Because of this letter collection a lot of Tayloe relatives had reconnected and a family reunion was organized (the first one in over 50 years!). As soon as we started planning our trip to Owensville, we knew we also needed to arrange to go to Kansas City and meet Norma, and also visit the University of Missouri and see the letter collection in person. Norma had told us all along "I'm sure I missed some letters, there were so many!"
We thought there might be a few here and there that got missed, but we mostly expected to see the boxes, take some pictures, make a couple of copies and soak up this amazing collection of family history.
Albert and I ended up spending eight frantic hours at Mizzou just writing down copy requests for the letters we didn't already have- which ended up being 1,611 pages!
We left the library in a daze, not having been able to take the time to read anything, just checking for dates and filling out forms. They told us the copies might be done by October.
We
made our way to Owensville and it was everything we could have hoped
for. Peggy was so wonderful! She welcomed us into her home and showed us
all of the sites we had hoped to see.
The response to the Tayloe reunion was amazing! More than 130 people attended. Some came from as far away as North Carolina, Iowa, Texas, Utah, Washington and California.
The response to the Tayloe reunion was amazing! More than 130 people attended. Some came from as far away as North Carolina, Iowa, Texas, Utah, Washington and California.
The second volume of letters are all typed, and we are now working on assembling the book.
If you would like to read the entire collection, you can find it here.
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| Jim (Claire in front of him), Peggy, Niki, Marge, Richard and Connor. Photo taken near John & Lizzie Tayloe's land- August 2015. |
