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Around the start of the Crimean War in 1854, 59-year-old ROBERT TAYLOR decided the only potential military draftee remaining in his Orkney Isles home should leave for a safe haven in the New World. 17-year-old Andrew was learning the tailoring trade in Orkney, but the teenager was himself more attracted to peaceful North America than a battlefield on the warring continent of Europe. The Orphir farmer allowed his youngest son to choose any USA location where his brothers were living, and ROBERT provided what he considered just enough money to get there. It was probably the month of April when Andrew left his 15-year-old sister Mary, 3-year-old half-sister Robina, his father, and stepmother Eppie at their Orphir farm home. The adventurous Orcadian lad boarded a westbound ship, along with his 18-year-old cousin Robert, to join his older brothers in the enticing freedom of the United States. |
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