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When Obadiah applied for a land grant on June 30, 1804, Justice of the Peace, Richard Hatt of Ancaster, vouched for him. Hatt wrote "This is to certify that I have known Obadiah Taylor upwards of six years, that [he] has always behaved himself decently and soberly, that he is married, has three children and also has a Team and other farming Utensils... to carry on farming."1
How could Obadiah have had 3 children in 1804? He and Margaret had been married for five years, so it was physically possible. But Margaret had only had 9 children (see list at left). Their eldest, Thomas, was born in 1800, and their second eldest, Michael, was born in either 1803 or 1804. Joseph, their 3rd child wasn’t born until 1806. So, how could Obadiah have had 3 children by 1804? The answer is that he must have had a child from a previous marriage.
He had come to Upper Canada in 1797 at the age of 27. Most young people at the time married in their early 20s. Dying in childbirth or shortly thereafter was, unfortunately, fairly common for women. What if Obadiah had married in his early 20s somewhere in New York, and his wife had died shortly after giving birth?
We could find no trace of Obadiah’s birthplace, but did find 2 Obadiah Taylors listed in the US 1790 Census: one was in Rensselaer [he's definitely not our Obadiah] and one was in Stephenson, near Albany, NY. If anyone knows this Obadiah, please let us know!
Our mother/grandmother vaguely remembered the name Ephraim tied to Obadiah. She didn’t know in what connection, but it gave us a starting point. We found a couple of references to an Ephraim Taylor in the southern Ontario region. When George Washington, a mason, married Louisa Secord, a spinster, on July 31, 1834 in London Township, one of the witnesses was Ephraim Taylor of Southwold, a yeoman2. We were so excited when we discovered that there were 3 gravestones in Clandeboye, a village in Biddulph Township, Middlesex County, with references to Ephraim Taylor. Unfortunately, a trip to the cemetery revealed that the burial sites were for a son, Ephraim Taylor, Jr.; a daughter, Kesiah Elizabeth (age 14 yrs); and a wife, Caroline Elizabeth Zuma3. They all died circa 1858. There was no burial plot for Ephraim Taylor himself. We are investigating further.
Some descendents of Obadiah have listed Jeremiah as his son. There was a Jeremiah Taylor of Pelham (near Niagara) who married Olivia Pettit (1810-1860), and died in 1833 when Olivia was 23 years old. Our Jeremiah would have been 38-42 years old at the time. Not impossible, but how likely? His will was probated in Pelham, and we will try to get down there to look at it.
James might have been Obadiah’s son, too. He married Margaret Rutherford and died in 1836 when Margaret was 30 years old. We will soon be looking at his will in the Surrogate Court records of Wentworth County.
Robert W. Taylor might have been Obadiah’s son. He was listed in the 1823 Militia Nominal Rolls, and again in the 3rd Company of the Gore Militia. He died in 1841 and we expect to take a look at his will in the Surrogate Court records of Wentworth County.
If Obadiah’s American child was a girl, we have little hope of finding her in the Canadian records. We have been through every likely baptism, marriage and death registry of the period. No luck yet.
Sources:
1. Upper Canada Land Petitions, R61L3 T7/3, Vol. 496, Reel
C-2833
2. Wilson, Thomas B. (1985). Marriage Bonds of Ontario: 1803-1834.
Lambertville, NJ: Hunterdon House, p. 363.
3. Ontario
Cemetery Finding Aid