Olivia Poole, Inventor of the Jolly Jumper, August 1947. Photographer Betty Poole, NVMA 14768.

Inventor Olivia Poole called the North Shore home when her creation, the Jolly Jumper, was patented in 1957. In fact, her family’s business “Poole Manufacturing Co. Ltd.,” which first mass produced the Jolly Jumper, was located at 161 Pemberton Avenue in North Vancouver from 1957 to 1959. 

Olivia was one of the first Indigenous women in Canada to patent an invention. Her baby swing was inspired by her childhood growing up on White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. There she saw mothers attach their babies, who were snuggled up tight against cradleboards, to structures like a sturdy tree branch.

The babies would swing, bounce, and as one can imagine, giggle with joy, much like in the Jolly Jumper. This left the mothers free to go about their work while occasionally pulling on the branch to bounce their child. 

Tracy (Poole) Braiden, granddaughter of Olivia Poole, using an early version of the Jolly Jumper, May 1958. Photographer Elizabeth Poole, NVMA 14771.

In 1910, when the first of her seven children was born, Olivia remembered the Ojibwa women and babies, and she made her first version of the Jolly Jumper using a cloth diaper, an axe handle and a blacksmith-made steel spring. Her baby Joseph loved it! He was able to push himself up and down with his feet and swing around. 

All of Olivia’s children and grandchildren used the Jolly Jumper as babies. The invention worked so well that Olivia and her Daughter-in-law, Betty decided to show it to the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1948 Olivia’s grandbaby Gillian, daughter to Betty, put on a demonstration.

“Soon a crowd of people gathered round to watch,” recalled Betty. “The Bay ordered six units. We rushed home and Gramma started into production.”

How many of you used a Jolly Jumper as a baby or with your own children? It is now an essential tool for caregivers and a worldwide sensation enjoyed by babies all over.