Taylor Genealogy -- Magnus Taylor becomes a Yank (1855)

Magnus Taylor becomes a Yank (1855)
On Tuesday, August 28, 1855, Magnus Francis Taylor sauntered into the Hancock County Courthouse at Hawesville, KY. After being sworn to disclose only true facts, he candidly revealed to James E. Stone that he had been in the USA just a few days beyond five years, and wanted to officially become a US citizen. He accepted the usual requirement of renouncing allegiance to any foreign governments, and to Queen Vickie in particular.

Perhaps Magnus may have sometime read the literary works of Scottish poet Robert Gilfillan, who had died at Leith in 1850, the same year Magnus moved to America. Here are the initial and final stanzas of his countryman's plaintive poem:

THE EXILE'S SONG
"Oh, why have I left my hame?
Why did I cross the deep?
Oh, why left I the land
Where my forefathers sleep?
I sigh for Scotia's shore,
And I gaze across the sea,
But I canna get a blink
O' my ain country!

--------
"There's a hope for every woe,
And a balm for every pain.
But the first joys o' our heart
Come never back again.
There's a track upon the deep,
And a path across the sea;
But the weary ne'er return
To their ain country!"

As the year was winding down, the weary and wistful Magnus was struck by a nostalgic desire to sail back to Orkney for an enjoyable visit with his father, stepmother, sister Mary, and half-sister Robina. Mary mused that someday her roving brother might wander back to Scotland to marry some former love left behind for five forlorn years. But beyond JOHN's solitary one-time return back in 1850, none of his family remaining in the Isles ever saw their close American kin again, unless they too had bid Scotland a final farewell. However, Magnus, JOHN, and Robert all had repeatedly sent supplementary stipend money back to help their appreciative father at Orphir.

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