Item Detail
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Taylor, Charlotte Elizabeth Liggett
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1837-1909
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MSS SC 1744
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Biography
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Charlotte Elizabeth Liggett Taylor was born in Dover Township, Union County, Ohio on October 2, 1837 to Conrad Liggett and Louisa Taylor. Her father died less than a year after she was born, and an aunt and uncle cared for her before her mother remarried. Her mother and stepfather later accepted the gospel, and they settled in Nauvoo only to be driven away by persecutors. After Louisa died in 1846, Charlotte lived with her stepfather and two half-sisters. It is supposed that the stepfather, Aaron Cook married Charlotte's mother in polygamy, but there is no record of his going to Utah. Yet, somehow Charlotte arrived in Utah, and she married William Burgess in 1852 at age fourteen. She filed and obtained a divorce not long after, however, and following, she made gloves and sewed for a living. In 1857, she became the second wife of William Whitehead Taylor, and together, they had five children. She made a visit to the east and stayed there for a year with relatives. She later returned, taking one of her sons with her, and there, her relatives influenced her such that she broke her family ties in 1881, unhappy with polygamy. When she returned to Utah, she bought a separate home. She later married a man, Arthur Taylor, and during this time, did temple work for some of her relatives. In her later years, she lived close by two of her children. Before she died on February 20, 1909, she asked one of her sons to carry out her temple work because she regretted the decisions she had made earlier against polygamy, and she was resealed to William Taylor.
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This three-page biography was written by Helen Taylor Allison, Charlotte's granddaughter. It includes a brief history of Charlotte's life although there are many unclear parts, mostly in the beginning. A few of Charlotte's personal feelings are included, particularly her regrets of being swayed by her anti-Mormon relations. At one point, Charlotte recounts a dream she had, in which she spoke with a loved one who had passed on.
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1853-1913