srider
08-08-2008, 11:22 AM
Warning: I have been advised by a naval history expert that this family story is the most absurd he has ever heard... perhaps the work of an amateur genealogist run amuck! The details of the story have been passed down for generations and kept quite secret. I will skip the drama and try to focus on the relevant names/dates.
On his deathbed in Maine a man named Taylor with a wife and 3 sons confided in them that he had a family and an estate in England that they had never known existed. Unfortunately the details of his estate and instructions to claim it went with him when he died. It is believed that one of the 3 sons (Charles, William and Edward) went to England and settled there permanently, although we do not know where.
The general assumption here is that the man's name was Taylor and that he was a British Royal Navy officer running ships up and down the coast of America in the mid - late 1700's. My mother in law and her 94 year old cousin have helped me to trace this Taylor family back as follows:
Mabel E. Taylor b. 02 May 1872 was the daughter of
Moses B. Taylor b. Nov 1844 Robbinston Maine son of
Edward H. Taylor b. 10 april 1806 Eastport Maine m. Hannah Boyd 14 Jan 1828
By networking in the U.S. I received this information:
Edward H. Taylor is thought to have been the son of William Taylor b. abt 1770 in Beauminster Dorset England and m. Hannah Hammond b. 23 Jun 1771 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts bef 1793
I am not sure that this is the right connection.
What I would really like to do is bridge the information gap for these ladies and see what I can learn to link their great great grandfather to this British Naval Officer. Clearly I am going from their memories of the story and the timing is sketchy at best!
Questions:
1. Can anyone help me learn more about William Taylor of Beauminster?
2. Any ideas on how to track down the names of British Royal Navy ships or ship captains that would have been around coastal America in the late 1700s and did not return to England? A side note is that it is believed that the first mate was a man named Clark.
I would appreciate any and all ideas about where to go from here or I am destined to forever be in the state of "running amuck!"
Thank you all.
On his deathbed in Maine a man named Taylor with a wife and 3 sons confided in them that he had a family and an estate in England that they had never known existed. Unfortunately the details of his estate and instructions to claim it went with him when he died. It is believed that one of the 3 sons (Charles, William and Edward) went to England and settled there permanently, although we do not know where.
The general assumption here is that the man's name was Taylor and that he was a British Royal Navy officer running ships up and down the coast of America in the mid - late 1700's. My mother in law and her 94 year old cousin have helped me to trace this Taylor family back as follows:
Mabel E. Taylor b. 02 May 1872 was the daughter of
Moses B. Taylor b. Nov 1844 Robbinston Maine son of
Edward H. Taylor b. 10 april 1806 Eastport Maine m. Hannah Boyd 14 Jan 1828
By networking in the U.S. I received this information:
Edward H. Taylor is thought to have been the son of William Taylor b. abt 1770 in Beauminster Dorset England and m. Hannah Hammond b. 23 Jun 1771 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts bef 1793
I am not sure that this is the right connection.
What I would really like to do is bridge the information gap for these ladies and see what I can learn to link their great great grandfather to this British Naval Officer. Clearly I am going from their memories of the story and the timing is sketchy at best!
Questions:
1. Can anyone help me learn more about William Taylor of Beauminster?
2. Any ideas on how to track down the names of British Royal Navy ships or ship captains that would have been around coastal America in the late 1700s and did not return to England? A side note is that it is believed that the first mate was a man named Clark.
I would appreciate any and all ideas about where to go from here or I am destined to forever be in the state of "running amuck!"
Thank you all.