Upper Canada, Governor Simcoe orders a small town to be laid out at the site of Fort Rouillé and names it York.
1795
William Lyon Mackenzie (maternal grandfather) is born in Dundee, Scotland.
1805
In Upper Canada, Mennonites from Pennsylvania purchase land and establish the German-speaking settlement of Berlin.
1809
Louis-Joseph Papineau is first elected to the Assembly of Lower Canada; he emerges as the leader of a group of young nationalists known first as the Parti Canadien and later as the Parti Patriote
1814
John King (paternal grandfather) is born at Tyric in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
1820
William Lyon Mackenzie arrives in Upper Canada.
1824
The Colonial Advocate, published by William Lyon Mackenzie, is the leading voice of the Reform movement; Mackenzie moves to York.
1828
Mackenzie is elected to the Upper Canada House of Assembly; he will be expelled for his attacks on the ruling Family Compact and be re-elected repeatedly.
1832
the headquarters of the Law Society of Upper Canada, is completed; it will later be expanded to house law courts and the Osgoode Hall Law School.
1834
1834
Mackenzie is elected the first mayor of Toronto.
In Upper Canada, York is incorporated as the city of Toronto.
In Lower Canada, Papineau campaigns to force the British government to grant independence to French Canadians.
1835
Sir Francis Bond Head becomes Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.
1836
Mackenzie fails to win re-election to the House of Assembly.
1837
1837
Embittered by his electoral defeat, Mackenzie leads a poorly conceived revolt; he escapes to the United States (U.S.).
Queen Victoria assumes the throne of Great Britain and the Empire.
Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada; Papineau flees to the U.S.
1838
1838
ohn King participates in the Battle of the Windmill. expanded to house law courts and the Osgoode Hall Law School.
In November, British troops and local Canadian militia prevent the invasion of Upper Canada by American troops and Canadian rebels in the Battle of the Windmill near Fort Wellington.
1841
The Act of Union unites Upper and Lower Canada as equals; together Canada West and Canada East, as they are now called, form the Province of Canada.
1843
John King (father) is born.
Isabel Grace Mackenzie (mother) is born in New York State, where her mother and siblings have joined her father in exile.
1845
Having been granted amnesty, Papineau returns to Canada East from exile in France.
1848
otato famines in Ireland and a series of European rebellions send waves of immigrants to North America.
1849
Mackenzie is pardoned and returns to Canada; he is elected to the Legislative Assembly and continues to work as a journalist.
1858
Ottawa is chosen as the capital of the Province of Canada.
1861
Mackenzie dies in Toronto
1867
Canadian Confederation unites Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick; John A. Macdonald becomes the first prime minister and is knighted by Queen Victoria.
1871
apineau dies in Montebello, Quebec.
English historian and journalist Goldwin Smith arrives in Toronto.
1872
1872
John King marries Isabel Mackenzie on December 12; they will reside in Berlin, Ontario.
Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant is elected president of the U.S. for a second term in spite of public scandals during his administration.
1873
1873
Isabel “Bella” Christina Grace King (sister) is born.
Having added three provinces (Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island) to Confederation, Sir John A. Macdonald’s government is forced to resign over a scandal involving the funding of the proposed transcontinental railway.
1874
1874
William “Willie” Lyon Mackenzie King is born in Berlin, Ontario to John and Isabel King on December 17.
In Britain, Winston Churchill (future statesman) is born.
In Quebec, Wilfrid Laurier is elected to the House of Commons for the first time.
1876
Janet “Jennie” Lindsey King (sister) is born.
1878
1878
Dougall Macdougall “Max” King (brother) is born.
Macdonald returns triumphantly to power in Ottawa and remains prime minister for the rest of his life.
1880
1882
William Ewart Gladstone becomes prime minister of Great Britain
Willie King attends a meeting where Sir John A. Macdonald is speaking.
1883
Arnold Toynbee, a British economist and humanitarian, dies at the age of 31.
1885
The Canadian Pacific Railway is completed.
Former U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant dies.
1886
The King family rents and moves into Woodside, a large house on 5.66 wooded hectares.
1888
1888
King has taken on more responsibilities and even looks after his father’s business.
American Jane Addams visits Toynbee Hall, a settlement house in London, before returning to Chicago and establishing a similar facility at Hull-House a year later.
1889
In Canada, the Royal Commission on the Relations of Labour and Capital describes the new system of worker exploitation or the “sweat shop system.”
1891
1891
King moves to Toronto and enrolls at the University of Toronto (U of T) in political science – a relatively new area of study – and economics.
Canada and the Canadian Question by Goldwin Smith is published; the book advocates union with the U.S.
Sir John A. Macdonald dies in Ottawa.
1893
1893
King is awarded the Blake Scholarship and is voted president of his class; on September 6, he begins to keep a journal and will do so for the rest of his life.
The Earl of Aberdeen becomes Canada’s Governor General; Ishbel, Lady Aberdeen, becomes the first president of the National Council of Women.
1894
King sits at the bed of a dying child; he has conducted religious services and read to the patients at the Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto ever since he came to the city; like his hero, Gladstone, he tries to help the underprivileged.
1895
Protesting U of T hiring policies, King addresses a large crowd of students; he graduates with a Bachelor of Arts, but the U of T refuses to give him a scholarship to study for his master’s degree; the University of Chicago (U of C) offers him a scholarship, but family financial difficulties prevent him from accepting it; he decides to work as a tutor and a journalist for a year and study law in the evenings.
1896
1896
King receives a Bachelor of Laws degree from U of T.
Liberal Wilfrid Laurier becomes the first French-speaking Roman Catholic prime minister of Canada; he appoints Clifford Sifton minister of the interior with instructions to encourage immigration to the organized North-West Territories; he appoints William Mulock as postmaster general.
Mrs. Menden, a fortuneteller, accurately prophesies King’s future; the U of C again offers him a scholarship to study political economy; he moves to Chicago and briefly moves into Hull-House, where he works as a volunteer.
1897
1897
With the encouragement of Postmaster General William Mulock, a family friend, King studies the sweat shop system; he writes his thesis on the International Typographical Union and receives his Master of Arts from U of T.
While he is in London attending a colonial conference, Canadian prime minister Wilfrid Laurier is knighted by Queen Victoria.
Ishbel, Lady Aberdeen, founds the Victorian Order of Nurses in Canada.
1898
1898
King goes to Harvard University and receives a master’s degree.
William Gladstone, former British Liberal prime minister and social reformer, dies.
Having met nurse Mathilde Grosset the previous year while recovering from typhoid fever, King contemplates marriage; his family reminds him that his “first duty is to those at home;” he recovers from his love affair while holidaying in Rhode Island where he tutors the sons of a wealthy family and meets Julia Grant, the granddaughter of Ulysses S. Grant.
The Earl of Minto becomes Canada’s Governor General.
