Generation rumination

I woke up this morning thinking of my own history. That is, the number of generations in the family I have been a part of. I have strong memories of my Dad’s parents: Alfred Burman Taylor and Ora Arminta Chapman. He was born in 1857 and she was born in 1861. I have memories of the Civil War through their contacts as youth. Grandfather Taylor’s father, Moses, was born in 1814. My father, Clarence, was born in 1884. He was married to Lulu Belle Petit in 1907. To this union 9 children were born with 7 surviving to maturity. I have on file a copy of Dad’s draft registration for WW I although with a family he did not serve in the military. My memory is that he sold War Bonds as a part of his war effort. A part of these ruminations dealt with the fact that I served as a pall bearer for Grandfather Taylor's funeral at the age of 15, and was notified of my father’s death while serving in the U.S. Air Corps at the age of 18. At some point I wrote a brief poem: “Six stalwart sons, they bore their father’s bier, and from each eye there fell a silent tear.” Something more about “two had hoped to see him once again” but I don’t recall the closing line. That would be twin brother, John, and myself. I thought of this three years ago when his brothers plus a first cousin were pall bearers at Jimmy’s funeral.

So there are three generations: Grandfather, Father, and self. Not long after marriage to Harriet Elizabeth Clarkson I heard these excited words from her: “We’re going to have a baby.” That would be the first of 9. We raised 7 of them to full adulthood. Twins ( a boy and a girl) were premature and did not survive more than 24 hours. Those 9 would be the 4th generation. 5 of 7 married and we have a dozen grandchildren - generation 5. Two of them are currently married and have daughters. Arianna Elisabeth was born Oct. 8, 2008 and Sophie Harriet Elizabeth was born 12/16/2008. Voila! Generation 6 covering at this date (9/4/2009) 152 years. And with the Great Granddaughters carrying their Great Gramma’s name there is evidence of how important she was to her grand children. 1At the age of 84 (6 weeks shy of 85) I believe that this historical background gave me a deeper appreciation of John Jakes’ series of novels - The Kent Family Chronicles which dealt with early American History.