Henry and Annie Copperfield Taylor; Karen Marie (Mary) Jorgensen Corbett Taylor

Henry and Annie Copperfield Taylor have complicated histories, and there's a lot that we still don't know about them. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment or email me!

Here we go...

[Henry Taylor in undated photo]

Henry Taylor was born in England in 1843. We're reasonably sure that his parents were William and Mary Cook Taylor, and that he is the Henry Taylor in this 1860 census in Spanish Fork, Utah.

According to this record from the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (more on that record later), Henry enlisted in the Civil War on April 26, 1865 at Fort Douglas, Utah. He was the only Henry Taylor in the 3rd California Infantry, and he spent most of his enlisted time at Ft. Douglas. That record states that he was in Company G, but there was no Company G of the 3rd California Infantry during the dates listed. According to this pension record (more on this later, too), he was actually in Company C, which would have merged with Company D during the time that he was enlisted. The Disabled Soldiers record also states that he was discharged July 29, 1866, which was when the entire company was dissolved.

Henry Taylor married Annie Copperfield, a Ute Indian woman, sometime between his release from the army and the birth of his first child in 1867. We haven't found a marriage record, presumably because Annie was Native American, meaning that either those records simply weren't kept, or they haven't been indexed online yet. Henry and Annie lived in Spanish Fork, Utah, at this time.

Annie Copperfield was born between 1845-1850, according the the U.S. Indian Censuses. She was raised by a white woman named Caroline Barney (scroll down a bit to see her autobiography), after having been traded by her Native American family to Caroline's uncle:

"Uncle Lewis BARNEY gave me a little Indian baby girl, he seen the Indians killed some of their children because the white settlers wouldn't give them cattle or other things they wanted. And they were going to kill it, so Uncle Lewis gave them a yearling steer for her, and then his wife would not have her, so he said he would give her to me if I would take her. I had many mouths to feed but I took her anyway, and raised her as I would one of my own, learned her the white peoples ways, and how to work and be clean. She was a good girl and didn't give me much trouble. She grew to womanhood and married a white man by the name of Henery TAYLOR. She raised a very nice family before she died. Was good and kind to me, coming long ways to see me after she was married."

Little else is known about Annie before she married Henry. Henry and Annie had eight children:

Lydia Jane Taylor, b. 1866/1867
Emily Taylor, b. 1870
William Taylor, b. 1873
John Taylor, b. 1878
Caroline Taylor, b. 1879,
Theresa (Tessa) Taylor, b. 1882
Laura Taylor, b. 1884
David Taylor, b. 1888

All of these children are listed on the appropriate U.S. censuses: the 1870 census  and the the 1880 census. Emily appears only on the 1870 census; we assume she died before 1880. There is no U.S. 1890 census, but U.S. Indian Censuses were taken every year. The Taylor family moved to the Duchesne County, Utah, around this time. You can see the rest of the children in this U.S. Indian census from 1894. (Only Native Americans were included on the censuses at this time, so Henry does not appear.)

Annie Copperfield Taylor died in 1898. Henry Taylor doesn't appear on the 1900 census, and we don't have any other records for him from this time. However, according to the 1910 census and this marriage license, Henry married Karen Marie Jorgensen. You can also see a small newspaper item about it here. Karen had previously been married to Don Carlos Corbett, and she went by the names Karen Marie Jorgensen, Mary Corbett, and Mary Taylor in various records. In 1910, at the time of the census, Karen's daughter was living with them in Spanish Fork, listed as Mary Taylor. For some reason, Henry lied about his age on the marriage license.

In 1914, Henry Taylor was admitted to the Pacific Branch of the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Sawtelle, California. He is listed as having defective vision and hearing, chronic rheumatism, cardiac hypertrophy, and arteriosclerosis. We know this is the same Henry Taylor because 1) he is listed in the same regiment, where he was the only Henry Taylor (according to the National Park Service), 2) his personal details match, and 3) his contact is listed as his son, William Taylor, in Ft. Duchesne. Interestingly, Henry is listed as being widowed on this document (which he technically was, when Annie died), while Karen (listed as Mary Taylor), living with her daughter Mary, is listed in the censuses as still married after Henry left. She lists herself as widowed after his death in 1924. We suspect they had some kind of falling out, or perhaps Henry's senile dementia was already in effect when he first entered the Home.

In 1922, Henry was transferred to the South Branch of the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Hampton, Virginia. He's listed as having senile dementia, chronic alcoholism, and chronic cystitis. The same record states (at the bottom) that he passed away there on January 9, 1924 at 10 PM. Also see this article from the Vernal Express, at the bottom, for a paragraph about Henry's granddaughter, Elvira Pike, receiving a telegraph about his death. Karen Marie filed for widow's pension the next month, on February 14, 1924.

Karen Marie Jorgensen Taylor passed away in 1945. She was buried next to Henry's mother, Mary Cook Taylor.

We still need information about:

Henry's birth
Henry's family's migration to Utah
Annie's childhood
Henry and Annie's marriage
Henry between 1898-1900
Events preceding Henry's leaving for the Soldiers' Home