Dr. Seuss was right!
“The more your read, the more things you will know.”
I often tell people that I’ve read more Canadian history since becoming a genealogy researcher, than I ever did in school or university. Any book review of an item having to do with Canadian/Manitoban/Indigenous issues is immediately put on hold at the Winnipeg Public Library (or purchased at McNally Robinson Booksellers if someone gives me a gift certificate). So it was that I came across the book The Premier and His Grandmother: Peter Lougheed, Lady Belle, and the Legacy of Métis Identity by Doris Jeanne MacKinnon, and borrowed it from the library.
I lived in Calgary for 9 years, and I had never heard that Premier Lougheed had Métis roots. Turns out his paternal Grandmother, Isabelle Hardisty was the daughter of William Lucas Hardisty, a Hudson’s Bay Company trader who became chief factor and Mary Anne Allen, possibly from the Chinook people of the Pacific Northwest.
Lady Belle, as she was known after marrying James Lougheed (Peter’s grandfather), was an interesting woman. You can read the book, and these links to find out more.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Lady Lougheed: Métis Matriarch
I have no connection to the Hardisty or Lougheed families,
BUT….
when reading the book I discovered that James Lougheed, who later became a Senator, was in business in Calgary with Edmund Taylor. Hmm, that name rang a bell!
So who was Edmund Taylor? His great grandfather was George Taylor sloopmaster for Hudson’s Bay Company. His grandfather was Thomas Taylor Sr. who worked for HBC in several positions, including as a personal servant to Sir George Simpson. His father was Thomas Taylor, Jr. who rose to become a Chief Trader with HBC.
Born in Manitoba in 1871, he followed the path of his ancestors, and joined HBC at the age of 14 as an apprentice clerk. He rose in the ranks of the company to become manager of the Calgary HBC store, and later the Winnipeg location. In 1906 he left the Company and moved to Toronto, where he had a successful financial career.
In 1911 Edmund once again moved to Calgary where he partnered with James Lougheed to form Lougheed and Taylor Investments. He and his wife had a home built in the exclusive area of Mount Royal. They were part of the social elite, very involved in different organizations in the city. Edmund was the first president of the Alberta Stock Exchange.
Edmund had married Edna Florence Smith in Toronto in 1904. They had two sons. He died 2 Oct 1929 in Calgary. An obituary published in the Winnipeg Tribune stated:
“In recent years his capabilities and sound judgment, shown in the Lougheed and Taylor’s financial business, caused him to be regard with highest esteem and he was considered one of the wealthiest young men resident in Western Canada.“
And that’s the story of Edmund Taylor, my second cousin twice removed.
As Canadian as can be 