Join Charlotte for her first Storytime as she introduces herself and talks about life in the 1890s.

Charlotte Taylor, the daughter of John Taylor and granddaughter of William Brown and Charlotte Omand, lives in Headingley in the year 1890, where she attends school and visits her grandparents to help them around the farm. Charlotte loves company and has many stories to share about her grandparents and life on the farm.

Historical Context from Charlotte’s Stories

John Taylor

John Taylor was Charlotte’s father, but he was also a community leader. After moving to Headingley in 1855 to establish a school, he successfully operated a large farm, trading post, blacksmith shop, Royal Exchange Hotel, livery stable, and a barber shop. During the Red River Resistance of 1870, he was elected to represent the Headingley Parish.

Taylor, an English Metis who spoke French, English, and Cree, was an active member of the Legislative Assembly and became the first Manitoba Minister of Agriculture in 1879. When the Rural Municipality of Assiniboia was established in 1880, he was elected as one of the first seven councillors.

Rupert’s Land

Before Canada became a country, a large part of present-day Canada belonged to a territory called Rupert’s Land. In 1670 the territory encompassed 1,490,895 square miles (3,861,400 square kilometres). Rupert’s Land was a part of British North America and located primarily around the Hudson’s Bay. The Hudson’s Bay Company conducted the fur trade throughout this territory, based on a charter granted by King Charles II.

In the Rupert’s Land Act of 1868, the United Kingdom Parliament authorized the sale of Rupert’s Land to Canada. However, this sale did not recognize the claim on the land by the Indigenous people of North America who had already settled and inhabited the land.

Dominion of Canada

Beginning with Confederation in 1867, the Dominion of Canada was Canada’s formal title. During Confederation negotiations, the Fathers of Confederation wanted to call their new country the Kingdom of Canada. The British disagreed, and eventually the Dominion of Canada was agreed upon.

Government institutions stopped using the word Dominion during the 1960s and in 1982 Dominion Day was officially changed to Canada Day.