The Taylor family originally came from Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Taylor had two sons, William and Daniel. Dan, who was born about 1880, was raised in Bellville, Ontario. Charles Taylor was listed in the Wabamun District as a farmer in 1911, as he owned land. He was a ` tea merchant and he travelled most of the time during the years he was in Wabamun. We have no record, but old timers say that the land which was owned by Charles Taylor was on the west side of Moonlight Bay, where his son, Bill Taylor, had a store in later years.
The first house in New Wabamun was for Mrs. Charles W. Taylor; this is the house Koflicks live in now, Mrs. Taylor's home was full of souvenirs from India and many other places. Her husband, Charles, died before 1913. From Wabamun Mrs. Taylor moved to Edmonton where she died in 1938.
As a young man, the son, Dan Taylor, was eager for travel and adventure, so he decided to become a surveyor. To strike out through the wilderness would be an interesting challenge. After getting his education, one of Dan's first jobs was with a survey crew in South Africa. This was during the Boer War in 1900 and he watched the bedraggled British troops march into Pretoria.
Upon returning to Canada, Dan obtained employment with the Canadian Northern Railroad, travelling west with the survey crew to Edmonton, Alberta. The Canadian National Railway, as it was later called, reached Edmonton on November 24, 1905. Then Dan worked on the survey crew west of Edmonton. I believe he helped survey the branch line that went to Bad Lake.
The surveying and building of railroad grades wasn't precision work like it is today. Often the surveyors went ahead and marked the trees, going in a general direction, but skirting lakes, swamps and hills. They were followed by men with axes and Swede saws, cutting down the trees, laying them crosswise. Then, later, the scrapers pulled by mule teams would pile dirt over the trees - thus the waves and breakdown of grades in later years.
Tent camps were set up at intervals, while covered wagons were used to haul supplies and sometimes served as cook houses. This is where Dan worked for many years. These camps were rough, with "shysters" and bootleggers following every camp. He used to tell about how these men would gyp the workers out of part of their money when cashing cheques and how they used to smuggle whiskey in, buried in a pail of axle grease.
In 1913, Dan met Nora Zeigler from the Westlock-Barrhead District. She was working in the Waide Walker Hotel in Wabamun for the summer. Dan and Nora were married in 1915 and went to live in Rocky Mountain House (Dan was still employed with the railway) and then to Edmonton where Cathleen was born in 1917. Dan left the railroad in 1922 and lived in Victoria for a year. Then the family came back to Alberta and settled in Duffield in 1925. Dan lived in a rented house, for a while, then he bought Ronny Faulk's house, living there until they left Duffield.
Dan's brother, Bill Taylor and his wife, Marjory, came west and had a store on the northwest side of Moonlight Bay (known as Old Wabamun today) around 1911. Later Bill and Marjory had the "Wabamun Trading Company" in New Wabamun, operating this store until they moved to Duffield in about 1924. Bill bought the "Duffield Trading Company" which was owned by Andy Schinke at this time, with Dan having shares in the business at first. They built a big lumber yard and sheds on the west side of the store.
Bill and Marjory had three children: Charlie, Dorothy and Jean. Both Mrs. Bill Taylor and Mrs. Dan Taylor were charter members of the Duffield Women's Institute in 1927. Mrs. Dan Taylor had the W.I. Library in her home for many years.
Bill Taylor sold the store to H.V. Ross in 1931 and the family moved back to Bellville, Ontario. Both Bill and Marjory Taylor are now deceased.
Dan Taylor bought a Model T Ford truck and started hauling freight for the stores, beer for the hotel, and cream and livestock to Edmonton for the farmers - just general trucking. Later he got the Imperial Oil Agency and a big storage tank was used for the gasoline. Dan had to keep a few inches of water in the bottom of this tank so if the tank sprang a leak the water would be lost, not the gas. He used to measure the level of the fuel every week and make a report. If the water was low, more had to be added. One day while lifting water with a rope and pail to add to the tank, someone saw him and reported that "Dan was adding water to our gas!" By this tme the place to find Dan Taylor was the "Beanery"; he bought the old building for an office.
Since many people in the district didn't have cars at this time Dan used to take a truck load - men, women and children - to Seba Beach on a Sunday afternoon, in the summer time, for a picnic. Some that had cars said "It was cheaper and more fun to go in the truck." In 1934 Dan bought a new red G.M.C truck with dual wheels which was a novelty at that time. Dan Taylor really "got on the band-wagon" when Social Credit swept the country in 1935. He obtained employment with the new government, and sold his truck to Delmer Schaeffer in 1937.
William Hayes, Member of the Legislative Assembly for the constituency of Stony Plain was the speaker at the Social Credit meeting held in the Duffield School on January 25, 1939. Dan was going to have a Treasury Branch in Duffield so he had the "Beanery" remodelled, putting in a wicket, but this never materialized. Dan did have some of Aberhart's Prosperity Certificates in Duffield which were paid to men who did road work in the hamlet. The idea was if you still had a certificate on Wednesday of each week, you were obliged to affix a stamp on the back. This encouraged spending. Some ditching was done from the railroad past Percy Faulk's store and Dan Taylor's house, by Hellums, Delmer Schaeffer and others. Dan was working for the Social Credit Government and his work included travelling most of the time.
Mrs. Taylor stayed in Duffield until 1942 when she moved to Edmonton. Cathleen attended school in Edmonton and was working there. She married Robert Hill who was employed by the Hudson's Bay Company. They have four children - three boys and a girl; Paris was the oldest boy. The only daughter was Leslie.
Dan Taylor passed away about 1945. Mrs. Taylor lived with Cathleen for a few years, but since she had always been a methodical housekeeper it was rather difficult to live with three young boys. Mrs. Taylor died in 1956 in Vancouver, British Columbia.