Those Who Served...

I realize I haven't had many posts lately - I have been researching, but I've been neglecting updating you all. Sorry!!

Today, in honor of Veteran's Day, I thought it would be appropriate to write a little bit about the veterans in our family tree.

On my mother's side:

My grandfather, Robert Chapman, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. His brother, Frederick William, served in the U.S. Army. Below is a photograph of the Chapman family during World War II. From left to right, Robert B. Chapman; Frederick W. Chapman, Sr; Bess Chapman; Elizabeth Chapman; Frederick W. Chapman, Jr.

Further back, in a different line of the family, my great-grandfather, Albert Dean Lacey, served in the U.S. Army during World War I. Dean reached the rank of First Lieutenant in the Army, although not much is known about his service. If it hadn't been for a brief line in his marriage announcement, noting that he had recently returned from the Army, I never would have known he served at all. I am submitting a request to the military personnel records office to get copies of Dean's service records and learn a bit more about his service.

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On my father's side, the history of service starts with our current generation and goes back about as far as you can in American military history.

My cousin Jeff serves today in the National Guard, and his father, Ken, served twenty-six years in the U.S. Air Force.

My grandmother's brother, Joseph Hogan, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. My grandfather, Robert Charles Taylor, Sr, served in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Coast Guard, while his older brother, Frank, served in the U.S. Army. At my grandmother's house, I remember seeing a great picture of the two brothers in their Army uniforms. Unfortunately, I don't have a scan of that picture, but below is a picture of my grandfather when he was in the Coast Guard:

Further back, my great-grandfather, Frank Orson Joseph Taylor, served in the U.S. Navy during World War I. Like my great-grandfather on my mother's side, I don't know much about Grandpa Taylor's service, but I have requested his service records from the military personnel office.

Frank's younger brother (my great-great uncle), Robert Thomas Taylor, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and Frank's sister-in-law, my great-great aunt, Theresa Bauer, was married to U.S. Army Pvt. James Costelloe, a veteran of World War I. Pictures of James & Theresa's headstones at Long Island National Cemetery can be seen by clicking here.

Moving even further back, my 3rd great-grandfather, Andrew Orson Taylor, served in the Union Army (NY 6th Regiment, Company G) during the Civil War. Andrew served as the company drummer, then fifer, and finally served as a private. At the Battle of Irish Bend (Louisiana) in April 1863, Andrew was hit in the leg with a musket ball, stabbed in the arm with a sabre, and then, while he was on the ground after the sabre wound, he was trampled by a cavalry horse. Fortunately, Andrew survived and went home to New York City, but he would suffer disability from those injuries on and off for the rest of his life.

Tracing the family back even further through Andrew Orson's mother, Marcia Merrill, takes me to the earliest veteran that I know of in my family tree - my 6th great-grandfather, Titus Merrill, who served with the Connecticut 8th Regiment during the Revolutionary War.

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So there you have it - a lengthy history of service to our country on our family tree, people who sacrificed to give us the freedoms we enjoy today. God bless our veterans!

Who Are We? No, Really...

For as long as I can remember, I have heard the story of our Taylor ancestors - that way back when, there was a Native American (Iroquois) ancestor who was given or forced to take a last name, a completely foreign concept to those on the reservation. So, all those who were registered would take (or be given, depending on who you get the story from) the last name of the current president - in our case, Zachary Taylor - and thus comes the Taylor last name.

It's a nice story. Problem is, I'm not entirely certain that it's a true story.

I have our Taylor family back to Andrew Orson Taylor, born in 1844 in the state of Ohio, died in 1917 in New York City. According to a log of family information kept by Andrew's son, Frank Werner Taylor (b. 1878, d. 1938), Andrew's wife was a German woman by the name of Mary Helen Greenwald, and Andrew's father was Andrew Snow Taylor. Snow sounds Native American enough, right? So far, so good...

The first place I looked for info when I started looking at Andrew Orson Taylor was the U.S. Census. In 1880, I find Andrew living in New York City, married to a 'Mary Taylor', with three children - a perfect match to what I knew of Andrew from Frank's records. Under the column 'Birthplace of Father,' however, we find 'England' - same with 'Birthplace of Mother'. Well, the census isn't always completely accurate - it's self-reported information, and people do lie. I've got relatives whose ages vary as much as 10 years from decade to decade. Often discrepancies will work themselves out from record to record. So, off to the next census...

I haven't yet found Andrew Orson Taylor in the 1900 census - I'm still looking, though, and I'm sure he's there somewhere. After all, it's not as though he was abducted by aliens! In 1910, he is living in New York City, alone, and listed as a widower. 'Birthplace of Father' is listed as 'at sea' and 'Birthplace of Mother' is 'New York'. Not so much of a help there, Andrew. At least 'at sea' might lend itself a little more to the Native American lore than 'England'.

Moving backward, I then tried to find Andrew in the 1870 census, before his 1875 marriage. I knew he was probably in New York, as that is where his Civil War records place him at the end of the war. In New York City in 1870, I was able to locate 'Andrew O Taylor' living in New York City, born 1844 in Ohio, with his occupation listed as 'musician' - and our Andrew Taylor served as a musician in the Civil War, which only increased my confidence that we are looking at the correct Andrew Taylor. Only one problem - this 'Andrew Taylor' lists his father as being 'of foreign birth'. Strike another nail into the old family lore...

I then tried to trace back a step further by location the 1860 and 1850 census records for Andrew Orson Taylor. Unfortunately, knowing only his date of birth and father's name, I hit a bit of a brick wall, with two or three records for each of the two years that could match our Andrew Taylor.

Searching through transcriptions of microfilmed marriage records for New York state a few days ago, I came across a gem of a record - a transcription of key data from the marriage certificate of one Andrew Orson Taylor and Mary Helen Greenwald. Bingo! Although I still would like to get a copy of the original record, this transcription filled in a number of important gaps as we climb our Taylor family tree - it provided the names of Mary Helen's parents (I previously only had her mother's name), and most importantly for today's discussion, it provided the names of Andrew Orson's parents - Andrew S. Taylor and Marcia Merrill.

Thinking back to the 1850 census records I had been looking at, I realized that only one could match this new information - an 1850 record for an Andrew O Taylor, living in New York City, born about 1845, living with an Andrew J Taylor and a Martha Taylor. Given the fact that 'Martha' can sound quite a bit like 'Marcia' and many of these older census records were recorded by workers going door to door and talking to residents, it is reasonable to think this is our Andrew Orson Taylor. He is also listed as living with a brother, Charles, and also a Joseph A Taylor, too old to be a brother, but perhaps the right age to be an uncle.

Andrew O is listed as being born in New York - but this is a very common mistake in census records, that someone is listed as being born in their current place of residence instead of their actual birthplace. So, requires extra checking but doesn't automatically discount the record. Andrew J Taylor, however, is listed as being born in England, and his wife, in Connecticut. Uh oh...

Moving to the 1860 census, Andrew J Taylor becomes Andrew H Taylor - his occupation remains the same, however, and he is listed as living with two sons, Andrew N and Charles N. Their ages are the same as the Andrew and Charles of the 1850 census, and the birthplace of Andrew N (who is actually Andrew Orson) is now listed as Ohio. So we are in fact most likely looking at the correct Andrew Taylors. Andrew Orson's mother, Marcia/Martha, most likely passed away at some point between 1850 and 1860. There are also two other Taylors in the household at this point - a Sarah Taylor, age 27, and a Valentine Taylor, age 3, but who I think they are may need to be its own post, as it would be too much a digression even for me!

Back to the point at hand...in the 1860 census, Andrew Snow Taylor's place of birth is listed as 'Guernsey'. Now, 'Guernsey' could refer to several places - the most likely matches, given what we know off of the other records, would be either Guernsey County, Ohio, or the Isle of Guernsey (aka the Bailiwick of Guernsey), which is located in the English Channel and thus part of the Channel Islands.

Moving forward to 1870, it was time to look for Andrew Snow Taylor on his own. I found him, still living in New York City, this time with a new wife, Emma, and a son, William. His birthplace is listed very clearly as 'Isle of Guernsey'. He appears again in 1880 with wife Emma and son William, with his birthplace listed as 'Guernsey Ile'.

So now we have a dilemma with our family story. I have no primary source documents backing up the census records, but I'm working on it. I haven't completely tossed the idea of our Native American connection - but 'Isle of Guernsey' is really nagging at me. If our ancestors were going to make up a place to cover up the fact that they were Native American (which did happen, I'm sure), that's awfully specific, isn't it? The Isle of Guernsey is a tiny little island between England and mainland Europe - not exactly someplace that just pops into your head.

My grandmother insists that many years ago, Uncle Eddie documented the Native American connection and had it verified by the tribe. If that's the case, then maybe I'm on the wrong path here - but I haven't seen that research. For all I know it doesn't exist anymore, or was flawed to begin with. Without seeing it, I can't trust it blindly. All I can know for sure is what the records I have are telling me, and they certainly seem to contradict the family stories.

I'm working on getting a copy of Andrew Orson Taylor's Civil War pension file, which I hope will help clarify his exact place of birth and maybe a bit on his parentage. With any luck, I'll have a copy in a few weeks' time. In the meantime, if anyone has any information about our supposed Native American ancestry (and maybe some idea of where the older research is!), I'd be grateful if you'd share!