Metta Taylor (1884-1907)

On this day in 1907, Martha Metta Taylor died, age 22.

Metta Taylor. Photo courtesy of Dorothy (Kerslake) Coolman.

Metta was born 1 July 1884 in Usborne Township, Huron County, Ontario, Canada. She was the fifth of six children of William "Bill" Taylor (1850-1918) and Mary Elizabeth Bennett (1851-1925).

Metta Taylor, c1899

Metta was training as a nurse in Stratford General Hospital when she contracted typhoid fever and died in Stratford, Ontario on 29 January 1907. 

Her obituary states that she was in a rather run down condition when she came home for Christmas after a hard year's work, and that shortly after her return to Stratford she was taken ill of fever. Her condition was not considered serious but death came very suddenly. 

It was late January and the body was taken by train from Stratford to St. Marys. There it was met by Metta's brother, Hector Taylor, accompanied by a good friend and neighbour, Milton Brock. They brought the body by a team of horses and bobsled back to her father's house -- a round trip of over 30 miles (48 km) in the winter cold.

Image courtesy of Dorothy (Kerslake) Coolman

The funeral took place at her parents' house on February 1st. Friends and family then proceeded to her final resting place at the nearby Zion cemetery.
 

Metta Taylor's headstone to the right of her parents' headstone in Zion Cemetery, Huron County, southeast of Exeter. The cemetery address is ​41587 Park Road, and it's located near the intersection of Park Road and the Hern Line. Photo by Mary Jane Culbert

Metta was single and left no dependents. She was loved by her parents, Bill Taylor & Mary Elizabeth (Bennett) Taylor; her brother, Hector Taylor; and by her sisters: Addie (Taylor) Hern, Mary Taylor and Effie Taylor.

Metta Taylor's Family Tree:
Ancestors:
John Taylor & Mary Clarke (great-grandparents)
John Taylor & Margaret Jane Mason (grandparents)
William Taylor & Mary Elizabeth Bennett (parents)