Welcome to the World, Zachary Charles Spear, By Grandma MaryLou

On December 22nd, MaryLou Taylor Spear writes:

My son Daniel Taylor Spear and Kristi Moilanen are the proud parents of a baby boy--Zachary Charles Spear--born 8:02 p.m. December 22. Weighing 8# 10oz and 20 inches, has black hair and black eyes.

I am grateful all are well and doing fine, it is the greatest Christmas gift ever!

Bless us everyone. Much love to all,

Grandma Marylou

Kristi and Zachary

Daniel and Zachary Spear

Congratulations to Daniel and Kristi and little Zachary, and to Grandma Mary Lou!! With Great Grandpa Uncle Harold recovering from pneumonia in a nursing home--hoping to get home soon--may this quicken his recovery!

Merry Christmas!

Thought I would share a wonderful Christmas picture for the Baker cousin side:

This is a young Kathryn Margaret Wood Barron, clearly NOT happy with sitting on Santa's lap! A protective older brother Chic is standing closely by her side should she need his help.

Thanks for sharing this, Kathryn! Merry Christmas to all the Baker Cousins!

Holiday Recipes By Various Taylor-Bakers

Here are a few recipes to give us ideas when the icy rain and snow keep us homebound. Since my car literally slid into the lawn today, I decided to stay home most of the day and bake!

From Bryant Waller (B.W.) Taylor:

(Lloyd’s father)

Molasses Candy:

2 C. granulated sugar
½ C. corn starch or ¼ C. molasses
½ C. water
butter size of hickory nut (1 t.?)
Boil until it crisps in cold water (brittle)--270 degrees F.

Do not stir after it commences to boil--pour on buttered plates or tins to cool, then pull (with greased hands) until white. Then cut into bite size pieces on buttered tin to cool.

Barb Taylor, wife of Harold Taylor:

Oregon Salmon Loaf:
Lucille writes: “Best recipe I know of!”

1--16 oz. can red salmon
3 slices bread, cubed
2 eggs, beaten
¼ C. chopped onion (may use same in onion flakes)
¼ C. chopped green peppers
1 can condensed cream celery soup
1 T. lemon juice

Put in baking dish; 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees

Lilian Baker Howland, also known as Lilypickle:

Aunt Lil’s Brown Bread:

1 C. white flour
1 C. graham flour
1 egg
½ C. sugar
½ C. molasses
1 C. sour milk
1 t. salt
1 t. soda in ¼ C. hot water
Add raisins if you choose

350 degrees

From Ethel Baker Taylor:

Sugar Cookies:
These are the cookies that Bob and Nancy Taylor often cooked together. They are very close to a sugar cookie recipe from Aunt Lil B. Howland.

1 c. shortening 2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. sugar 1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c. buttermilk (or 1 C sour milk)
3 c. flour--for drop cookies or 3 ½ -4 C. for roll
2 eggs, beaten 1 tsp. soda

Cream shortening and sugar, add eggs and vanilla, then add milk and dry ingredients alternately. Drop on ungreased sheet. Sprinkle with sugar. BAKE: 375 degrees for eight minutes

Butter Tarts:

Ethel’s daughter, Ruth, was also known for these tarts.

Butter, size of egg
1 C. brown sugar
1 egg
1 C. raisins
¼ C. coconut
1/3 C. chopped nut meats
1 t. vanilla
1 t. vinegar
Mix and fill ½ full in patty shells lined with ordinary pie crust. Bake 20 minutes at 350.

Lemon Sugar Cookies:

½ lb. butter
2 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. lemon extract (or vanilla)
2 ¼ C. flour
3 t. baking powder
½ t. salt

Cream butter, add sugar gradually and cream thoroughly. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add lemon, sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add to creamed mixture and stir well. Chill dough, then roll out. 350 degrees--12 minutes

These recipes will get us started! Hope everyone enjoys the wonderful foods created, cooked and eaten this month!

Theo Carson’s Close Encounter By Pat Kinsella Herdeg

Theodore William Carson

Every once in a while, as I transcribe diaries and journals, I come across small nuggets of gold.

Delving into Emma Jane Carson’s journals is not for the weak-hearted because of the number of journals--more, it is the foolish who choose to begin, so you see where I stand!

To catch up on family genealogy, Emma Carson, daughter of William Carson and Jane Livingston, married Bryant Taylor (B.W.), and was the mother of Floyd and Lloyd, among other children.

Emma came from a large and close, loving family of Carsons. Emma had five brothers—Albert, Theodore, George, Edward and Harry. She had two sisters, Mary Elizabeth and Anna. Theodore was three years younger than Emma, so they were close in age, and close in actuality, as he often stayed overnight to help when Emma and Bryant’s children were young.

After Emma married, most of the Carsons remained in the area with the Taylors only a short buggy or train ride away.

On to my nugget of interest:

In her 1888 journal for December 5th, 1888, Theo's sister, Emma Carson Taylor writes:

"We were terribly shocked this morning to get a large letter from Anna (Emma’s sister) to Bryant telling us the sad news that Theo had accidentally shot himself last Friday, but was now doing as well as could be expected. We are waiting the result. We cannot help but cry ‘Oh God, spare him!’”

The twenty-five year old Theo was working for a year as a farm hand in a nearby town. He had not spent Thanksgiving with his family, but stayed on the farm. Orrin Taylor, brother of B.W.--again showing that the Carsons and Taylors were close as family friends-- was spending Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, with Theo who was two years older than Orrin. About three o’clock while they were shooting at a target, Theo tried to make sure his footing was good before taking aim and instead slipped, arms flailing to attempt to catch himself. With that, the revolver went off, the ball entering his head above his ear.

Emma then transcribes a letter from her father, William, who rushed from his home to help Theo. William writes to his wife Jane and his children; Jane and their children at home read the letter and then sent it on to Emma and Bryant:

“It is a great comfort to see him as well as he is, and there is a faint hope that he may come through it. I hope you will have grace to be resigned. It is a hard thing to bear, but let us put our trust in our Heavenly Father hoping for the best. All of you pray for him and for yourselves, and let us say ‘Thy Will be Done.’ If there is any change for the worst I will telegraph to you. I remain your Husband and Parent, Mr. Carson.”

By Sunday, two days after the accident, William again writes:

“He is just now eating breakfast, sitting up in his bed. If you were here and could see him, the pleasant look and smile on his face would do you good. He feels as we all do, that it was a very sad affair, yet he is so resigned to whatever the result may be that nothing seems to bother him, only as it seems to make others trouble. When I got here, he could not speak, but was sensible, and knew me. Pretty soon he could talk and almost the first thing he said to me was that it was all right with him, let the result be what it would, but how will Mother stand it?”

By Monday, Father again writes to his worried family:

“It really does look as if he is going to be around again in a very short time. The Dr. says that there is a possibility that if the ball is inside of the bone that it may remain there and never make him any trouble. So we will hope for the best, and put our trust in him who said to the singing waters peace, be still and there was a great calm.

Four o’clock and fifteen minutes, Monday a.m., Wm. Carson”

Theo and Eunice Carson, 1897

Theodore William Carson did live to tell about this accident with, as far as we know, no lasting side effects. He married nine years later, and lived to the age of 43. While not the longest life, he DID make it past this event in his young life.

As We Used To Go Cousining By Pat Kinsella Herdeg

“We may yet spend many happy days where we can see each other and where our little ones can visit back and forth, as we used to go cousining.”

Dustan Walbridge wrote this in a letter home in October 1863 while fighting in the Civil War. Dustan is my first cousin four times removed, OR perhaps better to understand, he was first cousins with Daniel Rockwell Taylor, my great great grandfather.

Dustan lived in Peacham, Vermont and by January of 1864, he was a Full First Lieutenant in Vermont’s Company A, 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment. He was wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor and died at Douglass Hospital in Washington, DC in June of 1864. Dustan never did get to go cousining again.

A fellow Vermonter, Nelson Glazier, wrote home about the foods he missed while in the same Washington DC hospital as our Dustan:

“I often think of some good old Vermont dishes, such as Griddle Cakes, Boiled Victuals, Fried Potatoes, Green Sauce, Berries etc. - then I want some Johnny Cake & good fresh Butter to say nothing of a little warm maple sugar & the like - But I will pause in this long catalogue of eatables or you may almost dread to see me coming home - but never mind. I want to eat everything when I do get there.”

‘I want to eat everything when I do get there’. How I KNOW how Nelson feels—I love to come home to Mom and Dad’s and have Old Fashioned Tomato soup, watermelon pickles, or good ole’ Johnny cake. The elderberry pie I leave to my brother Dan and various cousins.

The Taylor Reunion is another wonder of food sampling—meatballs, lasagna, cookies, pies, deviled eggs, and any bounty left over from Kathy and Gordie’s garden for the taking. From what I hear and what little I remember, the Baker Reunions were also famous for their food choices.

At these Reunions and Holiday times—December is filled with opportunities--we DO get to ‘go cousining’, something I treasure and wish I had more fully appreciated when I was younger.

So as December dawns, may you enjoy many good times of food and laughter and stories told, and may you too be lucky enough to ‘ go a-cousining’.

Thanksgiving, by Sue Kinsella and Pat Herdeg

Happy Thanksgiving, Dear Cousins! 

Here are some of the things for which we are thankful.

Dan Maffei Returns to Congress!
 
Taylor Baker Cousins give thanks that our cousin, Dan Maffei, was elected on November 6th to the U.S. Congress from New York’s 24th Congressional District, representing Syracuse and surrounding towns and countryside.
 
Dan defeated the opponent who cost him his previous Congressional seat. That 2010 defeat was by the slimmest of margins, less than 600 votes. This time, Dan, a Democrat, not only defeated his Republican opponent 48% to 44%, but won by a resounding majority even with a Green Party candidate taking another 8% of the vote.
 
Dan is the son of Neil Maffei, grandson of Leona Maffei, and great-grandson of Aunt Lil Baker Howland. Congratulations, Dan! We’re so proud of you and look forward to your leadership in the U.S. Congress!

Sue, Giving Thanks for

• The wonderful Taylor Reunion in September
• Dad/Uncle Jack recovering from a long hospitalization in September and October
• Pat Herdeg recovering from a miserable pneumonia
• Many Taylor Baker Cousins prepared for Hurricane Sandy and, fortunately, they all weathered it without serious damage
• My family and all my extended family
• Spending Thanksgiving with my son, Alex! Even though his college is only 60 miles from home, it seems I get to see him so much less than I had thought I would, so it's wonderful when we get a few days to spend together like we used to.

Pat, Giving Thanks

I am thankful for five years of this Cousins Blog! Thank you to all cousins -- some I have known all my life and some I have gotten to know well through email -- who have expressed encouragement, added ideas, pictures and stories, or commented on these stories. Who knows how many more stories or years are left to this blog of family history, but for the years we have shared this blog together, I am grateful. 

What Do You Give Thanks For? 

Please fill up the Comments page, we'd love to hear from you! Thanks!
 

Center Lisle Congregational Church, By Aunt CB with help from Laurel Decker

Recently, I received an email from cousin Laurel Decker. She wrote: " Last year Helen McPeek (Phyllis’s daughter) had gone through things of her mother's. There was a booklet of the Center Lisle Church….. Long story short, I borrowed, scanned and put it in a PDF.

We can all thank Helen for sharing with the family. And, we can all thank Laurel for sending it on to us here at the blog! To look through the booklet, go to the right hand side of the blog. Under the heading of  'Miscellaneous Items' you will see a link which will take you to the booklet. Enjoy!  

And, Mom has written a short piece on the church: 

 CENTER LISLE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Growing up in the 1930's we’d usually spend a week each year during the summer at Grandma Kate Baker’s farm. Our beloved Uncle Adin worked the place. We thought we “helped him” when we were there, but looking back, now I’m an adult, I doubt it! However, very occasionally, Adin would go to town and come back with a slight buzz on, singing a song about “Yorkshire.” I had no idea where that was, I only knew Center Lisle. However, the church I’m going to write about was established in Yorkshire in 1830! Center Lisle Congregational Church. (The hamlet’s name was changed.)

Nineteen charter members met, first in one another’s homes, and took on this awesome responsibility. The membership is sprinkled with names I’d heard in conversations among my mother (Ethel), her sister (Lil) and their mother (Kate Baker). Glezen, Livermore, Caldwell, Ensign and many others.

The church family grew through the years, often with “fits and starts,” running into personality problems as ALL churches do. However, they followed church guidelines. Initially, discipline was handled by church members but eventually it was handed over to the Deacons, while the Trustees cared for the church building and paid the minister’s salary (when they could!) Eventually a “Ladies Aid” came about and filled many empty spaces, growing into a “Guild” which still exists today. The minister usually served 2 or 3 churches but this small church grew to be important to the Center Lisle area, it helped provide problem solutions to churches world wide in its Mission outreach.

The land for the church was deeded to the trustees in 1830 for $275. In 1832 a small frame building was raised on the lot, but by 1855 was too small for the congregation. It was sold, moved next door and became first a house, then a garage and finally Howland’s General Store. (This is the place we all loved, Aunt Lil’s store!) Thus, in 1855, the present church was built for $3300. Much material was donated by members from their virgin forests. Labor was supplied by church men via a “Bee” for major construction.

In 1926, the need for a dining room upstairs was remedied and a window opening made in the back wall over a new, higher pulpit. A lovely stained glass window was given.

By 1940, a furnace was installed, stoves could not do the heating job. Then in 1948, Orrin Dickinson made some beautiful pulpit railings and choir loft rails from parts of an old piano and other used material. In 1953, a new ceiling and interior walls we refurbished along with stained glass windows gifted by members and installed by Mr. Dickinson and Rev. Terwilliger. In 1958 a well was drilled for the church and plumbing added to the edifice! 1960 brought mahogany pews to the church and in 1966, a BIG upheaval came about. The church was raised and a full basement put in, allowing a new kitchen, dining area, bathroom and a new entrance with more exits in the church proper.

As a circle always completes itself—the old original church building gone through so many stages was returned to the church by Lil Howland. Aunt Lil sold them the building for one dollar ($1.00). It was razed and now is the church parking lot, a fitting gift.

Rev. Floyd Terwilliger served the church for 46 years. He and his wife are buried in the Center Lisle Cemetery. He gave “full measure” to this church and community which he loved. He is the only one I knew, as Grandma was buried from this church in August 1955. She was shown in the back of the church, but when Wendell Henderson was buried in 2006, the altered church allowed him to be shown in the front before the pulpit.

This is the story of a church which not only served its community but reached out world wide to help others in need. Those who began this could not have forseen its work, the strength it gave this community but they built it. Others have carried it on though the years and with the help of the Lord, will continue to carry this work into the future.