Braehead: Three founding families in nineteenth century Canada

by Sherrill MacLaren

Traces the history of 3 families who came to Canada in the early 19th century. The period is seen from three distinct regional viewpoints - from upper Canada, lower Canada and the Red River settlement.

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This combination of three families and their influences on the development of Western Canada is of great interest to anyone wondering about our past. There is a slight touch of congratulation in the narration, but the families had a lot to be congratulated for.

[Eve-Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like to Google while you read non-fiction, you'll learn even more about Canadian history than Sherrill MacLaren wrote. Motivated by a need to read family histories as prep work for my own writing, I picked up Braehead this spring. MacLaren provides a bibliography and has relied extensively on documentation. If you want gossip, this isn't the book to provide much. Though I may have skimmed some detailed and business-heavy paragraphs about Ernest Cross's CB&M dealings, I was kept enthralled. If you like Canadian history, this will provide an intimate view of certain events and eras.

[Amanda Borys · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was reading this book for research and had to unfortunately stop that project to do another. However, I did enjoy the book outside of that. It did a good job of explaining a lot of history of Western Canada in a way that was detailed enough to remain entertaining while not overwhelming. Telling the story of three intertwined founding families with their multiple children each generation is task enough, but the author keeps all the stories straight.

Its also fun to read the background to historic people whose Calgary stories I am already familiar with. I get a laugh out of hearing that stoic Colonel Macleod originally failed to get into law school or that Mary Drever outbluffed Louis Riel by standing in her windows when he had a cannon pointed at the house. It definitely adds some dimensions to people who could easily become stereotypes.