Personalities and lives from a conversation of Anna Taylor Bartlett with Family Researcher:
Spencer Allen Taylor (Florence's father-in-law) was a farmer who got rheumatism from the snow and was bedridden and in constant pain, so his oldest son Edward Elmore Taylor had to take over the farming. Lydia McDowell Taylor (Florence's mother in law) was weighed down with the responsibility of caring for Spencer in spite of having a bad heart. She was unselfish, had a great memory for poetry, and was a great influence on her kids.
Florence Norton Taylor had a normal school education and had a teaching certificate. She had a great capacity to enjoy things especially nature, was a born organizer and hostess, loved to entertain and was a wonderful seamstress. Later, in San Jose, she took in sewing to support the family. Her parents were farmers, had nine children, and their home was Grand Central Station for the neighborhood. Her mother Fanny was a militant strong WCTU woman and would take an ax to a saloon-she was leader. When one of her children disappeared she wandered all over the west looking for him. Fanny was open-hearted and wrote poetry in the middle of the night. Florence had a wonderful childhood and was self-confident; she rode horseback into town and all over.
After marriage, she had to be very patient with Edward Elmore (EE) Taylor, her husband and put up with a lot. After her oldest son drowned, her sanity was probably saved by the discovery she was pregnant with her youngest son. EE was a frustrated and bitter man because he was pulled into farming after a semester in college and couldn't complete college and become a lawyer. He was very well-read (including National Geographics), played classical music on an old Victrola (Beethoven, William Tell, the Hungarian Rhapsody), was a born student, and very opinionated. He was interested in education and saw to it that all his children got a education; rather unusual for the times. He worked during summers as an accountant, bookkeeper, or weigher for Hunts canneries.
The Norton line:
Jacob Norton (b. dpl?, d. 1833 TOH) Washington's cook
Barbara Migner (b. d?, in Strasburg (Germany), d. dpl?)* His 2nd wife.
~~~~married dpl?
*George Norton (b. X-31-1791 Shenandoah Co. VA, d. III-25-1866 DWI)
*Barbara Baughman (b. V-10-1795 BG, d. IV-5-1867 DWI)
~~~~married XII-8-1815 pl?
**Sylvester Hills Norton (b. I-15-1832 TOH, d. II-24-1915 Elmore MN)
**Fanny Sophronia Brockett (b. V-7-1841 Columbus IN,d. I-21-1926 Mpls MN)* See below.
The Brockett line:
Able Brockett (b. VIII-11-1725 No. Haven CT, d. VIII-4-1815 pl?)
Hannah Pierpont (b. XI-12-1736 Nh, d. IV-16-1816 pl?)
~~~~married VII-24-1755 pl?
*Chauncey Brockett (b. I-22-1777 Oswego NY, d. III-1-1850 TOH)
*Ann(e) Redway (b. 1778 NY, d. VII-1813 to I-1814 pl?)
~~~~married 1800 pl?
**Ansel Radway Brockett (b. VII-24-1813 TOH, d. VII-16-1878 BE
**Lucy B. Tooley (b. XII-14-1820 KY, d. V-21-1851 DWI)
~~~~married IV-3-1836 IN
***Fanny Sophronia Brockett m. Sylvester N. on II-18-1860 Mayville WI; see above
Key: d?=date unknown
pl?=place unknown
dpl?=date and place unknown
TOH=Trumbull Co., Ohio
DWI=Dodge Co., Wisc.
BG=Breck Gap, VA
Nh=New Haven, CT
BE=Blue Earth, MN
