From Tannis Pond:
We can travel down the
Fraser River from Narcisse Falardeau’s property passing
by the acreages of Henry West, Kenneth Morrison and Otway
Wilkie to reach James Taylor.
James Taylor worked
for the Hudson’s Bay Company and first appeared in their
books at Fort Victoria in 1852 as a Black Smith on General
Charges. He had a credit of 3/5/1 and his wages were 25
pounds. In the entry for 1855 James Taylor is from Birsay,
(Orkney, Scotland); is a blacksmith in Langley; has a credit
of 4/14/7 and the same 25 pound wage. On none of the entries
is there an age for him. 1861 is the last wage entered and in
1862 he is in debit to HBC for 47/2/9 and in 1863 is carrying
a credit of 8/16/4.
The first piece of
information I had on James Taylor was that my Grandmother
Dudy McCombie didn’t like to visit him when she was
little because she would have to kiss him good night and she
didn’t like his big bushy beard. Sure enough!! There he
is in the “Langley Story”, by Donald E. Waite with
a bushy black looking beard!
The next documentation
is his grave stone which says:
| In
Memory of James Taylor |
| Died
Nov 30 1907 age 72 |
| Native
of Orkney, Scot. |
|
The above makes James
Taylor born about 1834 or 1835. I have various birth dates
for him. Death Certificate - 1830. The 1881 census
1831. The 1891 census 1827 and the 1901 census 1829. I
thought this was the end of my research as there were three
James Taylors born in the foregoing time span in Birsay,
Orkney and no way of knowing which was my James Taylor. Then
Darlene Heal came to the rescue.... “can you hear that
Lone Ranger Music”? She had documentation for the
marriage and it stated that the parents were George Taylor
and Ann Spence and checking Old Parish records my James
Taylor was Christened 21 September 1828.
James Taylor came to
Fort Langley in 1858 and was trained as a blacksmith and
barrel maker. In Langley he was first employed by the
Hudson's Bay Company to help make the barrels used to carry
salmon to Europe.
According to Donald
Waite upon leaving the company he bought 160 acres west of
the Fort. In the late 1860's he built, at various times, the
Fort Langley Hotel and a blacksmith shop. He trained Indians
to do the black smith work while he ran the hotel.
In 1872 it was Fort
Langley hotel keeper James Taylor who prompted 29 land owners
in the Langley and Derby district to petition the authorities
in Victoria and request incorporation into a municipality.
James married
Catherine Fallardeau, the daughter of Narcisse Fallardeau and
Helen/Ellen, on the 26th
of July in 1858. This union produced seven children before
Catherine died in 1874. According to the gravestone in the
Taylor Plot in the Fort Langley Municipal Cemetery she
was 33 years old.
After the death of
Catherine, James married Barbara Jamieson. This union
produced no children.
James died 30th
of November 1907 in St. Mary’s Hospital in New
Westminster.
THE
CHILDREN OF CATHERINE FALLARDEAU AND JAMES TAYLOR
1. Ann Taylor born
about 1861 at Fort Langley, married River Boat Captain Frank
Odin of Point Roberts, born about 1863. Both Ann and Frank
are listed as Roman Catholics in the 1891 census and have two
boys, George who is age three and John, two months. They
couldn’t be found in the 1901 census except for John J.
Odin, Nephew living with Otway J.J. Wilkie in New
Westminster. Later I came across the following information -
the writing on his gravestone in Soda Creek Cemetery, Soda
Creek.
| In
loving Memory of Captain Frank Odin |
| of
the steamboat Charlotte |
| Born
at Point Roberts, Washington, March 24 1863 |
| Died
June 7 1899 |
|
What became of Ann is
unknown. The family says the boys were raised amongst
Ann’s sisters. I believe the Odin boys ran a garage in
New Westminster that was supported by Joe Mayers. It is
thought that Ann remarried, was living in Victoria and that
she died in child birth. I can find no record of another
marriage for her nor a death record under the name Odin.
2. George Taylor born
6 February 1863. In the 1901 census he is listed as a farmer
and married to Celia daughter of Cotash of the
Chawuthen Indian Reserve in Hope. Celia died 29 December
1920. They had one son called Charles who was born 20 January
1884 and died 9 September 1955. After 1920 George married
Bernadette Peters of American Bar, BC. This union produced
one known child - William John Taylor born May 1930 and died
of whooping cough 28 January 1931. George was ill for some
months in St Mary’s hospital, New Westminster, before he
died 13th of March 1941. A member of the family thought that
he had a two year old child when he was in hospital in 1941.
He is buried in the Katz Cemetery.
3. Catherine Taylor -
born February 1865 at Fort Langley future wife of Otway
Wilkie. Dudy one of Catherine’s daughters said that her
mother was a wonderful seamstress having been taught at St.
Ann’s Mission School. Catherine and Otway were married
in New Westminster 20 March 1885, but spent the beginning of
their married life in Langley. This union produced 10
children; Alice Catherine who married Ernest Smith; Annie
Louisa married Frederick Eugene Larnder; Elizabeth Geraldine
married to Clement Fenshaw Wootton; Nora Georgina, my
grandmother who was married to Cecil McCombie; Otway James
Henry who married Jessie Margaret McLeod; Margaret Gordon
married William Douglas; Barbara Jameson who married Richard
Draper; Mary Beatrice married Alfred Stansfield Duckett;
Catherine Octavia married Frederick Glen Hope, and Arthur
Walter Taylor who married Mildred Ruth McCormack. Catherine
died in her home in New Westminster in 1943.
4. John Taylor born
10th of May 1868 was a mail carrier in Langley according to
the census in 1901 and was married to Elizabeth Newton in
1896. They had children called Bessie, Ann, Etta, Kate, and
John James Clifford, Lorrain and George. John died about 1931
in Vancouver.
5. Mary Taylor born
about 1870 remained unmarried and died in Fort Langley the
17th of May 1910. She was the recipient of the bulk of James
Will if she looked after her step-mother Barbara Jameson.
Mary had some sort of defect as she was known as crippled
aunt Mary. She is buried in the Fort Langley Municipal
Cemetery.
6. Margaret Taylor was
born about 23 May 1871 and married Captain Joseph Mayers who
was a mariner and in coal. They lived in New Westminster and
raised four boys; Howard, Edward Wallace, James, and Joseph;
one girl, Margaret along with the Odin boys. Joseph died
in 1943 and “Maggie” about 1966. Maggie and Katie
were very generous with their vehicle taking various members
of the family about on drives and visiting.
7. The last of
Catherine and James children was Peter Taylor born 11 October
1874. Peter was a tug boat Captain and married Lilly May
Kilby from London, Ont. on the 9th of January 1908. Peter was
Captain of the Langley ferry for a period of time. Peter and
Lilly were a great help to Kate and Otway Wilkie in their old
age. Peter doing yard work and Lilly busy in the house. They
lived in New Westminster in the late 30's. They were living
on Larson Road in North Vancouver when they celebrated their
50th Wedding Anniversary. Peter and Lily had no issue. Peter
died in the Burnaby General Hospital in 1965.
According to records
of lands in Langley searched by D.E. Waite, James Taylor sold
his Lot 79 acreage in 1891. According to a note in a ledger
belonging to Otway J.J. Wilkie, a son-in-law of James Taylor,
part of lot 79 was sold in 1910 for $3000 with Otway
receiving a commission of $400 for acting as the realator
after the death of James, his second wife Barbara and a month
before the death of his daughter Mary.
In James Taylors will
he leaves John one square acre of land; to his daughter Mary
all the household funiture and effects and the rest is put in
Joseph Mayers hands to be distributed in the following
legacies - Mary - $1250, Kate - $500, George - $300, John
- $500, Peter - $300, and Margaret - $5.00 (five). The
balance if any is to go to Mary on the condition that she is
to look after Barbara his wife.
|
