Compiled by

Richard E. Norton, Jr.

Updated June 19, 2024

Welcome to the THOMAS-TAYLOR FAMILY genealogy website.  The information contained in these pages has been obtained from various family members, as well as from various web resources, and is believed accurate.  However, please let me know of any information that needs to be corrected, added or deleted.  I have left out some vital information on relatives who are still living for privacy reasons.

This page is under construction.  Accordingly, some links may not work.  Data will be added as further information is obtained from family and web resources.   

We will begin this tree with the oldest descendent we were able to identify from historical letters passed down though generations.  I obtained this information from my mother, MARJORIE NORTON.  I will begin with the first generation.

HENRY VAN CUREN

We know little about HENRY except that he was killed in the Revolutionary War.  He and his wife (unknown) gave birth to a son, CORNELIUS VAN CUREN.  HENRY may have had additional children.   I did locate information on the web about the VAN CUREN ancestry.  It can be read here:  http://www.angelfire.com/id/vancuren/home.html.  I am unable to confirm that this is the same Van Curen line.   On that website, there is reference to the possibility that the original spelling may have been VAN KEUREN.

CORNELIUS VAN CUREN

As we know the story, CORNELIUS came to America from Holland.  He allegedly left on account of some political row.  CORNELIUS married the daughter of Lord McPherson  – ELIZABETH MERRIMAN.  The MERRIMAN family ancestors came over from England to Virginia in the 16^th century with LORD BALTIMORE and great grandfather ALEXAN MERRIMAN.  They were one of the first settlers and founders of BINGHAMPTON, NEW YORK.CORNELIUS was killed in a sawmill accident when he was 42.  He had a daughter, ROXANNE LOUISE VAN CUREN who married EDWARD SAVAGE THOMAS.  There is additional information available on the following website:  http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/a/l/e/Jan-L-Alexander/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0067.html

ROXANNE LOUISE (VAN CUREN) THOMAS

ROXANNE was born January 4, 1831 and died November 13, 1915.  She is buried in St. Paul, Minnesota.   ROXANNE married EDWARD SAVAGE THOMAS on June 22, 1851.  EDWARD was born in 1829 in Pennsylcania.  He died on March 18, 1917 in Saint Paul, Minnesotaa,, and is buried at Roselawn Cemetery in Roseville, Minnesota.  His father was ZENAS THOMAS, and his mother was ELEANORE THOMAS.   Their picture is below (from the above website).  I also located the headstone for EDWARD THOMAS

ROXANNE and EDWARD had the following children:

(1)  ZENAS H. THOMAS.  He died April 15, 1945 in Bald Eagle, Minnesota. He married Edith (last name unknown).

(2)  CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH THOMAS.  She was born August 28, 1854 in Charles City, Iowa, and died November 30, 1945 in Los Angeles, California.  She married James Edward Taylor on April 29, 1869 in Waverly, Iowa.

(3)  LEE S. THOMAS.  He was a prominent attorney is Los Angeles, CA, and became a judge.

The following information was obtained from the family tree link above:

Lee Thomas was in business with Perry. They had a bus line in the Los Angeles area. When Perry and his family went to the State Fair in Sacramento one year, Lee stole the family business and left town. This is what has been reported by Ardelle, daughter of Perry.

Norma reports that she thinks Lee was an attorney. He was well thought of in L.A. and had a huge funeral with a lot of well-known people attending. He was buried, she thinks, in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale.

(4) CHARLES E. THOMAS.  No information is available.

(5) JENNIE THOMAS.  She married WILL WRAY and had one daughter - ISABEL.

ROXANNE had a sister - EMILY THOMAS.  ROXANNE is my mother's - MARJORIE ELIZABETH NORTON - great grandmother 

(1)  ZENAS H. THOMAS LINE

He died April 15, 1945 in Bald Eagle, Minnesota.  He married EDITH (maiden name unknown).  EDITH was born in Osage, Iowa, and died November 10, 1960 in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. They had the following three children:

(a)  PAUL CHASE THOMAS – son.  PAUL was born in St. Paul, Iowa around 1892, and died April 30, 1981, St. Paul, Minnesota.  PAUL married  RUTH VAN DUZEE, born in Minnesota, who died August 14, 1981 in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. 

They had two children - VIRGINIA RUTH THOMAS, born July 14, 1921 and died in 1986, and ELIZABETH THOMAS, .  VIRGINIA married  FRED TRAUTZ and they had two (2) children.   ELIZABETH married twice - first to FRED COLLATZ, and then to THOMAS KREBSBACH.  ELIZABETH and FRED had four (4) children.

(b)  ELIZABETH THOMAS – daughter.  ELIZABETH married Robert Weinhagen.  They had two children - ROBERT WEINHAGEN and THOMAS WEINHAGEN.

(c)  ROXANA THOMAS - daughter.  ROXANNA died in 1978. She was married twice - first to Harlan "Pat" Henry, and then to Sherwood Haas.  ROXANA and HARLAN had a son - John Henry, who was born on May 30, 1933.

(2) CHARLOTTE THOMAS LINE

She married JAMES E. TAYLOR.  JAMES died at his home at 3025  S Vermont Ave, Los Angeles on April 27, 1912 at age 61, and was buried on April 30, 1912 at Rosedale Cemetery, Inglewood, California.

According to Marjorie Norton, CHARLOTTE almost always wore some decoration at the neck of her dress.  CHARLOTTE went by the nickname of "Lottie."

CHARLOTTE and JAMES had the following seven children:

• ROY L. CRANE.  ROY was born September 22, 1895.   He married NEL.  They had two daughter - Doris and Jean. 

(B)  PERRY EDWARD TAYLOR.  PERRY was born March 7, 1874 in Charles City, Iowa.  He married MYRTA AGNES WARE, and they had the following children:

• NAOMI TAYLOR was born November 1900. She married Kenneth Roy Evans.  She was a well-known artist (my mother, Marjorie Norton, has several of her paintings).  NAOMI and KENNETH had a son, ROBERT, who died about 1980.

• ARDELLE FERN TAYLOR, was born September 21, 1899, and died on May 25, 2005 at the age of 105 and 8 months! She was married twice.
  • Married 1^st to a man who was killed in auto accident
  • Married 2^nd to CYRUS LOWELL BROWN
  • Children:
    • Lawrence Lee Brown, born May 16, 1937.  Larry has two daughters - Mary Kathryn ("Kate") - born in 1965, and Megan - born in 1967.  Kate has  two grandchildren - Olivia (born 2003) and PJ (born 2006).  So far, Megan is not married.
    • Timothy Lowell Brown, born September 21, 1941, Glendale, California.  Tim has been married three times.  First, he married in 1961 to Paulette Jean Clegg (for 25 years) - divorcing her in 1986.  They had two boys - Keith and Scott.  He then married Cheryl and had a daughter, Lauren, with her.  After that divorce, he married RaeLynn.  They have no children.
     
• BETTY JANE TAYLOR.  She died in the 1930's at the age of 14.  According to Jan's research, here is some interesting information about Betty.  Betty Jane died in the early 30's with complications from the measles and scarlet fever. She was a talented dancer. She was buried in a dress worn by Janet Gaynor in "7th Heaven". Her death destroyed her family. Her father sickened and died 15 months later. Her mother fled to Arizona to live with family there. She only returned when Ardelle, at 37, found herself pregnant. She lived with Ardelle and her family for about 20 years. Larry Brown reportts, "She was the love of my life. Great lady."

(C)  HARRY TAYLOR.  HARRY died as a young child at age 6. 

(D)  CLYDE HERBERT TAYLOR – son.  CLYDE was born January 29, 1875.

(E)  ZENAS J TAYLOR

ZENAS was born August 24th (but the year is unknown!).  He married KATHERINE "KIT" PHILLIPS.   ZENAS and KIT had the following children:

1.  CORNELIA - daughter

2.  PHILLIPS - son

(F)  ROY TAYLOR.  ROY died in infancy at age 2 when he choked on a wood screw.

(G)  FERN MARION TAYLOR  

FERN was born April 30, 1885 in Charles City, Iowa.  She passed away in MARCH 1979 at the age of 93 in Los Angeles, California.  FERN (who had the nickname "Gaga") lived at 811 Coronado Terrace, Los Angeles, California.  She is buried at Forest Lawn in Glendale, CA.  FERN was married three times, and had four (4) children:

• Married 1^st to GEORGE BARTRAM.  FERN and GEORGE had one daughter.

   

  • THELMA GRACE BARTRAM.  THELMA was born November 2, 1905 and died in June 1973 in Woodland Hills, CA.  THELMA was married to CHARLES "CHUCK" SCHISEL who was born February 14, 1907 and died December 2, 1999.  CHUCK worked for Technicolor in Burbank.   After THELMA died, CHUCK married  HELEN.  He died where he and Helen were living in Hemet,  California.  CHUCK and THELMA had two children - Fern and Buddy.

   

• Married 2^nd to ALEXANDER CARL KARNBACH.  ALEX was born December 08, 1887 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and died January 19, 1956 in Los Angeles, California.  ALEX was a well-known and accomplished musician.  NOTE - add'l info on Alex provided by my mother:  Alex Kanbach graduated from the Conservatory of Music in Germany when he was about 18 years old. He came to America after living in Frankfurt am Main.  His three siblings stayed in Germany and also excelled in music and were in the Grand Opera of Germany. Alex was in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (1922-1955) and played the viola and celeste. He often accompanied silent movies on the organ. He played at the Rivoli Theater on a Wurlitzer organ in Los Angeles. He played the background music for the movie "If I Were King". He taught piano and gave lessons to several peoplewho went on to be famous. Jo Ann Castle who was a pianist for the Lawrence Welk Show was one of his students.

  FERN and ALEX had three children:

   

  • KARL RUDOLPH KARNBACH.  KARL was born January 22, 1912 and died on December 16, 1987 in Los Angeles, California.  KARL was married to MAGDALENE "NICKI" KARNBACH.  She was born on March 7, 1913 and died in March 1983.  They had no children.  KARL worked most his life for Standard Oil (now Chevron).  He and Nicki lived for many years in Manhattan Beach, CA.  They then moved to Westchester, CA (near LAX) and lived there until they both passed away.

   

  • RAYMOND ANTON KARNBACH.   RAYMOND was born on October 28, 1913 and died in July 1968 at the age of 54 in El Monte, California.  He is buried at Rose Hills Cemetery, Whittier, California.  RAYMOND married ELENORE M KARNBACH who was born April 28, 1914 and died in August 2004.  At the time of her death, she was living in Jackson, Oregon.  RAYMOND and ELENORE had six (6) children.

   

  • MARJORIE ELIZABETH KARNBACH – Daughter.  MARJORIE was born September 29, 1921, and died September 19, 2019 at the Arcadia Methodist Hospital.  MARJORIE married RICHARD EDWIN NORTON who was born February 22, 1918 in Seattle, Washington, and died on September 10, 2002 in Pasadena, CA.  They lived part of their life in Eagle Rock, CA (a suburb of Los Angeles), and later moved to Pasadena, CA.  They are both buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, CA,  They had one son - Richard E. Norton, Jr.

   

• Married 3^rd to LAWRENCE VINCENT BARRETT on July 16, 1950 at Lake Tahoe in the presence of J. Vernon Barrett (Lawrence’s brother) and Esther Barrett (Vernon’s wife).  LAWRENCE was born November 15, 1889 and died in September, 1963 at the age of 73 from Leukemia.  FERN and LAWRENCE did not have any children.  LAWRENCE had a son by a prior marriage - ROLAND G. BARRETT.  ROLAND was born July 9, 1932 and died on September 1, 1999 in Anaheim, CA.

FERN lost her citizenship after marriage to ALEXANDER KARNBACH because he was German.  She later had to take an oath of allegiance to once again become an American citizen.  FERN and ALEX discovered that their first marriage in 1911 was not legal because the person performing the marriage ceremony was not authorized to do so.  They were re-married in 1913 to make their marriage “legal.” 

To visit CHARLOTTE'S picture album. click HERE.

* LEE, CHARLES AND JENNY TAYLOR LINES ARE UNDER DEVELOPMENT *

At this point, I will branch into five separate family sub-trees following the JAMES TAYLOR - CHARLOTTE THOMAS line.  Click on any of the following children to proceed to that family tree continuation page.  This part of the site is under development.

  If you want to hear the words to the background music song - Further Along - sung by Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton, click here.  

Please write me if you have questions or information for my tree

Dick

Last update: 6/19/2024