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Chilly December 9, 1855, became a busy late autumn Sunday for the JOHN TAYLOR family at Hawesville, when their third child, a second daughter, was born. Back in the old country, the respective youngest daughters of the new baby's two Scottish grandmothers were named Mary and Helen. But little Mary Helen wasn't necessarily named for both her aunts. In the good Scot tradition, the sweet Kentucky babe was actually named after her mother, MARY. 5-year-old Willie had become big brother once again, after little sister Robena had died the previous year. The families of ROBERT TAYLOR's Hawesville sons were all healthy as the Kentucky winter commenced in late 1855. Earlier, Magnus, JOHN, and brother Robert in Pennsylvania had routed money to their father in Orkney. On Christmas Day, Magnus Taylor affectionately remembered his family back at Orphir, and sat down with his pen in hand to scribble a few words of news for them. Before he daubed hot sealing wax on the letter's flap, Magnus considerately tucked a one-dollar gold piece inside for his sister Mary. But in a later message from Orphir, Mary informed her brother that the buck had stopped somewhere else. Probably late in the year of 1855, fire destroyed cousin John Taylor's house and coop at St. Johns, IL, leaving him without personal property or residential shelter. In wintry weather, all his belongings had gone up in smoke. At Hawesville, William and Maryan Taylor were "living very comfortable" less than a mile from where brothers Magnus and Andrew stayed periodically at JOHN and MARY's house. Although Maryan didn't seem to know much about the general welfare of her nearby in-laws, she believed they were all doing okay. ROBERT TAYLOR hadn't heard anything at all from son William and his wife after they had married almost two years earlier. |
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