Overview History on the Taylor Line

Sarah Ellen Taylor b 17 Sep 1865 d 7 Mar 1947

Married 1st, John Martin b-abt 1864; Married 2nd, John W Carter b1850 d1899; Married 3rd, Charles Alfred Hightower b1873 d1948;

Sarah's father, George Washington Taylor, b 3 Apr 1846 in Franklin County, Alabama, was the end of the direct male line of Taylor, for myself and my descendants. This male line goes back to Hanger Taylor of Kent, England who lived during the time of King Henry III and whose estates were in Kent, England. Hanger had a son named William who was called, "Taylor of Shadochurst" and Hanger's grandson John Taylor was Lord of the Manor Shadochurst.

Sarah was my Great-grandmother and she raised my mother Charlotte (her granddaughter) from the age of five years old. Mother had a brother named Harry Malory Hightower who was a year younger than my mother and Sarah raised him also. Charlotte, my mother, and Harry, my uncle, were the children of Amanda Carter and Charles Hightower. Amanda had placed both Charlotte and Harry into an orphanage in Kansas City, Missouri. She did this out of necessity and not because she wanted to. They had not been there long until Sarah found out about it and got them out.

As a child, my mother was told very little about Sarah's family, the Taylors, on Sarah's paternal side. One thing, however, was very interesting, Sarah told that one of her ancestors, one Zack Taylor had been president of the United States. I was surprised when I started working on the Taylor line. I found that it was actually true. But what I call "The Presidential Line" is not a direct line for my descendants. James, the son of (Immigrant) John, was the beginning of the presidential line. That same line also produced President Madison. My ancestor is James' brother, Robert Taylor, also the son of John (Immigrant) Taylor. John Taylor and his family immigrated to the colonies in 1650.

Seaver's History of the Taylors, says that the ancient name was Tailaferro and there was a Tailaferro who was with Caesar in his campaign in Gaul 58 B. C. The name appeared again in Normandy, France, a nobleman who accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066, leading the Battle of Hastings. The battle took place on 14 October 1066 between Harold, King of England and William, Duke of Normandy. Although Baron Tailaferro was killed in that battle, his brother Foulkes and decendants received vast estates and became the Earls of Pennington, the ancestors of the Taylors. In the time of Charles The Bold, King of France, a Tailaferro was created Duke of Angouleme. Isabel Tailaferro, daughter of Count Tailaferro married King John of England.

In England, the name gradually became Taillefer. Then became Taylor as Hanger's grandson John Taylor was known as "Lord of the Manor Shadochurst". There were also the Taylors of Ireland who spelled their name Tallisfer or Tayleur. John Telfair was given as the ancestor of Matthew Taylor who settled in New York in 1670. The Taylors of Shadochurst were said to be of Pennington which is only twenty miles from Carlisle, England, the port from which the first Taylors sailed to America. The old ancestral home is Pennington Castle where the Taylor ancestors are buried.

King Henry VIII ruled England from 1509 to 1547. His first wife was Catherine of Arragon. She gave him no sons (Catherine was, however, the mother of a daughter named Mary, who became known as "Bloody Mary"). King Henry asked the pope for permission to divorce Catherine. The pope refused, saying there were no grounds for a divorce from Catherine. Henry banned the Catholic faith in England and authorized the Protestant faith, seized the property of the Catholic Church and became the wealthiest monarch England has ever had. He then married Ann Boleyn. She gave him no son either, was condemned for adultery and beheaded.

King Henry then married Jane Seymour who gave birth to Edward VI. Seymour gave birth to Edward on 12 Oct 1537 and died on 24 Oct 1537. Edward succeeded his father to the throne in 1547 and died of consumption in 1553. Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Arragon succeeded him and attempted to return England to Catholic power. It was during Mary's reign in 1555 that our ancestor Dr. Rowland Taylor was executed for heresy, and his brothers fled to Ireland after Rowland was martyred.

Rowland Taylor was the son of Reverend John Taylor and Susan Rowland. The following children were born to them: 1. Rowland Taylor born 6 Nov 1510 died 9 Feb 1555 2. Robert Taylor 3. Thomas Taylor born 1513 died 1534 4. John Taylor (Dean of the compilers of the Protestant Prayer Book) 5. Edmund Taylor 6. Nathaniel Taylor

In 1642 civil war broke out with King Charles' Royalists opposing the Parlimentarian Puritans. Oliver Cromwell led the Parlimentarians to victory and had King Charles executed in 1649. Cromwell banished all loyal followers of King Charles and the Taylors were included. These were the sons of John and Thomas Taylor. They fled to the Virginia Colony in America and are named as immigrants of the Moravian faith which was called Presbyterian in America. These Taylors are listed as immigrants on Greer's Immigration List and also on Richardson's Immigration List of 1650.

Regarding Ellen Taylor, daughter of Thomas Taylor who married Thomas Harrison: In 1649 when Oliver Cromwell defeated and beheaded King Charles I in England, there were 13 men who acted as judges and signed the death warrant of King Charles I. One of these men was Thomas Harrison who was the husband of Ellen Taylor. When Charles II returned from exile in Holland on 25 May 1660, he tried and executed all 13 judges. Thomas Harrison was one of those 13 judges. He was hanged and his body mutilated at Charing Cross, London, England on 13 October 1660.

There was a Trade Guild School in England named "Merchauntaile" operated by the Taylors. This educational guild had been licensed in the time of King Edward I (1272 - 1302). Henry VI gave the guild a charter in 1422 under the name "Masters and Wardens of The Maternity of St. John Baptist of London". Henry VII changed its name to "Merchant Taylors" in 1485. The Taylors also operated the great Cloth Making Guild known as "Merchants Tailors". Members of Immigrant John Taylor's family were Merchant Taylors. In 1683 in Virginia, John 2nd who owned a shipping line exhibited 50 yards of linen cloth of his own manufacture. For many years the Taylors and other families sent their children back to England to attend the Taylor School. Leaving specific instructions in their wills to be paid for with tobacco. In the Merchants Taylor School, every subject that could be taught useful to man to prepare him for public service was offered at the Taylor School, General Education, Law, Medicine, Agriculture,Theology, Surveying and more.

Researched and Written by Charlucker

Rowland Taylor and Margaret Tyndale Taylor by Rhonda Wall

This history goes back on the Taylor line. Granny Hightower was Sarah Ellen Taylor (later Carter and then Hightower).

Nine generations back from the Hightower story (see Memories of our Mothers) on this same family line is a poignant legacy to the holy state of marriage left to the world and especially to our Taylor family line. Granny Hightower was a direct descendent and completely unaware of her religious heritage and at what cost she was given religious freedom.

The following writing was left by the Reverend Rowland Taylor in 1555. He was married to Margaret Tyndale, sister of Sir William Tyndale who translated our King James Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English. This was also the text that King James used for his translation of the bible 400 years ago. You might be hearing about this in the news. This year is the 400 year anniversary of this translation and our relative is the principal translator of it and other of our relatives participated in the reformation that allowed its use.

The Taylors and Tyndales were long part of the religious reformation in England. Dr. Rowland Taylor was a religious reformer who refused to renounce his religion and marriage to Margaret Tyndale, mother of his 9 children, to become a Roman Catholic Priest under Queen Mary’s (Bloody Mary) counter religious reformation. There are other writings by Rowland Taylor, you can find them on-line. These are the powerful words he left to his 9 year old son Thomas Taylor (also a direct ancestor) before he was martyred by being burned at the stake.

"Almighty God bless thee, and give you his Holy Spirit, to be a true servant of Christ, to learn his word, and constantly to stand by his truth all the life long. And my son, see that thou fear God always. Fly from all sin and wicked living. Be virtuous, serve God daily with prayer, and apply thy boke. In anywise see thou be obedient to thy mother, love her, and serve her. Be ruled by her now in thy youth, and follow her good counsel in all things. Beware of lewd company of young men, that fear not God, but followeth their lewd lusts and vain appetites. Flee from whoredom, and hate all filthy lying, remembering that I thy father do die in the defense of holy marriage. And another day when God shall bless thee, love and cherish the poor people, and count that thy chief riches to be rich in alms. And when thy mother is waxed old, forsake her not, but provide for her to thy power, and see that she lacks nothing. For so will God bless thee, give thee long life upon earth, and prosperity, which I pray God to grant thee.”

Before Rowland Taylor was killed, he was allowed to take his son Thomas into his arms and he said to the gathered crowd, “Good people, this is my son, begotten of my body in lawful marriage; and this is one of the charges for which I am about to give myself to the flames; but God be thanked for the blessing of lawful matrimony. And lifting his eyes to heaven, he prayed for his son, and blessed him.”

His wife, Margaret had already been taken into custody. She was also burned at the stake for her religious and marital views 4 days later. They left 4 orphans (the other 5 children had already died) ages 3-21 and a foster daughter age 13.

Nine generations later, our Taylor line is in America, a country with religious and political freedom we find the Taylors not participating in either. They and their privileged descendants were not only nonreligious at the time but not taught to honor marriage vows and they did not raise their children to benefit from honorable marriage and the security and blessings intended by this union. How very sad.

Memories of our Mothers, Sarah Taylor, Amanda Carter, Charlotte Hightower

This story is written by Charlotte Sarah Elmitte Church with a few additions by Rhonda Wall

"Today is January 29, 2009 and it has been four years since my mother, Charlotte Sarah Ellen Hightower passed from this life. I am thankful for the sixty-six years I spent with her and I have missed her more than I can ever express. I did not spend all sixty-six years with her in a physical sense, because for many of those years, I was raising a family of my own. Even though she lived some distance from me, we were always in close touch by telephone, letters and visits as frequently as I could make them.
During the later years of Moms life, after her retirement and mine too, we were able to do some traveling together, visiting family and friends in distant places. Most of them are also gone now. When we traveled, we did a lot of fishing as my mother loved fishing for as long as I can remember.
After my own retirement, I lived in Colorado for a few years and during that time, I would drive to Atascadero, California every summer and pick up my mother. We would usually take one long trip, visiting family and friends, which lasted two or three weeks and then return to Colorado to fish the Deweese Lake in Westcliff, Colorado and the smaller lake above Salida, Colorado which was situated just above the fish hatchery. Those were the two favorite places to fish.

I need to lay some groundwork now, before I go any further so that those reading this will know who and what I am talking about. With that in mind, I'll simply say that when my mother's dad, Charles Hightower married Sarah Ellen in 1905, she was a widow with four daughters. Liza the eldest was already away from home, probably married. Clara was the next to leave. That left only Amanda and Jewell. Charles Hightower and Amanda, his step-daughter had an affair which produced my mother, Charlotte [and her little brother Harry].

There were defining times in my mother's life which influenced her development and subsequent life. The first was, I think, the separation from her birth mother, Amanda Elmitta Carter at the age of five. My knowledge of this comes from what I have been told by family members and also from my own digging into historical documentation. The 1920 census shows that, Charles Hightower, mom's father, and Amanda Carter, her mother, were living in Peoria, Ottawa, Oklahoma with two children, my mother Charlotte and her brother Harry Mallory. The same year, 1920, another census sheet shows Charles Hightower living in Park Hill, Cherokee County, Oklahoma with his wife Sarah Ellen Taylor Hightower and their two sons, Albert and Robert Hightower. Charles was, therefore, maintaining two households and two families.

Sometime after 1920, Amanda took her two children and moved to Kansas City, Missouri where she married Randy Schultz. Amanda got a job cooking and keeping house for a weathy family. While she worked, her two children, were cared for at St. Anthonys Home for Infants and Children, in a section of the orphanage where children of working mothers were kept. However, when Amanda lost her job she could no longer pay for the care of her children. That is how the story goes from Amanda's side.
Because no payment was being made for the children, contact was made with the nearest relative listed on the records, which, of course, was Amanda's mother. Sarah Ellen Hightower.

Sarah sent her husband, Charles Hightower to Kansas City to pick up her grandchildren and bring them to her. It was on their arrival at her home, she found out the whole story. Charles, her husband, was actually the father of her grandchildren. This secret affair between Charles and his step-daughter, Amanda hit her hard because she then sent Charles away with his two children. He took them to a lumber camp where he had been working off and on for a few years and they lived there together for about a year.

Upon their return to the home of Sarah, she agreed to take the children in and raise them as her own. Sarah dealt harshly with her daughter Amanda by never allowing her to reclaim her children. Charles was banished from her home and never again lived inside the house but slept in the barn or in a small cottage near the main house. Thus, my mother never again saw her birth mother.

[Before she died, she was able to be reunited with her half-sister, Joan Valentine Schultz whom she never had met before. Here is a letter to Joan dated 23 July, 2004 and was inserted by Rhonda Wall]
July 23, 2004 (6 months before she died)

“Dear Sis. It seems so funny “writing dear sis”, you know I was raised with three boys and I always wanted a sister. I don’t know if mom ever told you, she put my brother and me in a home. They would take care of kids if you paid them so much a week but if you could not pay, the kids was put up and adopted. But mom got a job and came up ever Sunday and paid it and took us for a walk. But then she got pg and the company she worked for didn’t want her working anymore and Randy, [her husband] was not giving her any money for us kids so the house mother wrote to grandma and told her, she was putting us up for adoption, so grandmother sent her husband up to get us.

We lived with our grandma; we called her granny [Granny Hightower]. Granny and papa raised us and they were good to us, but, we was raised in a home without any love. I never did see papa put his arm around granny or us kids. We got a lot of care but it did not seem like anybody was happy."

On one of our many trips across country, we hunted down Amanda's final resting place which we found in Butler, Missouri. It was not marked and the cemetary caretaker helped us find it under a lovely old shade tree on a grassy incline. It looked like a perfect spot for a picnic. One would never have known there was a grave there. My mother, Charlotte, sadly remarked, "She doesn't even have a marker."

The second defining time of my mother's life which had an enormous impact on her subsequent life was the loss of her two eldest children, a daughter, Cleo Uldean and a son Eldun Loy. Uldean died in June of 1937 (aged 3 years 8 mo.) of pneumonia. Six months later in November of 1937, three year old Eldun died in a house fire which burned our home nearly to the ground. I was eleven months old and my uncle John Church was able to get me out of the house but could not find my brother.

The newspaper account brings that scene onto the screen of my mind and my heart aches for my parents, even now, seventy two years later. The Salida Daily Mail, a semi-weekly newspaper, sensationalized the news of my brother's death in a way I thought insensitive of my parents grief. For example the article starts with the words, "While the horror-stricken mother looked on helplessly a child was trapped and burned to death." The article goes on to describe the attempt to cut a hole in the side of the house with an ax. They end with a description of the finding of my brothers body, and the appearance of the body. Reading it today, tears fill my eyes. It seems so cruel to publish something like that.

My mother had an emotional breakdown at some time afterwards. It was kept secret of course and her illness was claimed to have been caused by a poisonous spider bite. Breakdowns like that were, at that time, considered shameful and weak. So the story was spread about the countryside, and few people in the family even knew the truth. Mother recovered and two years later my brother was born on 11 August 1939. My mother was a blessing in my life and in the lives of my siblings and I am sure of one thing, I shall miss her for the rest of my life.
Mother remarried in 1943 after the accidental death of Eldun Church, my father. She married John A. Rambish and had two more children, a son born in 1944 and a daughter born in 1945.

These are notes from Rhonda:
My mother and her brother Marvin were adopted by John Rambish. That's where the name Rambish fits in. They are Churches by birth. John Church who saved my mother's life was the brother of her father.

My grandmother said she liked the children's home and the nuns who cared for them. They were fed well and they had activities and they got treats. She had nice memories from that time. My grandmother played the violin and Harry played the guitar. See the inserted picture of them with their instruments. They played for local dances and would often be asked to play at night and their grandma would let them go out and play for the dance.

Amanda Carter met Randy Schultz through the children's home. He had his children there too. Amanda never forgave him for continuing to pay for his children and he eventually got them out. He never gave her money to get her own children out and she had to raise those kids of his too. This was heartbreaking for her. My grandmother Charlotte always regretted that she did not go to the deathbed of her mother when she was invited. Her husband John cruelly questioned why she would want to do that when he felt that her mother never did anything for her.