The Lockwoods in America

Now I am following the Lockwood-Taylor family to the United States in 1830. In a previous post I talked mostly about the Taylor farm and descendants. Now I want to talk about the Lockwood family connections in Indiana and the greater United States. As I mentioned earlier, Ellis Lockwood (my 3rd great-grandmother) died shortly after my 2nd great-grandfather George Lockwood Taylor was born in 1834. But before that, Ellis's younger sister Elizabeth Lockwood got married in England to William Emerson, and they also came to Dearborn County, Indiana in 1832. They lived near the Taylors and likely spent much time together in those two years before Ellis passed away. Perhaps Aunt Elizabeth Emerson told George and his sister Elizabeth about their mother and the Lockwood family back in England. George Lockwood Taylor and his sister Elizabeth Taylor Alexander remained close all of their lives. They are pictured here with their cousins around 1900.

George Lockwood Taylor and sister Elizabeth Taylor Alexander
 (seated in front of him) with their Smith cousins

I do not know much more about Elizabeth Lockwood Emerson (1808-1880) who followed her sister Ellis to Indiana, but I hope that she provided comfort to the family after they lost Ellis at such a young age. She may have written letters back to the Lockwood family who remained in England. Perhaps she told George and Elizabeth about their 1st cousin John Lockwood Kipling who went to work in India as an artist and teacher. Did she help keep these Lockwood family stories and connections alive? Aunt Elizabeth Emerson passed away in 1880 before Rudyard Kipling would go on to achieve great fame as a writer.

Elizabeth Lockwood Emerson grave in Wright's Corner, Indiana

Through an old letter that was recently shared with me by my cousin, I found the answers to some of my questions. George Lockwood Taylor was the one to share stories with his family of both the Lockwood and Taylor families. He enjoyed Rudyard Kipling's works and he told his children and grandchildren about their connection through the family tree. In an excerpt of a letter to Kipling in 1932, my Great Aunt Theresa shares some of the genealogy and lets Kipling know his relatives are great fans of his work:

Kipling responded congenially with this letter, admitting that he does not know much of his genealogy:

I almost forgot that Rudyard Kipling married an American woman, Caroline Balestier. And they did come to the United States to live in Vermont from roughly 1893-1896. They built a home a home in the southern tip of Vermont and called it Naulakha. And now it is part of Vermont's Landmark Trust, a historic vacation rental. Now I know where I want to take my next family vacation! But back to the subject at hand, I wonder if Kipling knew of his cousins in Indiana when he settled in Vermont. Were there any suggestions from the older set to "connect with your family." Aunt Theresa's letter makes me think that there was no runion during that time before he went back to England.

So, what does it matter to know that I have a famous author in the family tree? Besides making my genealogy a bit more interesting, I think it may have been inspiring to the relatives here in Indiana living a simpler life. It may have encouraged them to read and to be educated. I know that 2nd great-grandfather George appreciated Kipling's writings and had many volumes. One volume has been passed down to me and now I am reading it to my children. It is still inspiring to think that an ancestor made their living by writing stories both fictional and true.

George Lockwood Taylor, circa 1870s

George Lockwood Taylor's volume of Kipling poetry

Family Origins: The Lockwoods

In a previous post I traced the Taylor family from Whitby, North Yorkshire to Deaborn County, Indiana. Now I want to focus on the family of Ellis Lockwood who wed John Taylor in England before going to America in 1830. The Lockwood branch of the family has a particularly interesting and notable history.

My 3rd great-grandmother Ellis Lockwood was born to William Lockwood and Ruth Merry in 1799 in Skelton-in-Cleveland near the North York Moors. I believe William Lockwood worked as a house carpenter and Ruth Merry was the daughter of Peter Merry of Glaisdale, North Yorkshire, who served as a rent collector or steward at Mulgrave Castle. The Mulgrave Estate was located just inland from the coastal town of Whitby. A famous painting was made by Sir David Wilkie of The Rent Day at Mulgrave Castle, which included my 5th great-grandfather Peter Merry. This is the oldest image I have of a family member, probably made around 1800. I was able to purchase an engraving of this work to hang at home:

Peter Merry is seated at the desk on the left.

Peter's daughter Ruth Lockwood had 12 children including my 3rd great-grandmother Ellis. Eleven of these children lived to maturity, including a younger sister for Ellis named Frances Lockwood. Frances would go on to marry a Methodist minister named Joseph Kipling. Their son John Lockwood Kipling married Alice MacDonald and became an artist and teacher in India. Their son Joseph "Rudyard" Kipling, born in India, went on to become one of England's most famous authors and poets. He is my 2nd cousin 3 times removed. While Kipling grew up in India, he knew little or nothing of his great aunt Ellis Lockwood or his cousins that had gone to America. The family tree below illustrates the parallel generations of the Lockwood family carried on in India/England and the United States. They bare resemblance in name and even perhaps likeness:

I'm a very visual person and always on the hunt for images to help piece together a better understanding of my family history. I have no image of my 3rd great-grandmother Ellis Lockwood who journeyed to America. But I am able to learn much of her sister Frances and the Kipling family. Frances Lockwood Kipling's portrait is in the collection of the National Trust in England and it gives me some idea of what Ellis might have looked like.  I'll take it.

The Taylors in America

Upon arrival in Indiana in 1830, John Taylor worked for local farmers, which he recorded in his diary, and his wife Ellis gave birth to two more children Elizabeth in 1832 and George Lockwood in 1834. At some point they obtained a large parcel of land in Manchester Township, Dearborn County, Indiana. Ellis unfortunately passed away in 1834 leaving 5-month-old George to be nursed and cared for by a neighboring family. We don't know the circumstances of Ellis's death, only that her infant son George Lockwood Taylor survived and thrived and returned to his father John who remarried a neighbor Marjorie Darling and had 3 more daughters Anna, Frona, and Hannah Taylor.

Manchester, York, and Miller Townships
Deaborn County Atlas 1875

Plats of land, Manchester Township, Dearborn County Atlas 1875
G.L.Taylor Farm, Section 24 (upper right corner)

George Lockwood Taylor married a local girl Rachel Ursula Smith, who was also of Yorkshire parentage but born in the United States. They built a frame house on the land inherited from John Taylor and raised their family. Of their seven children, only three made it to adulthood. Their house was passed down to their son Bayard Taylor (a farmer) and his wife Edith Devore (a teacher) after they married in 1900.They raised their six children there, one of whom was my Grandad Roger.

Taylor Farmhouse, Circa 1910

Rachel and George Lockwood Taylor, circa 1900

Bayard and Edith Taylor Family, circa 1919
L to R: Elinor, Grace, Bayard, Roger, Lois, Edith, Theresa, Wesley

The Taylor family had lived on their large plot of land (over 800 acres I believe) for four generations until my great-grandfather Bayard passed away in 1939. My Grandad Roger and his brother were young men starting their careers, then entering military service for World War II. Their older sisters had gotten married and moved away or had become teachers. It seems there was no one able to take over the farm and Edith had to sell it.

In the summer of 2016, we had a chance to revisit the Taylor farm thanks to our cousin inquiring with the gracious owners. And it remained much the same as it had been when my Grandad lived there. The house, the barn, the forests, the fields, and even the water pump were all still there. The land was not split up. It was an amazing experience for me and my relatives to walk the land where our family had lived and worked and played from their arrival in 1830 until they left the farm around 1940. I will always treasure that experience, and I have a feeling that this trip to Yorkshire will be just as meaningful for me.

Taylor Farmhouse, July 2016

Taylor Descendants at Taylor Farm, July 2016

Family Origins: The Taylors

In my last post, I examined my family tree and identified the four 3rd great-grandparents who were born in England and came to America. Now I want to focus in on each family branch and their town of origin, starting with the Taylors. My cousin M, who invited me on this trip to England, has been sending me family trees and histories to help me brush up on my knowledge before we visit. I owe most of my genealogical knowledge of the Taylor family to her.

Taylor is very much a part of my identity, my maiden name. A name that survived many generations, sometimes very narrowly. Our Taylor family hails from Whitby, which is situated on the northeast coast of England in the North York Moors. I know from my cousin that my 3rd great grandfather John Taylor (1800-1879) was the son of John Taylor (1765-1809), a master mariner, and Elizabeth Taylor (1775-1862). John owned part of a ship name Prosperous, and he unfortunately died (possibly at sea) in 1809, leaving his widow Elizabeth with three young children: Christiana, John, and George.



Young John Taylor met and married Frances Lockwood (1799-1834) of Skelton in 1824. By some miracle I have a small diary that belonged to John, which covers the time period 1826 to the late 1830s. In it he made notes about earnings as a farm laborer, payments to others, his daughter's schooling, and family events over the course of several years. I have no photos of John and Ellis Taylor, but I do have this small diary that originated in Whitby.

In the early years of their marriage, John and Ellis had two sons that didn't survive infancy followed by a daughter Elizabeth (b.1827) and son George (b.1829) who both died in August 1830. I'm not sure of the cause of their death, but it must have been a childhood illness that was not easily curable at the time. After having suffered the loss of four children, perhaps John and Ellis were ready for a new start in the United States. Perhaps they heard of other Yorkshire families who settled in Southeastern Indiana to farm and freely practice their Methodist faith. Whatever their reason, they set sail for America in 1830 and made their way to Dearborn County, Indiana to settle with others along Tanners Creek. I will continue the story of the Taylors in America in a future post.

How strong are my Yorkshire ties?

As far as I know, my Yorkshire (specifically North Yorkshire) heritage is from my dad's side of the family. His grandfather Bayard Taylor had parents that were first generation Americans, and their parents were all from North Yorkshire.

My 3rd great-grandparents that immigrated to the United States in the early 1800s arrived in their childhood or early adulthood from these North Yorkshire towns:

• John Taylor (1800-1879) from Whitby, arrived in U.S. 1830
• Ellis Lockwood (1799-1834) from Skelton-in-Cleveland, arrived in U.S. 1830

• Thomas Smith (1803-1863) from Thirsk, arrived in U.S. arrived in U.S. circa 1818
• Jane Collier (1807-1901) - Fruyup Dale (in the North York Moors), arrived in U.S. 1819

These four people all immigrated to Dearborn County, Indiana, along with many other families from North Yorkshire. The area they settled, along Tanners Creek, would later come to be known as the village of Guilford. John and Ellis (Lockwood) Taylor married in North Yorkshire before coming to the U.S, while Thomas and Jane (Collier) Smith married in the U.S. It is likely that the families of these two couples knew each other, as most of them were involved in the new movement of Methodism co-founded by John Wesley. We believe that these early Methodists immigrated to the U.S. seeking religious freedom from the Church of England and opportunities in land ownership and farming. I have also heard that the geography in Dearborn County was compared to that of North Yorkshire, hilly and green with both forests and fields. I can't wait to see for myself and compare when I get there.

So, how strong are my ties to Yorkshire? A couple of years ago, a product known as Ancestry DNA was widely marketed and it offered to help answer my question. So, my husband got me a kit for Christmas and it came back: 

•  Great Britain 37%
•  Ireland/Scotland/Wales 16%
•  Europe West 16%
•  Scandinavia 9%
•  Europe South 8%
•  Iberian Peninsula 8%

Okay, so the science matches the genealogy research. I should add, a significant portion of my mother's ancestry is also from England, but her family immigrated to the Virginia Colony in the 1630s, so it's harder to trace their region. All in all, I would say the ties to Yorkshire are fairly strong. And why am I so curious to know if I have significant ties to a certain country or region? I guess that's part of the reason I'm blogging about this experience, to figure out why genealogy and visiting the old sod is so important to me.

Following in the Footsteps of Aunt Lois

Aunt Lois on her trip to England, 1966

After my Yorkshire ancestors came to America in the early 1800s, I believe the first generation to return to England was my great aunt Lois. We luckily have her travel journals, which my cousin has used to retrace Aunt Lois's steps from her travels in the 1960s. The following excerpt gives an account of arriving in Whitby, North Yorkshire, one of the places we will hopefully go on our trip this spring. Aunt Lois notes the weather of the day, mentions meeting some other travelers, visiting an old homestead (perhaps), and having a very filling lunch at The Smugglers. I wonder if that restaurant is still in Whitby? (quick Google search says yes it is!) At the top of her travel log entry she writes, "Roger is 51 today." Roger is my dear Grandad, her little brother. Glad to see he makes an appearance in the  journal. I'm not sure he ever made it to England, but perhaps during World War II.

It's Happening!

When I first got the email a few weeks ago from my cousin asking if I wanted to join her and her husband on their yearly pilgrimage to England, I thought "I probably can't do it." I don't have the time or the money right now, it would be too hard to leave my family, my passport is expired, etc. But my husband, ever supportive, told me I should not rule it out. So, last Monday I called my cousin to see what the details were, where I could meet them, if I could just join for part of the trip. As I talked to my cousin, the idea gained momentum and I started looking into things and thought, "Maybe I can do this."

So, in a whirlwind this week I sent off my passport for renewal, found airfare, booked lodging, pushed down the anxious feelings about leaving the country without my immediate family. And now I have my plans made. I am going!

Now I have a million questions swirling, some of them having to do with the logistics of the trip, but some of them having to do with family history. While I research train schedules, sites to see, cultural differences, etc., I will also review my genealogy research and make note of the towns my ancestors came from, the events of their lives there, and examine some of the reasons they came to the United States. So, here on this blog I plan to write about all the things I'm thinking and feeling leading up to the trip and hopefully I'll have time to document my travels and, of course, reflect when I return.

Whitby, North Yorkshire

Birthplace of my 3rd Great-Grandfather John Taylor (1800-1879)

He arrived in the United States in 1830