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At the beginning of August, 28-year-old JOHN TAYLOR was thoroughly displeased with the way things had turned for his family. Employment at Hawesville had slowed, but getting paid was even slower. The thought of mine-workers' rights being ignored was quite disturbing to JOHN. His brother-in-law William was leaving, prepared to seek employment elsewhere. JOHN's baby daughter and his brother Magnus were sick, and he thought about young Andrew stuck in Montreal and looking to his big brother for help. The blacksmith sat down and scribbled the name of a Boston bank on a piece of paper, and added "to 563 B." In the big freshwater stream separating Kentucky from Indiana, seasonal dryness produced a dwindling waterflow which affected operating conditions for the commercial river traffic between Cannelton, Fulton, Tell City, Troy, Maxville, Lewisport, Rockport, Owensborough, Bon Harbor, Scuffletown, Newburg, Le Masco, and Verona. Any boatman could see that a summertime drop of the river's surface was exposing more of Yellow Bank Island, Little Hurricane Island, the pair of French Islands, Three Mile Island, Green River Island, and the island down by Henderson Landing. Low water on the Ohio was kenspeckle (noticeably obvious). After stopping at every town on the 50-mile stretch, 28-year-old William Wishart realized the voyage winding down the Ohio had really turned out to be a pleasant trip. The river craft had cruised about as fast as he could expect, but just beyond Evansville, Ind., the young Scottish native was ready to get off the vessel. Having gathered up his belongings, on Wednesday, August 16, he walked down the streets of a small Kentucky village hidden from the river, where his gaze met all the brick structures downtown and the noticeable absence of working people. The young coal-miner was satisfied to admit that it looked to be a very nice town. Four days later, his anxious mind reflected upon the troubled family of his sister and brother-in-law. Concerned thoughts drifted to how the TAYLORS may have fared for the past week. He wondered if the health of JOHN's brother Magnus was improving, and how little namesake nephew Willie was getting along. He thought of his niece who had been seriously ill, curious to know whether baby Robena was doing any better than before. The Trabue mining company in Hawesville still owed William some back pay, and he contemplated whether JOHN had any luck in collecting it for him. William also expected an important letter to arrive for him back at the Hawesville post office. Retrieving his ink pen in a spare moment on that August Sunday, William was probably still fatigued from having already begun a new job shortly after his very recent travel. Possibly weary with various matters of concern, he sat down and wrote Henderson at the top of a doubled sheet of paper, followed by the month, day, and the year 1844. He carefully filled remaining space with words while leaving one page almost entirely void. Then his nimble fingers formed five folds before applying a single droplet of hot wax. After addressing an exposed blank side of the enclosed note, William set out to find a reliable courier capable of delivering this misdated message upriver to JOHN TAYLOR. The thoughtful William Wishart was unaware little Robena died five days earlier, just after he had left Hawesville. August 15 had developed into a dreary Tuesday for the TAYLOR family. And two days following Robena's death, on Thursday, JOHN and MARY sold their real estate in Out Lot 7 to Henry Gorman for $52. Their infant child was probably buried in the cemetery upon the hill. The 10-month-old baby had passed away while her uncle William Wishart was on the river heading down to Henderson Landing, and the sad news would not reach him until much later. |
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