Join Charlotte as she introduces us to her grandparents and talks about her grandad William Brown’s work with the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Charlotte Taylor, the daughter of John Taylor and granddaughter of William Brown and Charlotte Omand, lives in Headingly 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

Hudson’s Bay Company

Incorporated in England in 1670, the Hudson’s Bay company set off to find a northwest passage to the Pacific, to occupy the land around the Hudson’s Bay, and to seek out profitable business available in these lands.

For many years, the Hudson’s Bay Company had sole control of the fur trade occurring throughout most of what is now present-day Canada. The Hudson’s Bay Company’s role in the fur trade played a crucial role in the colonization of British North America and as a result the development of Canada as a country.

In 1870, the Hudson’s Bay Company sold their territory to the Canadian government. 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.

Métis

The Library and Archives of Canada define the Métis Nation as the following:

“The Métis people originated in the 1700s when French and Scottish fur traders married Aboriginal women, such as the Cree, and Anishinabe (Ojibway). Their descendants formed a distinct culture, collective consciousness and nationhood in the Northwest. 

“Distinct Métis communities developed along the fur trade routes. This Métis Nation Homeland includes the three Prairie Provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta), as well as, parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the Northern United States. 

“The Métis Nation grew into a distinct culture and became a people in the Northwest prior to that territory becoming part of Canada.”

Red River Settlement

In 1811 Lord Selkirk bought 116 000 square miles from the Hudson’s Bay Company to form a settlement at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. This area included the Red River Valley, the Assiniboine Basin, east to Lake of the Woods and north to include part of Lake of the Woods. This area covered what is now parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota. This settlement was called Assiniboia, after the Indigenous peoples of the area, the Assiniboines.

In 1818 the forty-ninth parallel was declared the border between the American and British territories, cutting off the southern half of Assiniboia.

In 1835, 1542 river lots were marked along the Red River from modern day St. Norbert to Selkirk, and along the Assiniboine through what later became St. James, St. Charles, Headingley and St. Francois-Xavier. The river lots were provided for farms to accommodate for the increasing number of people who wished to settle in the Red River Settlement.