Sunday, March 18, 2018

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


Saturday, March 17, 2018

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.

Monday, March 12, 2018

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.


Friday, March 9, 2018

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







Thursday, March 8, 2018

Is this really happening?

For those of you who know me, I am a big genealogy and history nerd. I am prone to going on deep dives hunting for small details surrounding my family history. Sometimes I take a breath and let my Ancestry family history rest for awhile, but I always return, wanting to add more branches to my tree. This spring I've been given the opportunity to travel to my ancestral home in Yorskshire, England with my older cousin who has been there several times and is as genealogy obsessed as I am. It's a trip that I always thought would happen "someday," and someday is now. Is this really happening?

I've always been interested in genealogy, but my genealogy obsession really started after my children were born around 10 years ago. Maybe from a desire to pass this information on to them. Although, they swear that they do not like "old timey stuff." I hope that someday they will care about it.

My introduction to "old timey stuff" happened when I visited my grandparents' homes as a child. I would always gravitate towards the black, leather-bound 1920s photo album at Grandmother's house or the "big red book" at Granny's house. I would always ask, who are these people, how are they related to us, tell me a story about them. Soon, I began tagging along with my Grandmother when she was a docent in historic Madison, Indiana. She would dress up in costume and give tours of old homes and a doctor's office there. Besides being creeped out by an actual skeleton in the closet at the doctor's office, I really enjoyed being her history sidekick.

So, this trip is kind of a dream for me. I hope to visit the old homesteads, churches, towns, cemeteries where my family originated. I also plan to do a little genealogy research, although most of that has been done online already. It may sound extremely boring to some, but for me and my cousin it's exciting. Our family came from Yorkshire to southeastern Indiana in the early 1800s around the time of statehood in Indiana. Now I journey back to Yorkshire 200 years later, and I can't wait to see what I discover.