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Anna Margaret Hess, known as Margaret1, married Obadiah Taylor in 17981. She emigrated to Upper Canada from the Mount Bethel region of Pennsylvania as a 13-year-old in 1788 with her father, Michael Hess, mother Gertraudt Van Cortlandt, and at least 7 of her 9 (or 10) siblings2,3. The Hess family settled in Barton Township, now known as the Hamilton Mountain, atop the Niagara Escarpment, in present day Hamilton, Ontario.
Michael Hess was born into a Lutheran family in Williams Township, Northhampton County, Pennsylvania, in 1741. His parents were Peter and Anna Margaretha. Peter and his 5 siblings were born in Mutterstadt, Germany of Jeremiah Hess and Anna Marie Heim2. Michael was 47 when he uprooted his family and moved north for free land in Upper Canada. He worked his land, participated in the community, and saw his children married off to the other settlers of the area: Samuel married Catherine Kribs, Anna married Philip Kribs, Maria Catherine married Christian Burkholder, Charity married twice (Jacob Patterson, then Joseph Hudson), Peter also married twice (Sarah Beasley, then Ruth Parsons), Jacob married Elizabeth Horning, Christina married James Mills, and of course, Margaret married Obadiah Taylor3.
Margaret’s mother, Gertraudt Van Cortlandt, came from a distinguished New York family. Her g grandfather was the first American born mayor of New York City, Stephanus Van Cortlandt. Her ggg grandmother on her mother’s side (Bayard), was Anna Stuyvesant, sister of the last Dutch governor of New Netherlands, Peter Stuyvesant. And her family tree contained many Van Rensselaers, Schuylers, and other notable political and military families.
Margaret and Obadiah married when she was 23 and he was 28. It must have been a whirlwind courtship because Obadiah had only arrived in Barton the previous year. Her first child, Thomas, was born in 1800, and her eighth child, Gilbert, was born 15 years later, on May 30, 1815. Her youngest, named after his father, Obadiah, was probably a surprise baby; he arrived when Margaret was 45, in 1820. According to the 1826 Barton Assessment, she was 51 years old, and managed a household that contained 4 males and 2 females above 16 years of age, and 3 males and 1 female under 16 years of age. At her age, that was a lot to manage. When she died in her 90th year on May 12, 1864, she had predeceased her husband and had "lived to see all 9 of her children identified with the [Wesleyan] Methodist Church"1.
Sources:
1. McKenzie, Donald A. (1988). Obituaries from Ontario’s Christian Guardian: 1861-1870. Lambertville, NJ: Hunterdon House, p. 138
2. http://frankenfield-beam.net/families/raub.htm
3. Gallagher, James. (1984). The Hess Family of Barton.