The Taylor's Move Westward

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Researching common surnames is tricky, because there are just so many people that are possible matches. Sorting out one from another can be difficult to impossible. As such, it is unfortunately not yet possible to take my Taylor line back as far as many of my other lines. Regardless, this is the line of my birth father, so I will do it as much justice as I can. The surname itself is English in origin, though it was found widely throughout Scotland, Wales, and Ireland as well. Its comes from the French word "tailleur" in about the 12th century, and means "cutter of cloth".  Although the Tailor spelling is most common, many variations were created during the centuries when spelling was undertaken using "sounds-like" logic rather than any type of standardization.

Tailors were members of the craft guilds in early England, when it was common to use a surname that related to ones occupation.

The Taylor surname has been found in America as far back as the early 1600's, but the earliest my specific line of Taylor's can be reliably traced is to a man named Josiah W. Taylor, who was born in North Carolina in about 1781. In approximately 1807, he married a woman named Elizabeth (last name unknown), also from NC, and they started a family. By 1820, they were living in Rockingham County, NC, and had 4 children- 1 girl, and 3 boys (see Note 1). This area of NC was first heavily settled by Whites in the 1760's, so it is likely that it was his father, rather than him, who first came to the state, but we do not yet have a record for him. Most of the early settlers came from VA by way of the Great Wagon Road, originally an Iroquois Indian Path that started in Philadelphia. White settlers had been expanding this path to accommodate wagons since the 1730s, and by the mid-1750s, the expansion reached into upper North Carolina where Rockingham Co. is found.

The Great Wagon Road, the southern branch of which was called the Carolina Road, was a major route of travel for settlers starting in the 1740s. The blue circle identifies Rockingham Co. in the north central part of the state.

In about 1832, Josiah W. moved his family to Newton Co., Georgia. This part of GA had previously been settled by the Muscogee Creek Native Americans. However, settler outcry following the 1814 Red-Stick Rebellion was the final straw in convincing the US government that the Indians needed to leave. Beginning in 1821, the US government began selling Indian land, acquired through forced concessions, to White settlers using a lottery system. Then, after Andrew Jackson was elected in 1829, the Indian Removal Act was passed, and by 1834 all the remaining Creek Indians had been forcibly removed. Josiah W. does not seem to have arrived to Newton Co., GA during the 1821 land grant lottery, so it us unlikely that he was the first land owner, but he does mention in his will that the land was originally called Lot #243. Not long after arriving in GA, his oldest daughter married a man named Elijah from the neighboring Plunkett family. By 1835, all of his children were of legal age (21), which was fortunate, because only 4 years later, in the summer of 1839, Josiah W. died at the age of only 58.

Map showing the years of the Georgia land lottery grants. Land in Newton County, Georgia, (shown circled in blue, and originally part of Henry County), was first sold in the 1821 lottery. Land sold in the 1805/1807 lotteries was from non-coerced treaties prior to the 1814 rebellion, though many of the terms of those treaties were not later honored by the US government.

Artists depiction of the 1827 Georgia Land Lottery. The first barrel had slips of paper with the names of all the lottery participants. The second barrel had lot numbers for all the land claims available, as well as enough blank slips to add up to the total number of people participating. For each draw, a slip was taken from each barrel. If your name was paired with a lot number, you were allowed to pay the grant fee to claim it. If you chose not to claim it, it was auctioned off to the highest bidder.

In Josiah W.'s 1839 last will and testament, a number of things are made clear. One, his wife is still living, but is also of failing health (they were both in their late 50s). Two, his oldest daughter, Mary, has already died, (probably around 1836), but has left two grandchildren: Elizabeth Jane and Charlie Taylor Plunkett. Three, his sons Alford and Richard are still living nearby (in fact, his youngest, Alford, is living on a part of his father's land already). And four, his third born son, William Wesley Taylor (b. 1814), has left for the Republic of Texas sometime in the past, has not bothered to write since, and is now cut out of the will. Guess which child I am related to? Yep, William.

Will of Josiah W. Taylor (see Note 2), signed Jan 1839, in which he states, "2nd I give and bequeath unto my son William Taylor who I presume is now in the Republik of Texas, the Sum of one Dollar." Note that giving $1 was a way of making clear that one had not simply forgotten to mention a person, but rather was making a conscious decision not to leave them anything of value.

William Wesley seemed struck with wander lust throughout his life, and before his time on earth was done, he would travel as far as the shores of California. For now though, he made his way to the new Republic of Texas, which was not yet formally a part of the United States. He stopped in the city of Nacogdoches, once the second largest town in Texas, and then known as the Gateway to Texas. The eastern part of future Texas was being heavily settled in the late 1830's after winning its War of Independence with Mexico in 1836. Like many others, William Wesley must have been taken in by its abundant cheap land and new nation idealism. In July 1840, he married a woman named Elizabeth Anderson from Alabama, and they started a family which would one day expand to 9 children (8 of whom survived to adulthood). His third born son, Josiah Anderson Taylor (b.1844), was my direct ancestor.

Artists depiction of the Battle of the Alamo (current day San Antonio ) in Feb 1836- a ten day siege which left almost all of the hopelessly outnumbered 200 White frontiersmen defending the fort dead. The resolution to the Texas War of Independence came two months later on 21 April 1836. Troops gathered under General Sam Houston re-attacked the fort while the Mexican soldiers slept, with battle cries of "Remember the Alamo!". Half of the Mexican army was killed, and the rest were taken prisoner. Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna signed a peace treaty shortly after. Texas finally officially became a state on 29 Dec, 1845.

Sometime in the 1850s, perhaps after the death of his wife in 1858 (likely in childbirth at the age of 35), William picked up stakes and pushed westwards again with his 8 children, this time to a farm in Corsicana, Navarro, TX. Despite his still young family, he did not remarry. His oldest child, Margaretta, was a teenager by then though, and was likely a big help for her younger siblings, most of whom were male. However, in Oct 1860, Margaretta married, and moved to Freestone Co., TX, with her new husband Abe Boyd. Four months later, the political situation leading up to the Civil War was coming to a boil. In Mar 1861, Texas formally seceded from the Union, and on 12 Apr 1861, the first shots of the war were fired in SC. By Sep 1862, the two oldest boys, William Alfred and Josiah A., joined the Confederate cause as part of the voluntary 20th Texas Cavalry. This left the next oldest child, 16 year old Robert, to help with his 4 younger siblings, who ranged in age from 4-14 years old at that time.

After fighting many battles across AR and Indian Territory (future OK), The 20th Texas Cavalry laid down their arms on 23 Jun 1865. William A. and Josiah A. returned home as young men of 22 and 20 years respectively. Unfortunately, Civil War soldiers were not provided with the land grants that were usually rewarded for military service. Furthermore, Confederate soldiers were barred from participating in the 1862 Homestead Act. And while the war had ended, the south was in disarray, both economically and socially. Yet with 4 boys reaching the age of maturity in the 1860s, what was this widowed father to do? The answer- Go West! Specifically to El Monte, Los Angeles Co., California, where the prior gold rush had driven wheat prices up to very lucrative levels. All but 3 of his living children (Margaret and Josiah A., who were already married, and James, who had just reached adulthood) chose to go, and they arrived to the area late in 1871 (Ref 1). Soon after arriving though, William Wesley Taylor died at the age of 59. None the less, his four children stayed in CA and raised families of their own, and hopefully William W.'s felt his ambitions for adventure has been attained. 

Memorial Grave marker for William Wesley Taylor placed in the El Monte, CA Savannah Memorial Park Cemetery. The exact location of his burial is unknown.

William Wesley's son, Josiah A. Taylor (my ancestor), was one of the three kids who stayed behind in Texas. In 1867, a year and a half after returning from the war, he married 16 year old Susan Celestial Little from Arkansas, and they moved southward near Buffalo, Leon Co., TX to start a family. Susan's family never lived in Texas, so perhaps Josiah first met her while he was serving in the military. Josiah A. was a farmer like his father, and he and Susan had 9 children (7 of whom lived to adulthood). Also like his father, his wife passed suddenly in 1888 at the age of only 38 (again likely in childbirth). Josiah was 43 at the time. 

Grave marker for Susan Celestial (Little) Taylor at the Wheelock Cemetery in Flo, Leon Co., TX.

Unlike his father, Josiah A. decided not to continue the remainder of his life in widowhood. Within a year, he remarried to a much younger woman named Mary Jane Sessions. Mary Jane was 23 years old (only two years older than his oldest child, Cora), and was an orphan originally from Alabama. She had lost her mother at the age of 5. Her father had quickly remarried, and soon had 3 more children, but then he died as well when she was 11. Sadly, her step-mother was unable (or unwilling) to keep all of the children from the first marriage. Instead, she and her younger siblings were split up and went to live with different families, including her identical twin sister, Lillie Jane. Mary Jane was sent to Cherokee Co., TX to live with the Deaton family, which must be how she met the Taylors. So although it may have been a bit unusual for a young woman to enter into marriage with a much older man that already had 7 children, it may also have been a practical choice for an orphaned young woman with few options. Josiah A. and Mary Jane went on to have 10 more children (8 of whom lived to adulthood). Their third born child, Oliver Anderson Taylor (b.1893), was my direct ancestor.

Josiah A. Taylor with his second wife and children (Back row, left to right : Gertrude, Norman, Cora, Oliver. Front row: Josiah, Lee Roy, Ben, Mary Jane (Sessions)). Circa 1900.

Lillie Jane (Sessions) Drury and Mary Jane (Sessions) Taylor, circa 1940s

When Andrew Jackson forced the southeastern Native Americans west on the Trail of Tears in the late 1830s, he deposited them in an area that would one day become part of Oklahoma, but which was then unorganized territory that extended as far west as future Utah and as far north as Canada. Of course, as would so often be repeated, it was not long before White settlers wanted this land too. Congress passed a "solution" in the form of the 1851 Indian Appropriations Act, which whittled Indian territory down to 5 reservations (one for each of the so called 5 Civilized Tribes) that all fit within future Oklahoma state. Then they rounded the Native Americans up, and forced them to relocate once again. In return, the US military was supposed to provide military protection for their much diminished numbers from further land incursions and attacks by White settlers or other tribes.

Map showing forced relocations of the "5 Civilized Tribes" after the Indian Removal Act of 1830

This "solution" became problematic once Civil War began. Through economic adaptation to White settlers, the institution of chattel slavery had become a part of some Indian cultures too. Although only about 3% of Native Americans owned slaves overall, the custom varied considerably by tribe, with Cherokees holding the most (up to 8% in the 1860s), down to the Seminole, who were anti-slavery, and often took in escaped slaves (see Note 3). Many of the Native Americans in Indian Territory also saw themselves as southerners though, and had interests in siding with the newly ceded Confederate States of America. Furthermore, Texas had a particular interest in courting the tribes to their side so that Indian Territory could act as buffer between them and the Union states to the north. Additionally, the Confederates also saw the Oklahoma territory as a gateway to further westward expansion now that MO and KS were blocked. None the less, many Native Americans were interested in trying to remain neutral during the White conflict, so that better land terms could possibly be renegotiated with the victors when it was over. Thus, many factions within the tribes themselves were stirred up by the political conflict within the US.

Red indicates the states of the Confederate while Blue indicates states of the Union (light blue were border Union states that still supported slavery but did not cede). Gray indicates unorganized territories of no particular affiliation, with the exception of the Indian Territories of future Oklahoma.

After formation of the Confederacy in Feb 1861, Confederate delegates began to pressure the various Indian tribes for their alliance. By May 1861, Union armies had seen enough of this activity that they decided to pull out of their role as territory protectors, and withdraw to Kansas instead. Native Americans seeking protection from White settlers or war skirmishes would need to flee northward to Kansas with them and become war refugees. Those who did though, suffered a bitter winter of exposure and starvation as their were no preparations for their arrival. Those who stayed felt equally in peril. No longer having the promised military protection, and surrounded by Confederate power, anti-slavery Union supporting tribes began to reconsider their position. By Nov 1861, most tribes in Indian Territory had sided with the Confederacy.

Native Americans being sworn in for Confederate military service

Siding with the Confederates during the war proved disastrous for the Native Americans once the war was lost. All treaties made with the Confederacy during the war were declared to be null and void, and tribes were informed that new treaties would need to be negotiated. A mandatory summons to each of the five tribes was issued by the US government to send a representative for these negotiations. During these meetings, Confederate siding tribes were forced to cede additional land, which the US government set aside to use for later resettlement of the Plains Indians during further westward expansions. Then, in 1871, it went a step further and declared that it would no longer recognize any Indian Nations as having sovereignty separate from the US, and thus would no longer treaty with them period. One of the many effects of all this was that it created areas within Indian Territory that were considered "Unassigned", a designation which proved rife for White squatters. The newly forming railroad companies, in particular, further fanned the flames of these settler incursions in order to drive up demand for travel west.

1880 flyer put out by the railroad industry advertising "Unassigned Indian Lands" to White settlers

Initially the US government tried to keep the squatters out. But the 1880s saw the formation of a particularly vocal group of land rights activists called the "Boomers" that would not be swayed. By 1889, the US government had given up defense of a position it had never really wanted to take anyways. It signed into law another appropriations act that would open Indian Territory to White settlement under the 1862 Homestead Act, and officially designated it as Oklahoma Territory in 1890. The Oklahoma land rush was soon in full swing. Josiah A., already having 6 new kids with his second wife Mary, was ready to take part in this movement by 1898. Though still not eligible for a land grant, by the 1900 census, they are found living as tenant farmers in Township 1S, Range 4W of Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory (near Alma). Not long after, Mary Jane's twin sister Lillie, now Lillie Drury, followed with her family and settled about 15 miles away in the city of Graham.

Land rush unfolding in Guthrie, OK (just north of present day Oklahoma City) 10 days after the 22 Apr 1889 government sanctioned opening of Indian Territory for settlement. Would-be settlers would stake their claim for 160 acres with tents, and then rush to the land office to make it official as quickly as possible before someone else could take it from them.

Map showing survey lots for the "Unassigned Lands" of the Chickasaw Nation in 1903. The green circle shows the location of the first homestead (near Alma) which was being rented by Josiah A.'s family in 1900. The blue square shows the approximate location (west of Ardmore, then part of Morgan Twp.) of the family home in 1910. The purple circle show the location of Mary Jane's twin sister Lillie Drury in Graham. 

Like his Taylor father and grandfather before him, Josiah A. died in his late 50's. Mary Jane, only 38 at the time (1904), was 7 months pregnant with their 10th child. Unlike what occurred in her childhood though, Mary Jane seems to have tried to keep the family together, though most of the older children from Josiah's first marriage had already left home and resettled back in Leon Co., TX. Mary Jane ended up having to move to another property, perhaps something more affordable, or simply something easier to manage, being closer to the city of Ardmore compared with the previous farm. In 1910, they were still renting the land, which by 1907 was officially considered a part of Carter Co., OK. Her oldest son, Oliver A., and her youngest step-son, James Robert, helped her to work the farm and the rest attended school. Mary Jane's twin sister, Lillie, and her large family were still nearby as well.

Mary Jane (Sessions) Taylor and family, probably about 1907. Back row, left to right: Norman, Oliver, Gertrude, Ethel. Front row, left to right: Nora, Lee Roy, Ben, Arthur, and Mary Jane.

Farming life was hard though, and periodic droughts, accompanied by fluctuating grain prices made it tricky business. Meanwhile, Mary Jane's oldest daughter, Ethel, had married in 1907 and moved away to Mitchell Co., TX with her new husband Luther Carpenter. Then, sadly, her next oldest daughter, Gertrude, died in 1910 at the age of 18. She was laid to rest alongside her father, sister Ruby, and step-brother Joseph in the Graham Cemetery. Next, in 1915, at the age of 21, her oldest son Oliver married Elma Evans from Bastrop Co., TX, and got a job in Fayette Co., TX as a railroad telegrapher. Perhaps unable to manage the farming without him, Mary Jane soon decided to pack up, take her remaining children, and leave Oklahoma behind. She re-settled in Mitchell Co., TX, where her daughter Ethel's family was living. Most of her children settled there after marriage as well, though some went back to Carter Co., OK eventually. In later life she remarried (twice), but never had more children.

Josiah Anderson Taylor's grave marker (d. 1904) at the Graham Cemetery in Graham, Carter Co., OK

Mary Jane (Sessions) Taylor gravestone at the Colorado City Cemetery in Colorado City, Mitchell Co., TX. About 1928 she remarried to Phillip Byrd (d.1944) and sometime after 1940 she remarried again to Needham Browne (d.1948).

Oliver A., my direct ancestor, seems to have been a bit less settled in life than many of his other siblings. Although only 11 when his father Josiah died, he was the oldest boy of the second marriage, and perhaps had more than the typical amount expected of him. He also seems to have been more intellectually oriented than most of his siblings. He attended school through the 10th grade (10.5 was average at that time, and only 8.2 was the median for rural males) whereas most of his siblings had dropped out by 8th grade, some even as early as 5th grade. He never moved to Mitchell Co., TX to be close to his family like most of his siblings, but he and Elma had three children of their own, Oliver Jr., James W. (b.1917, my direct line), and Dorothy. Oliver, Jr. died at only 3 months of age due to "accidental asphyxiation" (which was often really SIDS in the years before this was better understood). By 1920, Oliver and Elma had moved to New Ulm, Austin Co., TX. There they divorced in about 1932, during the Great Depression, after which Elma became a practical nurse in a private home to support herself.

Overexposed photo of Oliver A. Taylor circa 1925

Oliver remarried again shortly after the divorce, and moved to Taylor, Williamson Co., TX, but by 1940, he was divorced once again. Then in 1949, he married his third wife, Sophie (Liesman) Voight, and they moved to New Braunfels, Comal Co., TX where they spent the remainder of their years together. Oliver's son James would continue his father's intellectual bend and go on to become a mechanical engineer. He would also serve as a Capt. in the army during WWII, and would one day become my grandfather.

Grave marker for Oliver A. Taylor & Sophie (Liesman) Taylor at the Guadalupe Valley Memorial Park in New Braunfels, TX

Notes

1) Due to the many Josiah Taylor's, there is some question as to which one is the correct one. On the 1880 census, Josiah's youngest son Alford lists both his, and his parents states of birth as North Carolina. William Wesley sometimes lists his state of birth on the census as NC (1850), and other times as GA (1860). Assuming the family really is from NC originally though, it is likely that they were in Newton Co., Georgia by 1833, as that is when/where his oldest child, Mary, was married. 

There is more than one Josiah Taylor living in NC during the early 1800s, but the only one whose family makeup seems to match the 4 children listed in Josiah's will is the one living in Rockingham Co., NC in 1820 and 1830. Unfortunately, census records do not list names for anyone but the head of household before 1850. Using the stated age ranges/sexes of his children though, it is likely they were all born between about 1808-1816. This would suggest that Josiah and Elizabeth were married around 1807, and should be on the 1810 NC census as well, but there are no census records for nearby areas that match the family makeup well for that year. The best we can assume at this point is that they are from NC originally, and moved to Newton Co., GA sometime between Jun 1830 and Dec 1833.

Also note that the Josiah and Elizabeth (Harris) Taylor, who were married in Stokes Co., NC in 1805 (which is right next to Rockingham Co.) are not the same couple. They were still living in Stokes Co, NC in 1850, and were both buried there in the early 1860s.

For future research, it would be interesting to trace some of the other Taylor's they lived by in TX to see if they might be related further back. Particularly those by the Wheeler Cemetery in Flo, Leon, TX and those living in Fort Boggy, Leon Co., TX in the 1840s.

2) The writing in Josiah W.'s will is one of the more flowery pieces of prose I have read for these types of documents, and would suggest that he was a rather religious man. Interestingly, though obviously economic in nature, many early craft guilds in England derived from both religious and political interests, and some of those associated with the Tailors were particularly pious. My favorite part of Josiah W.'s will is as follow: 

"first and principally above all I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in a decent Christian burial nothing doubting that I shall receive it again at the general resurrection by the mighty power of God, and as touching(?) such worldly estate where with it has pleased God to help me with in this life I give demise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form"

3) Well before the introduction of African chattel slaves by Whites, many Native American tribes practiced slavery by means of intra-racial war prisoners. They were usually noncombatant women and children whose family member had been killed in battle. They were not necessarily seen as an inferior people, however, and often eventually became a part of the new family unit.

References

"Fresno, Tulare, and Kern Counties, California Biographical History" [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2003. Original data: A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Fresno, Tulare, and Kern, California. Chicago, IL, USA: Lewis Publishing, [1892], p.726.

For Birth, Marriage, Death, Obit, Census, and Will records, please see links to Wikitree, Ancestry, or Family Search.