AN EMBROIDERED WORK OF HEART

I am occasionally participating in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, a writing challenge encouraging genealogy researchers to write about their ancestors. The challenge is hosted by genealogist, blogger and podcaster Amy Johnson Crow.

This week's prompt: Craft

By Nancy Gilbride Casey

When items pass through family hands over many years, oftentimes, the stories behind them get left behind. Such was the case with a cross-stitched embroidery sampler my husband inherited.

The sampler caught my eye—having worked many a cross-stitch myself—as we went through his grandfather Harold Casey's home after his wife, Claretta Hall Casey, passed in 2000. The sampler depicts a simple scene of a house, a couple, and a verse:

Bless Our House, Oh Lord We Pray

Make it Safe By Night and Day.

Somewhat crudely stitched, and bordered by red, blue and yellow flowers, it also bore the signature of the maker: "Helen Taylor." I knew that Grandpa Casey's mother was Nellie Frances Taylor, so I assumed Helen was from her line, but the exact relationship was unknown.

Detail of Helen Taylor's embroidered handiwork.

Over the years, I had asked other Taylor descendants if they could identify "Helen Taylor," yet no one knew who she was. So, the item was put aside, waiting for the perfect spot on the walls of our home, and the revelation of its maker.

Fast forward to 2019. In preparation to submit an application for the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, I was deep into researching the Taylor family, who trace their roots back to several Pilgrims. I dove into United State Federal censuses to locate another direct-line ancestor, Jim's 3x great grandfather Edwin Alonzo Taylor.

And there it was: In the 1910 census were Edwin and his wife Minerva Cushman Taylor living in Newton, Iowa. In the same household is their son, Frederick M. Taylor, his wife Gertrude, and the couple's two daughters, Sarah, aged 21 and Helen, aged 23.¹

1910 United State Census showing Helen Taylor living in the same household as her grandfather Edwan [sic] A. Taylor.

Helen Taylor was the older first cousin of Nellie Frances Taylor, daughter of Frederick's brother Henry O. Taylor; both were granddaughters of Edwin and Minerva Taylor.

Given its homespun theme, it's quite possible the sampler may have been a wedding gift from Helen to Nellie, as she set up housekeeping with her new husband Stephen Henry Casey in 1909. If so, it is likely about 100 years old.

Helen M. Taylor never married, and died at age 89 on 16 May 1979. She is buried in Fairview Memorial Gardens in Fayetteville, Arkansas.² Sadly, Helen had no descendants of whom I am aware to pass the treasure on to, which makes it even more satisfying to know that her work of heart still has a home with her extended family.


Until next time... 

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NOTES

¹ 1910 U.S. Census, Jasper County, Iowa, population schedule, Newton, p. 2-A (penned), dwelling 36, family 36, Edwan A. Taylor; image: Ancestry (https://ancstry.me/2kltWLn : accessed 7 Sept 2019), citing NARA publication NARA microfilm publication T624; FHL microfilm: 1374420.
² Ancestry, Find A Grave, database with images (http://bit.ly/2P4jZ00 : accessed 2 Dec 2019), memorial 85611283, Helen M. Taylor (1890-1979), Fairview Cemetery, Fayetteville, Washington, Arkansas; gravestone photo by James P. Harter, 2019.