The 1998 Taylor Reunion was held at the Little Twin Lakes State Park near Rockwell City, Iowa on July 19th. It was attended by 31 Taylor relatives, descendants of brothers George and Henry Taylor. Norman (son of Pearl Taylor Linden) and his wife Theresa arrived early to reserve the shelter house and were joined by the Bricker cousins: Russell and Irma Bricker, Kenneth and Osa Bricker and their son Phil and his wife Sharon Bricker, Hazel (Bricker) Harvey and her husband Henry "Duke" Harvey, and Pat (Bricker) Cline and her husband Glenn Cline. Others who attended the Reunion were: Bill and Pearl Linden and daughter Grace; Verl and Rachel Hutchinson; Lloyd Taylor; brothers Ken and Duane Campbell; Donna (Taylor) Bennette and her husband Rivola Bennette and their grandchildren LeRoy McFarland and Sarah Sanders and Sarah's daughter, Alesha Sanders; Audrey Haub Iles and her brother Robert Haub; Ruby (Demien) Johnson and her husband Paul Johnson and their daughter Paulette Johnson and Paulette's daughter Haley Rosendahl. At noon the delicious food items were brought to the picnic tables in the shelter house and before eating the relatives paused for a blessing by Rivola Bennette. The relatives enjoyed the fresh vegetables, cheeses, fruit, salads, meat dishes and desserts. After everyone was through eating, Grace Linden, called for everyone to gather around for a short program. She explained the need for families to send short family histories to her or cousin Diane Schmidt (granddaughter of Maud Taylor Pierce) as they were compiling the Taylor Family History Book. She also showed them a family tree explaining how the people at the reunion were related to one another. For fun, she asked who was the oldest in attendance. It was determined the Duke Harvey was the oldest at 83 years old. Grace had brought "prizes" for the "winners" of this new event at the reunion. Duke received a plastic coffee cup with lid designed for use in car cup holders. Grace then asked for the next oldest person and it was Pearl Linden. She received a paper note tablet with flowers on the pages. Grace asked for the next oldest male in attendance and then the next oldest female in attendance and handed out five cups and five tablets in total to these men and women: Duke, Bill Linden, Russell Bricker, Lloyd Taylor and Kenneth Bricker; and Pearl Linden, Hazel Harvey, Rachel Hutchinson, Pat Cline and Audrey Iles. Another prize was given to the youngest relative Alesha, which was a blowing bubble set. Alesha was also honored as her second birthday had just been celebrated at home and we celebrated again with a birthday cake and a song. After the program the relatives again began to visit. Since the day was very warm and humid (althought there was a slight breeze from the lake) most people decided to leave the reunion around 2:30 p.m. Family members enjoyed the reminiscences of past reunions and of since departed family members. The old family photographs brought to the reunion brought back many memories and stories. Pat (Bricker) Cline told us that her father, Earl Bricker's cousin, Maud (Taylor) Pierce came to stay with her folks when Pat was born to help her mother around the house. Russell and Kenneth Bricker remembered their grandfather Melvin Bricker and his love of the farm horses and mules. Even after Melvin moved to town he would return to his son's farm to visit his favorite horses. People also related current stories of family members who could not attend, what their children and grandchildren were doing. Ken Campbell's son Chad is working in the Circulation Department in a newspaper office in Champaign, Illinois. Audrey Haub was planning a trip to Nebraska and see her son who is living there and hopes to stop at Pearl and Bill Linden's home in Moville on the way. Rachel and Verl Hutchinson brought along all the names, and birth, death, and divorce dates for their family members. Although Grace did not have time to transcribe all the information during the Reunion, Rachel promised to send a copy or bring it to next year's Reunion. Glenn Cline brought a family history chart of the Bricker family and posted that on the picnic shelter for all to see. He is currently writing a Bricker Family History and will include the story of the Bricker family coming to Madison County, Iowa and how they were working on the "Richie" Ranch (owned by a man named "Richie" who hired men to work his ranch) when the Taylor family came to Madison County and began working on the "Richie" ranch. This eventually led to Melvin Bricker meeting Ella Taylor and their eventual marriage. Glenn went on to say that after the George Taylor family moved to Woodbury County, Melvin Bricker followed them in order to marry their oldest daughter Ella Taylor and bring her back to Madison County. Supposedly Melvin took his horse to Woodbury County, but Glenn says back in those days he could have "taken" his horse on the train with him as far as the closest depot to the Taylor farm (probably LeMars, Iowa) and then would have ridden his horse the rest of the way to the Taylor farm. Hopefully stories such as these will be included in the family histories that will be a part of the Taylor Family History Book.

Topic #2 - Taylor Family History Book

A Taylor Family History Book will be published in the next couple years by Diane Schmidt and myself. I want to urge those of you who have not sent a family story to us, to please do so. We don't want your family's history to be left out or to be inaccurate. Photographs are welcome, also!

Topic #3 - Related Families

People who marry into the Taylor Family bring with them a whole other family. These families will be referred to as "Related Families". We will be writing about them in the Taylor Family History Book and I may be writing articles about them in this newsletter. For example, William Taylor (see his photograph at the top of this page) married Elizabeth Wells. Therefore, the "Wells" family is a related family. All of the descendants of William and Elizabeth (their children, grandchildren, etc.) are not only related to the Taylors, but to the Wells. So, who are the "Wells"? Elizabeth's father was Thomas Wells who was born in 1738 in Laceby, Lincolnshire, England. His father was Thomas W. Wells, who was a Mason and probably born in the early 1700's, but that is about as far back as Diane Schmidt can go in researching the Wells family history. William and Elizabeth's oldest son, Charles, married Mary Holmes. We have very little on her except a photograph. We also have photographs of Charles and Mary's children, including my great-grandfather George Taylor and his wife Elizabeth (Thompson) Taylor. We have a lot of information about the Thompson family which will be included in the family history book. So, not only will you be learning about the Taylor history but also the history of "Related Families" in the family history book.

Topic # 4 - Linden Summer Vacation

Bill and Pearl (Taylor) Linden and their daughter Grace went on a vacation to California the first two weeks of September 1998. They stayed part of the time with Bill's brother and wife, Don and Jan Linden in Auburn California and part of the time with Pearl's nephew Clarence "Zack" Taylor and his wife Patty in Sacramento. Grace also spent a weekend with Zack's son Jeff Taylor in Lost Gatos. The Lindens saw many beautiful sights in northern California including the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Lake Tahoe, the redwood forest at Muir Woods and the vineyards of Napa Valley, San Francisco's cable cars, Coit Tower, Golden Gate Bridge and State Park, and Alcatraz Island, the state capitol at Sacramento, Sutter's Mill, Monterrey Bay, and many more wonderful sites. Grace also attended a museum conference in Sacramento while her folks attended a Linden family reunion in Auburn. It was a wonderful vacation and we want to thank our gracious hosts and tour guides!

 

Editor's Note:

Please send stories to me via e-mail or U.S. mail and I will add your messages to the "Taylor Tales" newsletter. Please copy this newsletter as we will delete it after a few months. Thanks. Editor: Grace E. Linden, Box 2262, Sioux City, IA 51104. glinden@pionet.net

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