MOOSE JAW — Editor’s Note: Below is an email that was received recently from Iain Mackinnon Taylor from Scotland requesting any information regarding his father James Taylor and any blood relatives that did reside in Moose Jaw or area in the past or may possibly still live here.
As well, the Archives Department in the Moose Jaw Public Library may be able to attain some information pertaining to James Taylor that would be of assistance.
If you have any information, please contact Iain Mackinnon Taylor directly at: Iain Taylor <[email protected]>
“My name is Iain Mackinnon Taylor and I am from the island of Harris, Scotland. I am 85 years old and I'm looking for any information that may be available in the Moose Jaw area about my father James Taylor and his blood family.
“I have attached a copy of his birth certificate, so you can read that he was the son of James Martin Taylor and Matilda Taylor. I seem to remember hearing mention that he had a sister Mary. My father, James Taylor seemingly was adopted in Moose Jaw by a William Macdonald and presumably his wife, who was originally from the island of Harris and returned here following retirement in Moose Jaw.
“My father came to Harris with them as a young boy, probably adolescent, he was old enough to keep his own name. We don't know whether the adoption was formal or informal, we have never seen or heard of any adoption papers.
“James Taylor worked initially at the bauxite mine close to Fort William, Scotland and met and married my mother, Catherine Mackinnon from Harris in 1937. We subsequently went to work as mine captain at the Ashanti gold mines in the Gold Coast, now Ghana, west Africa.
“My parents had three sons, first twins, me and my brother Hamish, in 1940 and the third son, William Angus, in January 1944.
“My father passed away very suddenly in February 1944 from a particularly virulent form of malaria and was buried in Ghana. My twin brother and I were three years and nine months old and William Angus was six weeks old.
“James Taylor is survived, as of this date, with his three sons, two granddaughters and a grandson, four great-granddaughters, three great-great-granddaughters and a great-great-grandson.
“Funny, but for a time I worked and lived in Massachusetts and one of my colleagues was a James Taylor Wetherald and his family had come from Saskatchewan. We used to joke about the possibility of our 小蓝视频 cousins. Perhaps we should have taken the matter more seriously.”
Kindest regards,
Iain M. Taylor
