From Lead Mines to Gold Fields
Memories of an Incredibly Long Life
Publication Year: 2006
With wit and a keen sense of character, Taylor began to record his life story when he was 80 and completed it at the age of 103. Donald L. Parman has organized and annotated Taylor’s story, supplying an introduction and information on people, places, and events in the text.
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
Contents
Illustrations and Map
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p. viii-viii
Acknowledgments
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pp. ix-xii
I owe thanks to a good many people who helped me with research questions that I could not answer at the Purdue University Libraries, Jun Lloyd and Lila Fourham-Shaull of the Historical Society of York County, Pennsylvania, helped me with questions about Henry Taylor's mysterious ancestor who settled in the area. ...
Introduction
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pp. xiii-xxiv
Henry Taylor, whose autobiography is presented in this book, was born in 1824 at Leesburg, Virginia, in Loudoun County. After his father suffered financial reverses, the Taylor family in 1832 moved to Wellsville, Ohio, on the Ohio river. When Henry was seventeen, the Taylors settled near Iowa City, Iowa. It appears that they ...
Author's Preface
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pp. xxv-xxvi
In our American Literature few books portray the entensily interestin[g] drama of a life covering over a century. My book is a humble contribution to the noble list of Autobiographies dispicting the realities of a life covering both pioneer and modern life. but few people I suppose have witnessed as wide a range of extremes in ...
1. Growing Up in Virginia and Ohio
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pp. 1-16
The average American is of a restless disposition, and I sometimes feel that the spirit of our forefathers must control our actions. It seems to me that a short history of those hardy pioneers, as handed down in the family will explain why we were always found on the outskirts of civilization. My ancestors came to [this] country long before the ...
2. Life in Iowa and Wisconsin
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pp. 17-40
Father, having got every thing ready, We once more pul[l]ed out for the west, our destination this time being Iowa City, Iowa. We arrived late in the fall, and while Iowa had the greatest advantages for a Family to settle in, We stayed but five years. The country was well wooded and full of wild game. Ever[y] person had venison, deer and turkey. ...
3. From Wisconsin to Fort Laramie
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pp. 41-60
It is enough to say I made my first move on the first day of april, and by the thirte[e]nt we were ready to start. There were shaking of hands, goodby's were exchanged, with many a word of advice from Father and mother, then We passed out of the yard gate, and the long journey was commenced. The road leading from the house ...
4. On to California
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pp. 61-96
Everything being ready, clothes washed, letters mailed, we commenced on june 20th to ascend the black hills, which are nothing more than a spur of the rocky mountains. I will say that before leaving the fort, Sheridan had discovered the train that camped near us at wood river and with which the two young ladies belonged. ...
5. Mining for Gold
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pp. 97-112
The little American valley was rich in everything that makes life comfortable and happy. In looking back to that time the wonder is to me why did not I select a portion of it on which to make a home. It was wel[l] watered with many streams, thousands of acres of beautifull land, and like many other valleys, [it was] interspersed with beautifull ...
6. Journey Home by Sea
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pp. 113-136
It was dangerous leaving the mountains at that time. [M]any men left that were never heard [of] afterwards. Friends in the east, knowing the time of their departure for home, would write back to inquire after them, saying they had not arrived as was expected, and they never was heard from. So for two or three days we maneuvered so as to make ...
7. Setbacks in Wisconsin and Homesteading in Nebraska
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pp. 137-150
My wife had selected the home that she wanted me to buy. It was a beautiful piece of land with comfortable buildings on it and a little less than a hundred acres in the farm. In less than a month we were in that house. It was our own and well furnished for a country residence. It was less than a half-mile from father's [farm]. ...
8. The San Francisco Earthquake
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pp. 151-160
Sometime after Ed came to live with me, I went back to san francisco to visit my son Frank who had left Denver, Colorado, and gone there to make his home and had met misofrtune [misfortune] in the san francisco Earthquake.1 He got there about a month before the quake. One morning when I picked up the Omaha World Herald, ...
9. Reflections of a Centenarian
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pp. 161-170
The annual celebration of my birthday has come to be quite an event in the family. I am privileged to meet with friends and loved ones who do all in their power to make it a day of great happiness for me. Of course my 100th birthday was somewhat unique, for on that day I was made to feel more than ever that I was especially ...
Notes
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pp. 171-210
Selected Bibliography
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pp. 211-218
Index
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pp. 219-225
E-ISBN-13: 9780803258976
E-ISBN-10: 0803258976
Page Count: 230
Illustrations: Illus., maps
Publication Year: 2006
