Notes:Timelines/Books

The Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery has several clues as to when it takes place, though explicit clues and dates are absent. The most prominent clue of all is the obvious fact that Rilla of Ingleside takes place during World War I, and putting the clues together will produce a fairly accurate estimate of when things took place. The series was never meant to be set in a particular year or day, as Anne of Green Gables was written well before World War I, and Rilla of Ingleside was written only three years after World War I. L. M. Montgomery likely described life in the Anne of Green Gables books similar to what she was experiencing or had just experienced (for example, the puffed sleeves that Anne craves as a child were popular in the 1890s, not the 1870s). However, the dating clues as deduced from the numerous clues in the books are below.

Dating clues

Rilla of Ingleside begins in June 1914. It is a day after Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated, which makes it June 29. Rilla says that she will be fifteen next month (July 1914) so she was born in July 1899. Jem is aged 21.

It is May when Rainbow Valley begins, Rilla is six years old and Jem is 13. Rilla will therefore be seven in July, and the year must be 1906. The Meredith children's ages are: Jerry - 12, Faith - 11, Una - 10 and Carl - 9. The twins (Nan and Di) are ten years old at this time, and so were born some time between June 1895 and May 1896, depending on whether they were just 10 or nearly 11.

In Anne's House of Dreams, it is June when 'Leslie returns home'. Jem is born in the following chapter, though a date is not given. It is just possible that Jem's birthday falls in June, though some time in the following few months seems more likely. If his birthday is in June, he would be just 21 at the beginning of Rilla of Ingleside; if it is later on, he would be 22 later that same year. We can assume that his birthday is later in the year, so that the year in which he was born would be 1914 - 22 = 1892.

Working backwards, this means that Joyce was born in 1891, and Anne and Gilbert therefore married in 1890. Their engagement must have begun three years before that, in 1887, and their course at Redmond would have started four years previously, in 1883. The two years Anne spent teaching at Avonlea would have begun in August 1881, and this is the point at which Anne of Avonlea begins, at which point Anne is said to be 'half-past sixteen'. Anne's birthday is in March, which means that she was born in 1881 - 16 = 1865.

At the beginning of Anne of Ingleside, it is 'nine years since Anne went away [from Green Gables]' . It is therefore presumably 1899 (the description of the woods in chapter two suggests late spring or summer). At this stage, Jem is seven years old, and Shirley is two. Rilla is just about to be born. This must be early July 1899, because in June 1914 Rilla says 'next month I'll be fifteen', and by the end of August 1899 Anne had recovered from Rilla's birth. Shirley must have been born between two and three years before this, in late 1896 or early 1897. Walter is six years old, so he was born in late 1892 or early 1893. But Jem was born in late summer or autumn 1892, so Walter must have been born in spring or early summer 1893.

Timeline

July 1815 to June 1816

• Matthew Cuthbert is born (he is 60 in June 1876).

September 1828 to mid-August 1829

• Bert Thomas is born (he is 42 in the last week of August 1871).

mid-February 1832 to early February 1833

• Joanna Harrigan (Thomas) is born (she is 32 in early 1865).

mid-March 1845 to early March 1846

• Bertha Shirley is born (she is 19 when Anne is born).

mid-February 1848 to early February 1849

• Joanna is sixteen and meets Bert Thomas.

1849

• July: Joanna and Bert are married.

mid-February 1849 to early February 1850

• Eliza Thomas is born (she is 15 in early-to-June 1865).

April 1840 to early March 1850

• Charlotte Hammond is born (she is 24 in 1874).

mid-February 1850 to early February 1851

• Trudy Thomas is born (she is 14 in early 1865).

mid-February 1851 to early February 1852

• Margaret Thomas is born (she is 13 in early 1865).

1852

• Jessie MacIntyre and Gerald Gleeson are married (they have been married for twelve years in 1864).

1862

• Gilbert Blythe is born (he is 'almost fourteen' in October 1876).

1864

• June: Bertha Shirley teaches English at the Bolingbroke High School.
• September: Jessie Gleeson visits Bertha Shirley.
• mid-October: Bertha realises she is pregnant.
• 25 December: The Shirleys spend Christmas with the Gleesons and MacIntyres.

1865

• early February: Mrs. Thomas comes to help Bertha around the house. The Thomas girls are Eliza (15), Trudy (14) and Margaret (13).
• February: Diana Barry is born.
• March 5: Anne Shirley is born in the afternoon. It is a Friday. Bertha is 19.
• March 19: Mrs Thomas leaves the Shirleys' house (two weeks after Anne's birth).
• May: Walter re-hires Mrs Thomas to help Bertha out.
• May 27: Gerald Gleeson falls sick.
• May 31: Two of the Gleeson girls fall sick.
• June 1: Jenny Gleeson is reportedly very ill.
• June 3: Walter feels the beginning of a sore throat.
• June (a Saturday): Anne is now being bottle-fed. Bertha is ill. Jenny Gleeson dies.
• June (the following Monday): Bertha Shirley dies.
• June (the following Thursday): Walter Shirley dies.
• June: Morning of Bertha and Walter's funeral: Jessie Gleeson suggests adopting Anne. Her husband refuses. Afternoon: The Thomases adopt Anne (Joanna's idea).
• June (the next day): Bert Thomas pawns the jewellery from inside the Shirleys' enamel box.
• November–December: Anne takes her first steps at eight or nine months old.

1866

• March 5: Anne turns one.
• c. March: Joanna realises she is pregnant.
• August: Horace Thomas is born. Eliza is 16.

1867

• March 5: Anne turns two.
• November: Edward Thomas is born.

1868

• late February to early March: Eliza tells Anne about her (Eliza's) old friend, Katie Maurice.
• March 5: Anne turns three.

1869

• March 4: Joanna tells Anne to call her 'Mrs Thomas' instead of 'Mama'.
• March 5: Anne turns four.
• later: Jessie Gleeson 'visits' the Thomases.
• August: Harry Thomas is born.

1870

• March 5: Anne turns five.
• later: Roger Emerson asks Eliza to marry him. Eliza is almost 20. Joanna is 37.
• c. September: Noah Thomas is born on the same day that Eliza and Roger are married. Anne is five and a half. Horace is four. Harry is one.
• c. October (one month after Eliza's wedding): Anne discovers Katie Maurice.
• later: Bert smashes one half of Katie Maurice's windows while drunk. He is fired, and the family are forced to prepare to move to Marysville for Bert's new job.

July 1870 to June 1871

• Lily Jones is born (she is five in June 1876).

1871

• January: Jessie Gleeson visits and offers to take Anne, but Joanna refuses. Anne has lived with them for 'almost six years'. The family move to Marysville. It is snowing. Joanna and Bert have been married for 'over twenty years'. Noah is 'over a year old' (incorrect; he should be closer to five months). Anne is almost six. An official (Mr Summers) visits and says she can go to school.
• February: Anne is 'not quite six years old'. She meets Mrs Archibald and the Egg Man (Mr Johnson) on the same day.
• March 5: Anne turns six. It is a Friday.
• March 10: Mrs Archibald tells Anne the story of Mr Johnson. She also gives Anne a birthday present (a roll of blue ribbons). Mr Johnson gives Anne her first set of words. Anne will go to school in five days' time.
• March 15: Anne starts school. Miss Henderson is her teacher. There are 16 other pupils. The other girls in the primer class are Sadie Brown (who is six) and Mildred Plimson. Both have been there since September. Randolph is 14, and is in Grade 6 for the third time.
• April: Anne receives Randolph's dictionary.
• probably still April: A blizzard. Miss Henderson meets Mr Johnson.
• April 15: Anne's Pool of Mirrors finally melts.
• April?: It is 'not long after the blizzard'. Anne buys a replacement vegetable brush for Joanna.
• August: The Thomases and Anne go on an all-day picnic to the seaside.
• last week in August: Mr Johnson is 28. Miss Henderson is 19. Anne is 'getting on for seven', but looks about eight. Bert gets drunk, gets into a fight and loses his job. He is 42.
• September 5: Joanna leaves for the first of her four jobs.
• September 6: Horace starts school, though he is only five. Anne visits Mrs Archibald and Mr Johnson.
• mid-late September: Miss Henderson visits with school supplies for Anne.

1872

• March 5: Anne turns seven.
• November: Randolph leaves school and Marysville to work in Kingsport.
• 3rd week of December: Miss Henderson visits with Christmas presents for Anne.
• December 20: It snows.
• December: Bert buys Christmas presents for the family and Anne.
• December 23: Joanna runs out of eggs for pudding. There is a 'ferocious wind', so Bert goes to get eggs from Mr Johnson instead. He also brings home a Christmas tree, and they decorate it.
• December 24: Bert buys an angel for the tree, as well as bells for the horses.
• December 25: Christmas Day. Anne forgives Bert.
• December 26: Boxing Day.
• December 27: Anne talks to Katie Maurice.

1873

• March 5: Anne turns eight.
• November (Saturday): Mr Summers visits to see why Anne hasn't been coming to school. It is a Saturday. Joanna has spent 23 years with Bert.
• November (the following Monday): Anne returns to school.

1874

• January: The snows come. No one in the Thomas household can get to Marysville.
• Friday of the third week in January: Noah falls in the snow and gets a fever and croup. Anne saves him with ipecac from Mrs Archibald.
• March: Noah is back to good health.
• March 5: Anne turns nine. She receives presents from Mrs Archibald, Miss Henderson and Mr Johnson.
• March (a Sunday): Anne's birthday was 'last week'. Bert is restless and leaves in the direction of Marysville after supper.
• March (the following Monday): The news arrives: Bert was killed the night before by a train.
• March (the following Tuesday): Joanna's parents and Bert's side of the family come to pay their respects and discuss what to do. Nobody wants to take Anne.
• March: Mrs Hammond visits. Miss Henderson and Mr Johnson visit to say goodbye and tell Anne they are going to be married and will move away. Noah is four. Mrs Hammond takes Anne away with her. Mrs Hammond is 24. Ella is three (nearly four). Gertie is two (nearly three). The first twins are one (nearly two). George and Hugo are ten months old.
• March (the next day): Anne begs to be allowed to go to school, and offers plenty of chores in return. This is granted, and she takes George for a walk, where she discovers Violetta and meets Miss Haggerty, a midwife. Miss Haggerty is 75. Her hair turned snow white when she was 25.
• March (the following Monday): Anne starts school 'up the river'. Her teacher is Mr McDougall.
• late March: Bert's funeral takes place in Bolingbroke, a week after Mrs Hammond takes Anne.
• mid-April: Mr McDougall teaches about Prince Edward Island, and Anne develops a fascination with it. Miss Haggerty gives Anne instructions about when Mrs Hammond goes into labour.
• April: Mrs Hammond gives birth to another set of twins, whom Anne names Roderick and Julie Anna.
• mid-May: Five weeks have passed since the births, and Anne can now return to school.
• June: School closes for the summer. Anne suggests Mr Hammond build a playpen for the children.
• August: Ella and Gertie's kitten dies.
• September: Mr Johnson (presumably) goes with Miss Henderson to Bolingbroke. She goes to Normal School to get her teacher's licence; he takes up teaching in the Bolingbroke High School.
• second week of September: The playpen is ready for use.
• October: Some of the toys for the children are ready.

1875

• January–February: There are six weeks when the snow is so bad neither Anne nor any of the other children can go outside.
• March 5: Anne turns ten.
• April: Roderick and Julie Anna turn one.
• May: Ella turns five, Gertie turns four, the first twins turn three, George and Hugo turn two.
• July: Miss Henderson and Mr Johnson are (presumably) married.
• September: Anne returns to school.
• December 10: A big storm, marking the last day of school until spring for Anne.

1876

• first week in February: Mr Hammond dies of a weak heart.
• February (three days afterwards): Relatives from both sides arrive and parcel out the children.
• February (the next day): It is decided that Anne will go to the orphanage in Hopetown. She says goodbye to Violetta and Miss Haggerty. Mr McDougall visits, and she returns the photo she stole from him.
• February (the next day): Mrs Larsen takes Anne to the orphan asylum. Miss Carlyle notes that Anne is eleven, though this is not strictly true.
• February (the next day): First day at the asylum. Miss Kale, the teacher, is fifty-five years old. Edna Godfrey is 'about twelve'.
• March 5: Anne turns eleven.
• April (approx. ten weeks after Anne's arrival): Anne and Edna become friends.
• May: Anne tells Edna about her (Anne's) past.
• later: Edna betrays Anne.
• June (two weeks later): Anne has now been at the asylum for three and a half months. Tessa is eight years old. It is June.
• June (a Saturday): Edna tells Anne that a fancy lady from PEI is coming to take two girls away with her. Anne resolves to be good enough to hopefully be chosen.
• June (the following Sunday): Anne's behaviour and hard work impresses Miss Carlyle and Miss Kale.
• June (the following Monday): Mrs Spencer pays a visit to the asylum. Anne has been there for four months. There has not been an adoption for eleven months. Miss Carlyle recommends Lily Jones (five years old) and Anne. Mrs Spencer takes them away with her, and they travel to PEI and the Bright River train station. Flora Jane Spencer is 'now in her late teens'. Mrs Rachel Lynde pays a visit to Green Gables. Matthew is sixty. Diana is 'about eleven'. Anne arrives at Green Gables.
• June (the next day): Marilla decides to take Anne to the Spencers' to sort the mess out. Anne tells Marilla about herself. At the Spencers', Mrs Blewett offers to take Anne, but Marilla refuses. Anne and Marilla return to Green Gables. Anne says her prayers.
• June (the next day): Marilla tells Anne she can stay at Green Gables. It is only a fortnight until the school holidays (which presumably start in July). Diana Barry is visiting her aunt in Carmody.
• July: Anne has been at Green Gables for a fortnight. The school holidays have presumably begun. Mrs Lynde has had grippe since she visited Green Gables, and has only now recovered. She visits Green Gables and insults Anne about her looks. Anne flies into a temper and insults Mrs Lynde in return. Marilla is at least fifty years old.
• July (the next day): Matthew helped Marilla paper the spare room four years ago, but has never been upstairs since. He visits Anne and persuades her to apologise. After milking, Marilla takes Anne to Lynde's Hollow, and Anne apologises to Mrs Lynde.
• July (a Saturday): Marilla presents Anne with three newly made-up, very plain dresses.
• July (the next day – Sunday): Marilla has a headache, so Anne goes to Sunday-school alone, but decorates her plain hat with pink and yellow flowers. There are nine other girls in her class, all with puffed sleeves. Miss Rogerson, her teacher, is a middle-aged lady who has taught a Sunday-school class for twenty years.
• July (the following Friday): Marilla finds out about the flowers on Anne's hat. Diana Barry returns from Carmody in the afternoon, and Marilla and Anne pay a visit to Orchard Slope, where Anne finds a bosom friend in Diana. Diana's birthday is in February. It has only been three weeks since Anne came.
• July (the next day): Anne and Diana build a playhouse (Idlewild) in Mr William Bell's birth grove.
• August: There is to be a Sunday-school picnic next week.
• August (the following Saturday): It rains, and Anne is worried about the fate of the picnic. Marilla makes her sew an extra patchwork square.
• August: (the following Sunday): Marilla wears her amethyst brooch to church as usual.
• August: (the following Monday): Marilla attends a Ladies' Aid meeting while wearing her black lace shawl. In the evening, she discovers her brooch missing. Anne was the last person to touch it, but denies taking it. Marilla decides to keep Anne in her room until she confesses.
• August (the following Tuesday): Anne confesses to Marilla with a fantastical tale about dropping the brooch in the Lake of Shining Waters. Marilla is flabbergasted, and tells Anne she still cannot attend the picnic.
• August (the following Wednesday): Marilla finds the brooch accidentally caught on her black lace shawl. Anne goes to the Sunday-school picnic after all, and has a splendid time.
• September 1: Anne's first day of school. The teacher is Mr Phillips; she is in the fourth book and the others her age are in the fifth. Prissy Andrews is sixteen and is studying for the entrance exam to Queen's next year. Anne receives her first compliment.
• September (three weeks later): Anne named Lovers' Lane 'before she had been a month at Green Gables'. Gilbert Blythe has been 'visiting his cousins in New Brunswick all summer and he only came home Saturday night', according to Diana. His father was sick four years ago and went out to Alberta for his health. Gilbert went with him; they were there three years, during which Gilbert hardly went to school. Both Gilbert and Josie are in the fourth book with Anne, though Gilbert is 'nearly fourteen'; Josie is implied to be nine or ten. That afternoon, Gilbert takes Anne's hair and calls her 'Carrots'; she retaliates by cracking her slate across his head and is punished by Mr Phillips, who makes her stand on the platform with 'Ann Shirley has a very bad temper' written above her head. Gilbert tries to apologise to Anne, but is coldly rebuffed.
• September (the next day): Anne is singled out by Mr Phillips for punishment after arriving late to school after the dinner hour, even though the boys were just as late as her. She has to sit next to Gilbert Blythe for the rest of the afternoon, and when school is over, she takes her school things and vows never to return. Marilla, flabbergasted, goes to Mrs Lynde for advice, and Mrs Lynde tells her to let Anne learn her lessons at home for the time being.
• later: Marilla comes in to find Anne crying bitterly at the prospect of losing Diana once Diana gets married, which makes Marilla let out a hearty laugh.
• later: Anne forgets to put the tea to draw until it's time to sit down for supper. Matthew puts the tea down himself and Anne tells him a fairy story while they wait. She forgets the ending, but just substitutes her own, and Matthew says he can't tell where the join came in.
• October (a Tuesday): There is plum pudding for dessert at Green Gables. Marilla tells Anne to put the leftover half pudding and jug of sauce in the pantry, covered, to keep for another day. Anne, however, daydreams and forgets all about covering the sauce.
• October (the following Wednesday): In the morning, Anne remembers the sauce and runs to the pantry to find a mouse drowned in it. She removes the mouse and intends to ask Marilla if she should give the sauce to the pigs, but forgets. Mr and Mrs Chester Ross from Spencervale visit Green Gables that morning and stay for dinner, when Marilla decides to serve the warmed-up plum pudding and sauce for dessert. Anne jumps up and shouts out that there was a mouse drowned in the pudding sauce. Marilla takes away the sauce and serves strawberry preserves instead, but scolds Anne after Mr and Mrs Chester Ross leave.
• October (the following Saturday): In the morning, Diana rides to Mr Harmon Andrews' house in Matthew's cart. Anne goes to Orchard Slope to invite Diana to tea. Marilla goes to a Ladies' Aid meeting at Carmody in the afternoon, leaving Anne alone at Green Gables while Matthew hauls a load of potatoes to the Lily Sands. Diana arrives shortly after Marilla leaves. Anne and Diana have tea, and Anne goes to the pantry to get the raspberry cordial Marilla said they could have. Unfortunately, after drinking three glasses of the cordial, Diana feels sick and insists on going home.
• October (the following Sunday): It rains all day, forcing Anne to stay home.
• October (the following Monday): In the afternoon, Marilla sends Anne to Mrs Lynde's on an errand. Mrs Lynde, who visited Mrs Barry that morning, tells Anne that Mrs Barry is angry at Anne for setting Diana drunk on Saturday and sending her home in such a condition. Mrs Barry decides not to let Diana play with Anne anymore, leaving Anne heartbroken. Both Marilla and later Anne visit Mrs Barry to explain (and Anne to apologise), but Mrs Barry refuses to be moved.
• October (the following Tuesday): Diana and Anne share a tearful farewell by the Dryad's Bubble.
• October (the following Monday): Anne returns to school, where she is welcomed back. Gilbert Blythe leaves a strawberry apple on her desk, but she refuses to touch it. Diana now sits with Gertie Pye, and Anne with Minnie Andrews.
• October (the following Tuesday): Timothy Andrews discovers the apple and takes it for his own. Anne and Diana pass heartfelt notes in school.
• October (end of the month): Anne and Gilbert have become academic rivals. Gilbert beats Anne in the monthly written examinations by three points.
• November (end of the month): Anne beats Gilbert in the exams by five points.
• later (by the end of the school term, probably December): Anne and Gilbert are both promoted into the fifth class, which introduces Latin, geometry, French and algebra to the workload. Anne finds geometry particularly challenging.

1877

• January (a school day): Marilla and Mrs Lynde attend a Canadian Premier's political rally in Charlottetown, leaving Anne and Matthew alone. Diana arrives, breathless, with the news that Minnie May is very sick and Mr and Mrs Barry are away. Matthew goes to Carmody for the doctor and Anne accompanies Diana back to Orchard Slope, where she administers ipecac to Minnie May until she is out of danger.
• January (the following day, and also a school day): Matthew arrives at Orchard Slope with the Spencervale doctor at three in the morning. The doctor tells Mr and Mrs Barry that Anne saved Minnie May's life. Anne goes home and sleeps; meanwhile, Marilla arrives home and Mrs Barry visits in the afternoon. She tells Marilla that she is grateful that Anne saved Minnie May's life, that she knows now that Anne didn't mean to set Diana drunk and that she hopes Anne and Diana can be friends again. Anne visits Diana, who caught a cold the previous night, and they spend a happy afternoon together.
• February: Old Mr Bentley, the Avonlea minister, resigns and leaves Avonlea. He was the pastor for 18 years. Henceforth, the Avonlea church goes through a series of trial ministers until June, when Mr Allan is chosen.
• February: Diana invites Anne to go to the Avonlea Debating Club concert tomorrow to celebrate Diana's birthday, and spend the night at the Barry's (in their spare room) afterwards. Marilla initially says no, but yields after Matthew repeatedly says he thinks Marilla should let Anne go.
• February (the following day): It is Diana's birthday. Anne is so distracted that she can't pay attention in school. Anne and Diana have tea and then get dressed. Diana's cousins, the Murrays from Newbridge arrive and take them to the concert. It is eleven when they arrive back at Orchard Slope. Anne suggests a race into the spare-room bed, and they land on Diana's Aunt Josephine, who is visiting from Charlottetown.
• February (the following day): Anne hurries home after breakfast. Aunt Josephine is very angry, refuses to speak to Diana and decides not to pay for a quarter's music lessons for her. Anne finds this out when she visits Mrs Lynde for an errand in the late afternoon. Anne goes to Orchard Slope and apologises to Aunt Josephine, who is amused and forgives them. Aunt Josephine stays for more than a month so that she can get to know Anne better.
• March 5: Anne turns twelve.
• April: Anne and Diana begin to imagine that the spruce wood over the brook is haunted, and call it the Haunted Wood.
• May: The school girls and boys have a golden afternoon gathering wildflowers. They have lunch in a mossy hollow by a well behind Mr Silas Sloane's place. Charlie Sloane dares Arty Gillis to jump over the well. Mr Phillips gives all his Mayflowers to Prissy Andrews. Gilbert Blythe offers Anne flowers, but she refuses.
• May 24: Queen Victoria's birthday. Anne and Diana discover a new island up the brook.
• June: It is the anniversary of Anne's arrival at Green Gables. Marilla has a headache. Anne helps with the housework, but she starches Matthew's handkerchiefs and burns the pie. Anne names the island that she and Diana discovered Victoria Island. At twilight, Marilla sends her to Orchard Slope to borrow Diana's apron pattern. Having to go through what she and Diana have called the Haunted Wood, Anne returns safely, but learns a lesson about becoming spooked by her own imagination.
• June 30: The last day of school, and Mr Phillips' last day. Although Jane has been saying for a month that she wouldn't shed a tear, she cries harder than any of the other girls. There will be a two-month vacation. Anne and her friends meet the new minister and his wife coming from the station. The new minister's wife has only been a minister's wife 'for a little while'.
• July (a Sunday): Anne tells Marilla all about Mrs Allan, who teaches her Sunday-school class. Marilla decides to invite the Allans to tea on Wednesday, and promises Anne that she can make a layer cake for the occasion.
• July (the following Monday): Anne and Marilla are busy preparing for the Allans' visit. Anne dreams that she 'was chased all around by a fearful goblin with a big layer cake for a head'.
• July (the following Tuesday): Anne and Marilla continue their preparations. Anne meets Diana in the Dryad's Bubble at twilight and tells her all about it.
• July (the following Wednesday): Anne has caught a bad cold due to 'dabbling in the spring' the night before, but still makes her cake after breakfast. The Allans come to tea and Mrs Allan eats Anne's cake. Marilla discovers it was accidentally flavoured with anodyne liniment instead of vanilla. Anne is distraught, but Mrs Allan comforts her, and Anne discovers another kindred spirit.
• August (two weeks before school begins): Anne receives a letter from Mrs Allan asking her to tea at the manse.
• August (the following day): Anne has tea at the manse with Mrs Allan and Laurette Bradley. Mrs Lynde drops by the manse and reveals that the trustees have hired a new teacher for the Avonlea school. Her name is Miss Muriel Stacy and she will be the first female teacher in Avonlea. It has been about a month since the liniment cake episode.
• August (one week later): Diana holds a small party for the girls in their class. Josie Pye dares Anne to walk the ridgepole of the Barry roof. Anne attempts to do so, but falls off and breaks her ankle. She has to stay home for seven weeks.
• October: Anne goes back to school.
• October (a Friday): There is a field afternoon at school, and the boys climb trees on Bell's hill to collect crows' nests.
• October (the following week): Anne recites 'Mary, Queen of Scots' at school.
• November: At school, Miss Stacy begins a concert project which will take place on Christmas Night and raise funds for a schoolhouse flag. Anne is in two dialogues and a tableau, and has two recitations.
• December (two weeks to Christmas): Anne and her friends are practising for the concert at Green Gables, and Matthew notices that Anne is not dressed like the other girls.
• December (the following day): Matthew goes to William Blair's store in Carmody and buys a garden rake and twenty pounds of brown sugar.
• December (soon after): Matthew goes to Mrs. Lynde, who agrees to make a brown dress with puffed sleeves for Anne.
• December 24: Mrs. Lynde brings the finished dress to Green Gables. A box of presents from Aunt Josephine arrives at Orchard Slope after dark.
• 25 December 25: Matthew gives the dress to Anne. Diana brings a gift from Aunt Josephine of kid slippers for Anne. The hall is decorated and there is a rehearsal before the concert in the evening, which is a success. A rose falls out of Anne's hair and Gilbert Blythe picks it up and puts it in his breast pocket. That night, Marilla and Matthew talk about sending Anne to Queen's one day.

1878

• winter: Anne's class studies Tennyson's poem "Lancelot and Elaine" in school, as well as "Marmion", which Mss Stacy makes them learn off by heart.
• March (Sunday before Anne's birthday): Anne and Mrs. Allan talk about besetting sins.
• March (Monday before Anne's birthday): Anne writes her story composition "The Jealous Rival; or, In Death Not Divided".
• March 5: Anne turns 13. She and Diana walk home from school via the Birch Path, discussing school compositions, and Anne proposes that they start a story club.
• March-April: Anne and Diana form the Story Club, and Jane and Ruby join. They each write one story a week, and Anne reads one of her stories to Mr and Mrs Allan. Diana writes her Aunt Josephine about the Story Club and Aunt Josephine requests that they send her some of their stories. They send her four of their best and Aunt Josephine writes back "that she had never read anything so amusing in her life".
• late April: Marilla arrives home from an Aid meeting to discover that Anne has neglected her duties. It turns out that she bought a hair dye from a peddler and dyed her hair green (instead of the black she was promised.
• one week later: Anne has been staying home and washing her hair daily for a week, without success. Marilla cuts Anne's hair off.
• the following Monday: Anne returns to school. Josie Pye says that she looks like a scarecrow.
• sometime in spring: Mr. Bell cuts down the ring of birch trees that comprises Idlewild.
• midsummer: Anne, Diana, Jane and Ruby decide to dramatise "Lancelot and Elaine", with Anne drifting down the Lake of Shining Waters in Mr Barry's wooden flat. The flat begins to leak, forcing Anne to cling to a pile under the bridge. Gilbert Blythe comes along in Mr Andrews' dory and rescues Anne, also apologising again and asking that they be friends, but Anne refuses to accept his apology.
• midsummer (the next day): Anne tells Mrs Allan what happened with the Elaine dramatisation.
• September: Diana has a letter from her Aunt Josephine inviting her and Anne to town for the Exhibition on Tuesday, and Diana visits Green Gables to tell Anne.
• September (Tuesday): Mr Barry drives Anne and Diana to Beechwood, Miss Barry's house in Charlottetown.
• September (Wednesday): Miss Barry takes Anne and Diana to the Exhibition.
• September (Thursday): Anne and Diana have a drive in the park, and Miss Barry takes them to a concert in the Academy of Music in the evening.
• September (Friday): Mr Barry arrives and takes the girls home, and Anne tells Matthew and Marilla all about the trip.
• November (Wednesday): Miss Stacy takes the teenage girls down the brook and talks to them about the importance of forming good habits.
• November (sometime the next week): Miss Stacy catches Anne reading Ben Hur in school when she should have been studying Canadian history.
• November (the next day): Miss Stacy visits Green Gables to tell Marilla about the special Queen's class she is organising, and to ask if Anne would like to join.
• later: Gilbert Blythe, Anne Shirley, Ruby Gillis, Jane Andrews, Josie Pye, Charlie Sloane and Moody Spurgeon MacPherson join the Queen's class. There is now open rivalry between Anne and Gilbert for first in class.

1879

• March 5: Anne turns 14.
• June (Thursday): Matthew has a bad spell with his heart, and Marilla stays home from the Aid meeting.
• June (last day of school): Miss Stacy announces that she will be back in Avonlea for the next school year. Anne locks her books away in the attic and resolves to have a good summer.
• the next day: Mrs. Lynde visits Green Gables to ask why Marilla was not at the Aid meeting.
• July (early in vacation): The Spencervale doctor meets Anne again and sends a message to Marilla, telling her to keep Anne in the open air all summer.
• July-August: Anne has a golden summer and grows two inches.
• September: Miss Stacy returns to Avonlea and teaches the Queen's class again.

1880

• winter: Marilla discovers that Anne is now taller than herself.
• March 5: Anne turns 15.
• spring: Marilla notes that Anne doesn't talk as much as she used to. The story club is no longer in existence. There are two more months before the Entrance.
• June: Miss Stacy gives practice exams for her Queen's students, and Anne does well.
• June (last day of term): Miss Stacy finishes her term in Avonlea.
• July (the following Monday): Anne goes to Charlottetown and boards at Beechwood with Miss Barry.
• July (Tuesday): Miss Stacy escorts Anne, Jane, Ruby and Josie to the Academy. The English exam is in the morning and the history exam is in the afternoon.
• July (Wednesday): The day of the geometry exam.
• July (Thursday): There are more exams at Queen's.
• July (Friday): Anne arrives home at Green Gables and reunites with Diana.
• July (two weeks later): Anne and the other Queen's students (except Moody Spurgeon) begin to "haunt" the post office for the newspaper with the pass list.
• one week later: The pass list is still not out.
• soon after: Mr Barry brings the newspaper with the pass list from Bright River, and Diana hurries to Green Gables to show it to Anne. All seven Avonlea students have passed, with Anne and Gilbert tied for first. Jane, Ruby and Charlie also did well, Josie passed with three marks to spare and Moody Spurgeon is conditioned in history. Marilla, Matthew and Mrs Lynde are all proud of Anne.
• August: There is a concert at the White Sands Hotel in aid of the Charlottetown hospital, and Anne has been asked to recite. Billy Andrews drives Anne, Diana and Jane there. When her turn comes, Anne is almost overcome with stage fright, but sees Gilbert in the audience and is determined not to fail in front of him. She does well and is encored.
• August (the next three weeks): Anne gets ready for Queen's.
• September: Matthew drives Anne to Charlottetown. Anne and Gilbert are taking up the Second Year work, allowing them to get a First Class teacher's licence in one year. Jane, Ruby, Josie, Charlie and Moody Spurgeon are taking the Second Class work. Anne is boarding in a place chosen by Miss Barry, and Josie, Jane and Ruby visit her. Josie tells Anne that Queen's is getting an Avery scholarship, which pays for four years at Redmond College. The Avery is in English and English literature, and Anne privately resolves to win it.
• October-December: The Avonlea students settle in to Queen's, going home every Friday for the weekends via the new branch railway at Carmody. Anne makes two new friends in her Second Year classes: Stella Maynard and Priscilla Grant.

1881

• January: The Avonlea students return to Queen's after the Christmas holidays and stop going home on Fridays. Anne spends spare time at Beechwood and goes to church with Miss Barry.
• March 5: Anne turns 16.
• early April: Mr Robert Bell (whose farm borders the Cuthbert farm on the west) sells his farm and moves to Charlottetown. His farm is bought by Mr. James A. Harrison, who is from New Brunwick and has a parrot called Ginger.
• May: Exams are next week. Jane, Ruby and Josie visit Anne.
• June: The exam results are out. Gilbert Blythe wins the medal and Anne Shirley wins the Avery scholarship.
• June: Matthew and Marilla come to Charlottetown to attend Commencement, and Anne goes home with them that evening.
• June (the next day): Anne realises that Matthew is not well, and Marilla tells her that he has had heart troubles and that Mrs Lynde has said the Abbey Bank (Matthew and Marilla's bank) is shaky. Anne visits Mrs Allan and talks with her. Matthew tells Anne how proud he is of her.
• June (the next day): Martin brings the newspaper with news of the Abbey Bank's collapse, and Matthew dies of the sudden shock. He is laid in a coffin in the parlour. The Barrys and Mrs Lynde stay the night at Green Gables. That night, Anne is finally able to weep and Marilla creeps in to comfort her.
• two days later: Matthew is buried.
• later: Anne spends time with Diana, plants a rosebush on Matthew's grave and visits Mrs Allan. Dr Spencer visits Green Gables and tells Marilla to see an eye specialist. Marilla tells Anne about her old romance with John Blythe.
• July (the next day): Marilla goes to town to see the eye specialist, who tells her to give up all eye-straining work, or else she will go blind in six months.
• July (a few days later): John Sadler visits and offers to buy Green Gables. Anne decides to stay in Avonlea instead of going to Redmond, and teach school at Carmody.
• later: Mrs Lynde visits and tells Anne that Gilbert Blythe has withdrawn his application to teach in the Avonlea school in favour of Anne, and will teach at White Sands instead.
• the next day: Gilbert passes Anne near the Lake of Shining Waters and Anne thanks him for giving up the school for her. They agree to be good friends and he walks her home.
• August: Anne's Jersey cow, Dolly, breaks into their neighbour Mr. Harrison's oatfield, and Mr Harrison visits Green Gables and berates Anne. Marilla arrives home from visiting Mary Keith dying wife of a distant relation, who has six-year-old twins, Davy and Dora. Mrs Lynde visits Green Gables and tells Anne about the other new families who have moved to Avonlea and whose children will be taught by Anne at the Avonlea school. Anne and Gilbert have been talking about starting a Village Improvement Society. Priscilla Grant will be teaching at the Carmody school.
• August (the next day): Anne and Diana drive to Carmody for shopping, talking about their plans for the Improvement Society while on the road. Arriving back, Anne sees a Jersey cow in Mr Harrison's oatfield. She and Diana chase her out and and Anne instantly sells her to Mr Shearer of Carmody, but later discovers her own cow locked up in the milking pen. Realising that she sold Mr Harrison's own cow, Anne takes a cake and her money to visit Mr Harrison and apologise. To her relief, Mr Harrison is amiable, and she sells him her cow and they become friends.
• August 31: Jane, Anne and Gilbert discuss the first day of school tomorrow. Afterwards, Anne sees that Mrs Lynde is visiting Green Gables and so visits Mr Harrison.
• September 1: Anne's first day of teaching. She meets the ten newcomers to Avonlea, including Paul Irving. According to Mrs Lynde, all the schoolchildren like Anne, except for Anthony Pye.
• September: The Avonlea Village Improvement Society is organised, with Gilbert Blythe as president, Fred Wright as vice president, Anne Shirley as secretary and Diana Barry as treasurer. They meet once a fortnight.
• September (two weeks later): At the second A. V. I. S. meeting, the Improvers decide to collect money to re-shingle and paint the hall. The committee is comprised of Jane Andrews, Gertie Pye, Gilbert, Anne, Diana and Fred. Jane and Gertie are assigned the Carmody road to canvass, Gilbert and Fred the White Sands road and Anne and Diana the Newbridge road.
• September (the following Saturday): Anne and Diana canvass the Carmody road, as well as Lorenzo White's house on the White Sands road and Mr Harrison's house on the Carmody road.
• September (the following Saturday): Gilbert and Fred canvass the White Sands road.
• October: Marilla goes to visit Mary Keith. Gilbert and Anne discuss teaching. Gilbert has made up his mind to be a doctor. After some cajoling by Anne, Marilla decides to take in Davy and Dora Keith.