian invention is still being produced today in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada under its original name, Jolly Jumper. There are three models available; one with a door clamp (item #104), one on a portable stand (item #108) and one with a Musical Mat (item #105).

There are now over 200 items being manufactured under the Jolly Jumper trademark.

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See more here from the Sooke Pocket News, Sooke’s leading news publication. Sooke is named after the T’Souke Nation, the original peoples of this land on Vancouver Island.

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