From Colonial New England to Industrial-Era Michigan

Montran-Barber-Blackhurst-Taylor Line
Brown-Sanford-Parsons-Taylor Line
By Don Taylor

Name Origin[i]

Family Search and Ancestry both indicate that Taylor is an occupational name for a tailor. It comes from Anglo-Norman French Middle English taillour. It is extremely common in Britain and Ireland. 

Geographical

In the world, there are over 1.5 million people with the surname Taylor. It is most prevalent in the United States and most common in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In the US, it is most prevalent in Texas, California, and Florida.

My Direct Taylor Ancestors

Because my biological father was a Roberts, I have no immediate Taylor Ancestors; however, my research has uncovered three likely Taylor Ancestors.[ii]

Montran Line

• 1^st Great-grandparent: Ida Mae Barber (1874-1953)
• 2^nd Great-grandmother: Sarah H Blackhurst (1848-1929)
• 3^rd Great-grandmother: Fanny Taylor (1806-1889.)

Brown Line

• Great-grandfather: Arthur Durwood Brown (1869-1928)
• 2^st Great-grandmother: Marion Sanford (1846- c. 1895)
• 3^rd Great-grandmother: Mary E Parsons (1828-1888)
• 4^th Great-grandfather: Chester Parsons (1799-1887)
• 5^th Great-grandfather: John Parsons, Jr. (1764-1813)
• 6^th Great-grandfather: John Parsons (1737/38-1821)[ii]
• 7^th Great-grandfather: Timothy Parsons (1695-1772) [iii]
• 8^th Great-grandmother: Rhoda Taylor (1669-1758) [iv]
• 9^th Great-grandfather: John Taylor (1641-1704) [v]

My Taylors in History

Fanny (Taylor) Blackhurst lived through England’s industrial collapse after the Napoleonic Wars, emigrated during one of Britain’s great working-class population displacements of the 1840s, resettled along America’s key migration corridors in New York and Michigan, and spent her later life in a Union state transformed by the Civil War and railroad-driven industrial growth.

Rhoda Taylor (1669–1758) was born in Northampton, Mass., during the height of early New England settlement, spent her married life in Durham as the colonies matured through frontier warfare, including King William’s War and Queen Anne’s War, and died just as the generation that would lead into the American Revolution was coming of age.

John Taylor (1641–1704) lived his entire adult life in Northampton, England, during the formative years of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, witnessing both the steady expansion of Puritan frontier settlement and the devastation of King Philip’s War, one of the most violent conflicts of early New England history.

Locations of my Taylor Ancestors

John Taylor (1641–1704)[vi]

• England, Northampton — Birthplace (probable immigrant)

Rhoda (Taylor) Parsons (1669–1758) [vii]

• Connecticut Colony, Durham — Married life, death, and burial
• Massachusetts Colony, Northampton — Birthplace

Fanny (Taylor) Blackhurst (1806–1889) [viii]

• England — Birth country
• England, Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull — Residence (1841)
• England, Yorkshire, Rotherham — Marriage location
• England, Yorkshire, Sheffield — Residence(1828)
• United States, Michigan, Calhoun, Albion — Burial place
• United States, New York, Calhoun, Auburn — Residence (1850, 1855)
• United States, Michigan, Calhoun, Sheridan — Residence (1860–1880)

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Sources

• Ancestry Surname Page: http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts
• Family Search Surname page.
• Forebears Surnames Page: http://forebear       s.io/surnames
• Ancestry – Don Taylor’s Brown-Montran tree on Ancestry, accessed DATE

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Endnotes

[i] Common surname origins include:

• Occupations (such as “Taylor”
• Physical characteristics (such as “Short”)
• Places or landmarks (such as “Hill”)
• Patronymics, derived from a father’s name (such as Johnson from ”son of John”).

[ii] I have not had the opportunity to personally research these individuals. As such, their names and dates are tentative and/or speculative.
[iii], [iv], [v], [vi], [vii], & [viii] Ibid.