The mystery of Captain George Taylor

My 3X great-grandfather, Captain George Taylor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, of whom I wrote about here, has been a mystery. He was listed as age 28 on his first contract with HBC, signed May 17, 1787, so that would put his birth year as either 1758 or 59. His residence was listed as Berwick (Berwick-Upon-Tweed) in Northumberland, England. That was the only documentation we had for him, besides his HBC Biographical Sheet found here.

Several years ago, when Christine Welsh and Maurice Hogue were working on the documentary Women of the Shadows about George’s daughter Marguerite, they hired a genealogist in England to see if a birth record could be found for the Captain. After extensive research, it was concluded that the Captain was the George Taylor Jr. baptized on August 19, 1759, in the parish of Balmbrough (now called Bambrough), the only child of George Taylor Sr. and Margaret Grieve.

“England, Northumberland, Parish Registers, 1538-1950”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGLJ-NFH6 : Fri Nov 10 14:25:25 UTC 2023), Entry for George Taylor and George Taylor, 19 August 1759.

The marriage record for his parents’ marriage in June 1757, as well as wills for his father and grandfather were found. The will of the father, George Taylor of Fleatham, was written April 27, 1758, and states that

“whereas as my Dear Wife is supposed to be enceinte or with child”

It then goes on to make specific instructions depending on whether his wife gave birth to more than one child, and if that child/children were boys or girls. If no children lived to the age of twenty-one,

“Then and in such case I give and bequeath all my said leasehold and the right or benefit of [?] thereof and also all my Goods Chattels personal Estate and Effects/ chargeable as aforesaid unto my brother Thomas Taylor“

Source: North East Inheritance database (pre-1858 Durham Probate Records) George TAYLOR, gentleman, of Fleatham in the county of Northumberland [Bamburgh, Northumberland] Date of probate: 1759, will, 27 April 1758

Unfortunately George Taylor, Sr. died November 11, 1758. You will note that the baptism of his child occurs several months after his death. No date of birth was determined for the child, and no further research was done to find a date of death for George Taylor Jr., who is presumed to be our Captain.

Captain George’s career with HBC ended in 1818. We know from church records for his children that he was deceased by February 1838 when his daughter Ann was married at Red River and listed as the “daughter of Captain Taylor, deceased”.

Source: HBC Archives, Extracts from registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials in Rupert’s Land 1820-1841, E.4/1a fo.149d

All of this information seemed very clear cut…UNTIL…

A researcher, Barbara Johnston at Borders Family History Society in Scotland, was recently working on a Taylor family for a client. Borders is in the southern part of Scotland. She noticed a couple of baptismal records that included the words Captain George Taylor of HBC. Intrigued, as all good researchers would be, she did some googling and happened upon my blog. Reaching out, she sent me the two records, which were from Hutton Parish, Scotland. Hutton is a small village in the Borders area of Scotland that is two miles west of the border with Northumberland, England.

Capt. George Taylor of the Brig Beaver belonging to the Hudson’s Bay Company, London, had his natural son George baptized at Clarabad in this parish, January 11th 1805…The Uncle Robt. Taylor was Sponsor in the Father’s absence. He was born in March 1799.

Robert, illegitimate Son of Capt. Geo. Taylor of the Brig Beaver belonging to the Hudson’s Bay Company, was baptized at Clarabad January 15th 1808…He was born [blank space]. N.B. His Uncle R. Taylor was Sponsor in the absence of his father.

Uncle Robert? Captain George had a brother? Hmm, this raises many questions. The son born to George Taylor of Fleatham and his wife Margaret Grieve, was an only child. Therefore, that George can’t be our Captain, can he???

Ellen Paul, another Taylor descendent, and I were very excited by this new information, and decided to investigate further. With assistance from Barbara in Scotland, and Gillian Booker from Berwick Archives in England, we were able to put together a family sheet for Robert Taylor, the uncle. Based on the British naming patterns, in which the first born son is named after the paternal grandfather, it is likely that the father of the Captain and his brother was named Robert Taylor.

Robert Taylor, presumed brother to our Captain George was born around 1749. There is a record of baptism for a Robert Taylor, son of Robert, on May 2, 1748 in Cornhill, a parish in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Also in Cornhill records there is a baptism on February 14, 1759 for a George Taylor, but parents aren’t recorded. Robert married Allison Weir in Ford, Northumberland in 1778 and they had children in Spittal until at least 1795. Spittal is seaside village located on the south side of the River Tweed, just opposite Berwick-upon-Tweed. By 1805 the family is in Hutton, Scotland. Robert died in 1832 and Allison in 1837.

We knew that the at least some of the Captain’s sons were educated in either Scotland or England, but the Hutton records are the first actual documentation that he had brought George and Robert over. We had a search done for tutelage records at the National Archives of Scotland, but none were found. Likely the arrangements were simply done within the family.

Using Google Books, I happened upon a reference to Margaret Grieve Taylor in a book called Six North Country Diaries which gave the date of her will (December 23, 1779) and her death (February 25, 1786).

Subsequently we ordered a copy of her will from Borthwick Archives at York University. Margaret Grieve Taylor never remarried, and there are NO CHILDREN in her will, only nieces and nephews!

Source: Prerogative & Exchequer Courts of York Probate Index 1688-1858, vol. 1330, f.92, Will of Margaret Taylor

So many questions! Did Margaret actually give birth, or did she perhaps miscarry? Is the child baptized in 1759 as the son of George Taylor actually her child? The baptismal records of the time period only give father’s name, although George Taylor’s burial and the baptism of George Jr. are at the same parish. Or did her son die young? There’s a George Taylor buried in 1760 in the same parish, but his parents and age are not listed on the record.

Unfortunately this research did not result in a definitive answer as to exactly when the Captain was born or when he died. We’ve been unable to find a will for the Captain…yet.

At this point the only thing we can be sure of is that George Taylor and Margaret Grieve are NOT the parents of our Captain George Taylor.

The mystery remains.