Readers know that my passion is finding the sweet spot where genealogy and history connect. I’m interested in understanding the historical and social events, big and small, that surrounded my ancestors’ lives. Not just my direct ancestors, but their extended families as well. I love to find stories, even snippets of stories, that help provide colour and context to the large database of names and dates that make up my genealogical research.

Recently I have gone back to the Taylor family of George Taylor (1760-?) and his wife Jane (1780-1844) to research their children in more depth. Previously I had concentrated on the Hogue line of Amable Hogue (1796-1858) and Marguerite Taylor (1805-1885) who are my 3X great-grandparents. I had only looked briefly at the rest of the Taylor family and wrote about them here.

One of George and Jane’s sons was Thomas Taylor, born around 1797, likely at Fort Severn where his father was stationed at the time. He first entered into service with the Hudson Bay Company in 1815 as an apprentice at Qu’Appelle River post in the York Factory District. From 1822 to 1830 he was a personal servant to Governor George Simpson, accompanying him to the Columbia District in 1824, to England in 1825, and to the Columbia again in 1828. He then served as a Postmaster in various locations, retiring as a Clerk-in-Charge from the Fort Coulonge Post on the Ottawa River in 1855. At retirement H.B.C. sold him the store which was all that remained of the original Fort establishment, the surrounding farmland having already been sold.

George Simpson kept a “Character Book” in which he notes his assessments of many of the HBC employees. Of Thomas he says:

“Taylor, Thomas a half-breed about 35 years of Age. Was a Labouring apprentice for 7 years was my own body servant for 10 years, and has for the past 3 years been one of the most effective Postmasters in the County. Speaks several of the Native Languages, is a great favorite with Indians is a “Jack of all Trades” and altogether a very useful man in his line.”

Thomas had married Mary Keith in 1831 at the Red River Settlement. She was the Métis daughter of James Keith, a Scottish fur trader who became a Chief Factor with H.B.C. . Thomas and Mary had ten children. Thomas died at Pemboke, Ontario in 1879. His wife had died in 1866.

One of their children was Thomas Taylor Jr. (1831-1903). Like his father and grandfather, Thomas entered the service of H.B.C. He started as an apprentice, rising to become a Chief Trader, mostly in the Saskatchewan and Swan River Districts. He retired in 1899 and died in 1903 in Edmonton. This Thomas Taylor married Elizabeth Margaret Kennedy.

Aha! Here’s the connection. Elizabeth Margaret Kennedy turns out to be the niece of Captain William Kennedy. Who’s he you ask?

Captain William Kennedy (1814-1890), Métis son of Alexander Kennedy and Aggathas Bear, was an Arctic explorer, a missionary, and for a time an employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company. He had an exciting life that you can read about here. Although he had many siblings, he inherited the river lot on the Red River in St. Andrews upon his mother’s death. He replaced the log cabin there with a stone house that was originally called Maple Grove.

The Manitoba Historical Society website states:

“The Kennedy House, a provincially-designated historic site in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, was built in 1866 for Captain William Kennedy using stones quarried from the Red River banks at nearby St. Andrews Rapids.“

The Kennedy House use to be one of my favourite places for a summer lunch. Just a short drive from Winnipeg, it was both a museum and a tea room with a gorgeous garden, situated on the Red River. Sadly, both the museum and restaurant closed, and the building itself has been undergoing drastically needed structural repairs. For more information see https://heritagewinnipeg.com/news/advocacy-in-action-saving-maple-grove-the-captain-william-kennedy-house/

I look forward to the day when Kennedy House reopens, and I can sip tea again, happy in the knowledge I’ve found a personal connection, however slight.