Thanksgiving
is almost here and we will spend time with our family around tables big and
small. We will eat, laugh, share stories, pass the watermelon pickles, find
that last piece of elderberry pie and hold hands with new generations of family
members; all the while we hold tight to those now gone who seem to hover above
our tables as loving, perhaps wistful, visions. One of those long-gone family
members—my great great grandfather Daniel Rockwell Taylor—died one November
more than one hundred years ago.
We
have come to know more of Daniel through our three blog stories about him. Take
the time to read them over; Daniel comes alive as a man and not just the name
and dates written on a gravestone:
--- Daniel Rockwell Taylor—Two years in theLife, Part One –tells of Daniel falling sick, his sister Elizabeth nursing him back to health, and then her death in childbirth soon after.
--- Daniel Taylor, Student at Yale, Part Two—and
--- Part Three, Metaphors and Descriptions from the 1850 Journal of Daniel Taylor,
tell of Daniel’s time at Yale before he came back to
take over Woodlawn and become a farmer.
(Please click on colored words in each of the three titles for the link to take you to that story)
All
of these stories are of Daniel as a young man; he was born in Vermont in 1828
and by the age of two, had moved to western New York with his family.
In
1852, Daniel married Martha Cordelia Waller. 
Daniel and Cordelia
Orrin,
and Bryant (or B.W., father of Floyd and Lloyd, Aunt CB’s father).
Through
their married years, we can see pieces of Daniel by reading the journals of his
wife, Cordelia. These journals tell of church, family, outings and picnics,
work in the fields and in the home.
In
Daniel and Cordelia’s later years, they shared their beloved Woodlawn with
their son Bryant and his wife Emma Carson Taylor and their growing family. Emma,
like her mother-in-law before her, kept journals of her daily thoughts and
doings.
By
1911, Daniel’s wife Cordelia had been dead three years. As readers of this blog
know, this extended family living in this house had been through many joys and
heartbreaks over the years.
The
newspaper obituary for Daniel said he died of ‘the infirmities of age’, and
that he was ‘highly esteemed by a very wide circle of acquaintances’. Emma’s
writings tell the deeper story.
And
so, this small snippet --Emma Carson Taylor’s 1911 Journal:
November 26th, 1911—Time runs on with its
changes. Nothing has been written this month I see and so much has happened
that was not looked for at the last writing.
I will never write again of any of us staying home
with Father as I have so many times in the past. For Father has gone home. Poor
old Father! It must have been hard for him these years since Mother left him
and for a few months more than three years he was here with us. We will all of
us who lived these years together remember them. Little need be said of them
more than is already written in these journals of mine. More than that he grew
spiritually—was more patient, gentle and thoughtful of others. Now he has gone,
gone forever.
November 10th, 1911 at 5a.m. His funeral
was at 11 o’clock Sabbath morning here at the “Homestead”. The a.m. was rainy,
by noon turning to snow and when we reached home again after going to the
cemetery, it was almost a blizzard, so fierce was the wind and storm.
On the very first of November Father showed signs of
a change for the worse altho’ he had been steadily failing for some time.
Threshers this first week kept us from noticing it as much as we should, had
attention been fully on him. Then, too Florence (Emma’s now youngest daughter) had a rheumatic catch in her back.
When Dr. was called the 2nd, he had patients here, came twice but
could see no disease, only old age infirmities in Father. He kept around each
day and on Sunday the 5th, had his bath and hair cut.
Not until Monday a.m. when Bryant went to dress him
did he give up and was not able to be dressed. When the doctor came this day he
said he was “practically dying”, for so it proved. From this time until Friday
a.m. he lay unconscious, as if in sleep, when the end came--without pain or
struggle. So we say “It is well” with Father now. Earth passed, Heaven gained.
Telegrams were sent to Carlton and Orrin. Orrin
coming Tuesday eve, Nov. 7th, sharing the care with Bryant to the
last, and then remaining until Monday eve the 13th. Carlton came
Saturday evening and stayed until that same time, as did Leon (Emma’s oldest son) who came to Batavia
in Saturday afternoon and was gotten by Papa and Uncle Orrin who had gone there
on that day for flowers. He also stayed until this same time. Mary (wife of Orrin) came on Friday eve to
Batavia. And came here Saturday morning to help what she could.
Bryant, Carlton and Orrin went to Batavia early
Monday to see to business while they could all be together. Then later in the
day, Bryant made one big load of them all to Oakfield M.O.(train station) and Leon
starting for Rochester. Carlton for Buffalo.
My brothers George and Ed came to act as bearers
with Father’s three boys and Leon. They stayed all night Sunday and went back
Monday a.m.
Work went on as usual after this, in the house and
out. We missed Father but know it is better as it is for him and us. Mr. Henry (husband of ‘dear Clara’—he lived in
Wisconsin) could not come owing to poor health, but “made good” to Bryant
and I in his own way.
And
so, at age 83, our Daniel Rockwell Taylor died. Writing from Yale at age 22,
Daniel ended one of his letters to his wife-to-be Cordelia with:
“Forgive me for quizzing you.
Time hastes! I know soon will we have this world and all its Beauty. Our Hopes,
Joys, Loves Delights will be forever.”
I
for one do hope that Daniel and Cordelia DID have ‘this world and all its
Beauty’.
Happy
Thanksgiving to All of our Cousins near and far.
Jack and CB's 65th Wedding Anniversary -- the Clan!
