Taylor
Hearing Voices
Armed with only Grandpa’s name and the names of his parents and siblings, I went searching for my family ancestors. Several hours later, I found him, Harold McDowell, in the 1920 census. He was thirteen and lived with his parents and five siblings in Iowa.
Since that day, ancestors from more branches than you can imagine have been begging me to tell their stories. I love listening to them as I uncover their secrets.
I hope you, too, will enjoy hearing what they have to say…
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Delusions of Grandeur
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by
When I was in the 10th Grade, I had to write a research paper for history. We were given a list of Civil War topics from which to choose. Sadly, Irvin is not my long lost 3rd-Great-Uncle or even my 1st-Cousin-4x-Removed. He was just a very unskilled Union general.
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Double Cousins
Remember that old commercial for Certs? Two. Two. Two mints in one. (You youngsters can watch it here.) Well, that’s sort of what happened to Dutch (Harold Seba Taylor, Sr) when it came to cousins. It went something like this…
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Battlefield Drummer
Noah fidgeted with the rope draped around his shoulder. No one had told him how heavy the drum would feel after hours of marching in the afternoon sun. To make matters worse, Andrew’s uniform chafed. This morning, he’d felt lucky to take his place when they’d learned his friend was ill, even though Ma wept…
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A Sugar House Christmas
Ezra Taylor stared at the decorated tree through the narrow slot built into the sugar house. Hessian soldiers had spent the afternoon festooning the limbs of the fir with apples, candied fruits, and ribbons. He’d thought it an odd custom at the time but now that candles flickered in the boughs, its beauty mesmerized him.…