The First Taylor Family Reunion is now history.
Betty's dream came true. Although we had a small crowd of 81 people showing up over the three day event, we couldn't have asked for a better group; it was exciting to see just how many were truly interested in their roots.
The guests were greeted upon registration with a Taylor Family Reunion name tag and a Taylor Family Reunion canvas bag containing a notebook, pencil, group sheets, a map of Matthew Taylor's land in New Hampshire, photo's of Capt. Matthew Taylor's gravestone along with those of his sons Adam Taylor and Samuel Taylor who are buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Derry, New Hampshire, the gravestones of his son Capt. Matthew Taylor and his daughter Eleanor Taylor Archibald who are buried in the Robie St. Cemetery, Truro, Nova Scotia, a Taylor Family Reunion Bookmark and a packet of wildflower seeds.....
Our Taylor cousins came from Liverpool- England, Roswell-Georgia, Washington, North Attleboro-Massachuetts, Acushnet-Massachutts, King-North Carolina, Cumberland-Rhode Island, Moncton-New Bruswick, Abbotsford-British Columbia, Brandon-Manitoba, Hamilton-Ontario, Ottawa-Ontario, and the rest were from various parts of Nova Scotia.
Part of the preparation was to have wall charts on display of Matthew Taylor and Janet Wilson's ten children. We then did individual charts for each of Capt. Matthew Taylor and Elizabeth Archibald's ten children. This proved to be very interesting as people were asked to place green dots on their own names and red dots if they found any form of an error, with the corrected info added if they knew it. Thanks to those who caught our mistakes and for adding info we needed to complete a tree.
A display of photos and a recent news clipping of the Taylor Mill in Derry, New Hampshire drew interest--as it appears to be identical to one erected in Sherbrook, Nova Scotia. Which one of the Taylors may of had a hand in building these mills? There is so much yet to be discovered.....
The big event started with the group being piped into the hall by Brenda McKeen Barss followed by Westville's town crier George Dooley who read the proclamation. A meet and greet followed with everyone sharing their info on their own lineages.
We were honored to have 2 bridal dresses on display that had been worn at weddings dating back to 1888 (brought by June Rogers) and 1896 (brought by Lois Paterson). June Rogers aslo brought a beautiful old bible for us to see.
Joan and Austin Gibbons brought valuable infomation on Capt. George Wentworth Taylor. George Muir's mother Carrie Irene Taylor Muir, who was unable to attend-shared with us her family photos that she so admires. Bette Jodrey shared family photos and info. Heather Taylor Facey did up a tree with photos of her grandparents 19 children--this is not an error--there were actually 19 children in this family, two by the first wife and 17 with the second one. Betty Taylor Aube set up a display of her family lineage on a cloth wall chart, pictures of Samuel Taylor and Sarah Jane Willis' 5 sons (still looking for photos of the daughters) and some of her grandparents, parents and her own family.
On the 29th of Aug. 2008, Ed Taylor was the guide for the trip to the Robie St. Cemetery, in Truro, to view the headstones of Capt. Matthew Taylor and his sister Eleanor Taylor Archibald. A visit to the Truro, Archieves followed. Afterwards, some families gathered at their homes to have a smaller family get together with their immediate families, while others went back to the Social Club to have a pot luck supper. In the evening we were so fortunate to have Leroy Taylor act as MC for our entertainment session, Katherine Taylor, his wife along with their good friends George and Marge Durning entertained us for an hour. Jean Langille played the guitar and sang a melody of Country and Western songs.
On Saturday, Aug.,30th, 2008--our guest speaker, Dr. Allan Marble spoke to us on the various stages of genealogy. Lots of good advise and tips were given to help us continue our quest on where to find the info we seek--I am sure we will all benefit from this advise.
After a pot luck lunch we started a silent auction, which turned out to be lots of fun and raised a lot of money. In the evening, we were once again blessed to have George and Marge Durning, Katherine and Leroy Taylor, Jean Langille and Marion Taylor mading her first debut, entertain us. What voices.....Thank you, Thank you all, you certainly added to make our reunion a hugh success.
Special mention goes to Zela Taylor Fairhurst being our eldest guest at 89, the youngest was Mason Taylor at 2 months and a namesake of our progenitor, his brother; 18 month old Matthew Taylor from Washington, children of Wentworth and Shawna Taylor.
A great big thank you goes out to Heather & Chuck Facey, Ed & Pat Taylor for helping in the organization of this event, Katherine & Leroy Taylor, Jean Langille, George and Marge Durning, Marion Taylor for entertaining us with your talents , June Rogers and Bette Jodrey for lifting my spirits when at times I didn't think I could go on, to my brother Milton Taylor who allowed my husband and I to stay with him for a month, to my husband Moe Aube, who listened to all my ideas & plans and drove me around to collect new info during the past year, to our piper-Brenda McKeen Barss, to our town crier-George Dooley of Westville and our special guest speaker--Dr. Allan Marble, but most of all THANKS to all of you who came from far and near, without your attendance, this dream of mine would not of happened. What a nice feeling to have found so many new cousins--I hope our relationship will continue to grow over the years. Thank you one and all.
Betty Taylor Aube
PS
Please feel free to add your stories, photos and comments, I would like to hear from all of you. As soon as I can figure out how to add photos, I will post some here.
Heather Taylor Facey and I have deceided to write a book on our Taylors. With luck it should be finished in time for the next reunion. Anyone wishing to send us info, please do by contacting myself at:
bettyandmoeaube@sympatico.ca or Heather at:
scharlesfacey@ns.sympatico.ca
If you have any suggestions for the next reunion, tentatively scheduled for three years down the road, please share them and think about heading up a committee that will help with the organization.
And, don't forget, you will be contacted for names, information and sources for "The Book."
A BiG THANK YOU to everyone who attended and helped in any way. To my husband, whose interest in genealogy doesn't quite match mine, thank you for your patience and for the use of your photocopier, laminator and other office supplies. ( I am working on the Facey's also!) I treasure meeting other members of Archibald's line...Eldon, Leroy and others.
Heather Facey
Special thanks to the entertainers too - I am a music lover, and enjoyed your individual talents very much. Jean is a long-time friend, and it was great to see her, and to meet and get to know the rest of you as well. :-) You all added a great deal of listening pleasure to end our evenings, and it was much appreciated.
I certainly enjoyed seeing again my aunts & cousins in my immediate family that I know and love, since I don't get to Nova Scotia often - it's quite a distance from Ontario! :-) I even got to see uncle Brent in Halifax, and that was a treat as well. Thanks, Heather!
Additional thanks to cousin Heather and Charles for their gracious hospitality and for driving me around while I attended the reunion. It was so lovely to be with them again!
Hearty congratulations again to all of you! Your planning for the reunion (and carrying out of those plans) was "first rate" in all areas, and you are all to be commended on your organizational skills and fortitude in getting all that work done on time and with such style and flair. The hall looked just great too! :-)
I will look forward to seeing yoiu all again, I hope, in about 3 years time! Love - and 'till we meet again, best wishes from Ruth in Ontario.
It was great to see everyone again and to meet new friends. I enjoyed looking at all the charts, also all the family items that were on display--thank you for sharing it all with us!
Jean Langille
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
That's my musings for today. I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed at all the "stuff" that I'm trying to organize along with everything else that needs to be done.