The Beckton Ranch near Cannington Manor, Saskatchewan was renowned in the late 1800s for their fine livestock, fox hunts, and other English gentlemen activities.
The Beckton Ranch, also known as “Didsbury,” in its prime, circa 1889 [correction, after 1911]
The ranch house today from approximately the same view.
This photo circa 1887 shows the house on the far left, the one barn remaining in the middle, and the foreman’s house on the far left
This photo shows the house rubble is behind the trees on the left, the old barn in the center, and the corner of the foreman’s house on the right.
This shows the foreman’s house looking away from the other buildings out to the flat Saskatchewan prairie.
The barn slowly sinks into rubble.
The Beckton Ranch, also known as “Didsbury,” in its prime, circa 1889 [correction, after 1911]
The ranch house today from approximately the same view.
This photo circa 1887 shows the house on the far left, the one barn remaining in the middle, and the foreman’s house on the far left
This photo shows the house rubble is behind the trees on the left, the old barn in the center, and the corner of the foreman’s house on the right.
This shows the foreman’s house looking away from the other buildings out to the flat Saskatchewan prairie.
The barn slowly sinks into rubble.
Click here for more information about the Ranch.
Images and captions from commenters below
As per all the wonderful comments below, here is a photo Christina sent of the Taylor family, taken at the Ranch, sometime in the summer of 1942.
Thanks to Kyla Caswell for commenting below alerting me to this video of the ranch “today.”
15 Responses
I lived at Didsbury from 1941 to 1949. My grandfather, Thomas Speirs Taylor, was sent from Paris, Ontario, with his family, in 1911,to take up farming there. Thomas’ brother, David, had bought it from the Gerald Simpsons, who had taken it over after the Becktons left. My father, Herbert Creighton Taylor, the eldest son, farmed it and married my mother, Josephine Dunbar Newcombe, from Weymouth North, NS, in 1939. I was the first child, Mary Christina, born in 1941, followed by brother Roy, in 1945, and Robert in 1948. Because my father had a serious breakdown in 1949, we had to sell the Ranch, and moved to Nova Scotia. We sold it to Harvey Hancock. I have a lot of pictures dating from the earliest years. Would like to talk more.
Hi, my name is Philip Tonnellier. My mother was a Jackson. She was raised a few kilometers from Cannington Lake in the farm just North of Ed McCullough. My mother was a good friend with the Taylors that lived near Parkman. Don’t know if they would be relations to you. My uncle, Harvey Hancock, hosted my brother and I on the Beckton Ranch during the summer. I remember well the mansion complete with the large staircase and pool room. Tourists often came for guided tours back in that time frame. In the early 60’s a corner of the mansion started to collapse (water in the rocks). So the Hancocks moved into the ranch house which was also made of stone. A few years later the Hancock family moved to Arcola. I recall the stone barn and even a stone building that housed a flour mill. I would love to get my hands on some of your pictures. Brings back many fond memories. Thanks for your post.
Hi, Philip. I am trying to put more “bones” on this story. My dad, Herb Taylor, sold the Ranch
to your uncle, Harvey Hancock in 1949, on a lease purchase agreement of some kind. He in
turn sold it to Art Dennis. When we visited the Ranch site in 1966, Art still owned it, and was
not living in the house, but used the living room as a grain bin! Consequently, the fir floor
was sagged from the weight — not intended for that purpose, of course. My brother Roy
visited later, and showed pictures of the deterioration of the whole site.
I am glad to have a bit of history of the Hancocks to add to the story.
Thanks for sharing, Christina Please email me directly if you care to. The address is on the site.
Hi Christina, Thomas was my great grandfather. John (Jack) and Myrtle Taylor were my grandparents, and Martin is my dad. We are in Ontario this week for Keith Taylor’s funeral. I am sitting with my parents and Evelyn (Taylor) Green’s sons, reminiscing about family history, and we discovered this blog post with your comment. We all agree that we would love to connect with you.
Hi, Colleen. I am indeed Martin’s cousin, and so delighted to connect with the family. I have Cameron’s book that he wrote about his Dad, and was looking through it after Tina sent me the latest post. I am attaching a picture of the Taylor family taken at the Ranch in the summer of 1942. I didn’t see it in Cam’s book, so maybe you don’t have it. Anyway, this might be the first of several pictures. I have an extensive photo scrapbook compiled from pictures Dad had, including pictures of when they were kids. It is a long process, but bear with me. I will tell some of my story also as time permits. To be continued. Christina Actually, not sure how to attach a picture. Tina has it, so you can get it from her.
Hello Christina, we were so delighted to read your comments from September here. I am Betty Taylor, married to your cousin, Martin Taylor. Our daughter, Colleen, found this post online when we were in Toronto a couple of weeks ago for Martin’s older brother Keith’s funeral. He was 92. We would love to connect with you. We have a beautiful picture of you and Martin together as little children that I had enlarged, and would love to share it with you. We are excited at the possibility of connecting with you.
Hi, Betty. I was just reading again parts of the book that Keith’s son Cameron gave me about his Dad. I do have a picture of Martin and me taken in 1942, and a few with other cousins,
as well as a picture of the Taylor clan. I’m not sure how to send them, but I have sent them to Tina, so maybe you can get them from her. I would really like to correspond directly with you
and Colleen. I am always interested in knowing about the people in the story, like Harvey Hancock, to whom my Dad sold the place first, and then it went to Art Dennis, a neighbour. Not sure exactly what happened there in the long term. Anyway, it is gone now, and so sad.
Just wondering if you are still looking for information on the Beckton Ranch.
I am delighted to get in on this reminder of the past. Yes, I remember Martin, and I have that picture of Martin and myself, as well as others. I also remember Keith and others of the family.
I was always intrigued with the windmill at the farm where they grew up. So sorry to hear of Keith’s passing, but he lived a long life. I shall write more soon. Please keep the good memories
coming. Christina
Hi, Tina. A note on the first photo. It is not around 1889, because the verandah was added by my grandfather at some point after 1911. I have photos from much earlier that show an open verandah. I remember a huge wasps nest preserved in one corner of the verandah, inside! Also an old phonograph that didn’t work very well. Had to work it with my hand to make it play! Funny, the things you remember. Till next time. Christina
We were shown around the ranch on this trip by Neil Dennis, a neighbor, and probably the son of Art Dennis mentioned in a comment above. He didn’t, then, own the land, but he did lease the grazing for his cattle.
I’m in awe that exactly 12 years after you first published this post, Christina Bruce made her comment, which we found just a couple of months later. God works in mysterious ways.
I am a publisher and one of my authors recently started a podcast. After just two episodes, she felt like she had gotten what she needed out of it and was tempted to let it fizzle. I gave her a pep talk about the difference between what she feels she needs and what her readers need. In the spirit of service, she decided to continue and posted the third episode just a couple of days later.
All that to say, thank you for faithfully putting up this blog post. Perhaps, at the time, it was merely interesting to you, but over a decade later it has provided a lifeline for our family.
Thank you so much, Tina, for facilitating this lost connection. It is exciting to have found Martin’s cousin and are able to reconnect after so many years.
It is amazing to me that your post about the Didsbury/Beckton Ranch in September 2011 was found 12 years later and responded to by Christina and Phil in September of 2023! Then, that my daughter would happen onto it in November 2023 as we were discussing our family history.
We appreciate the pictures you have posted and especially this last one from Christina of the family. We have an aerial view of the ranch but I don’t know what year it would have been taken. I have sent that one to you, as well as, one of Christina and Martin. I tried to post them here, but it didn’t work, so I would be grateful if you would post them Tina.
Thank you for caring about preserving Saskatchewan history.
What a wonderful blog this is, especially for the Taylor Family. I am Janis Taylor Finlayson born July 1946 the youngest daughter of David Thomas Speirs Taylor and his wife Jean. My older sister Sharon Taylor Damery is the baby in my mother’s arms in the Taylor Family Picture. Sharon was born in September 1941 and our sister Barbara Taylor in July 1943 so the picture was likely taken just before Barbara was born. So very interested in hearing more about our distant cousins.
Prairie Past just posted drone footage of a fly over of the ranch from the last couple years. It is pretty much completely gone, except what I think is the foreman’s house. Most of the images on this blog aren’t showing anymore, by the way. I am the granddaughter of Helen in the Taylor family photo. She was actually born in the foreman’s house in 1922.