Tabor/Taber

Why is Tabor/Taber spelled both ways? We don't know. I'm a Tabor at least that is what it says on my birth certificate. I didn't really know it was spelled any other way until we visited our New Mexico cousins and they questioned me about it. They are Tabers. After that I asked my sisters to look at their birth certificates and Robbin is a Taber and Monna was a Tabor but it was crossed out and something unreadable was written over it, whatever that means. So, whichever way you spell it, we are all one family so, I'm spelling it both ways to include everyone :)

Early History of the Taber/Tabor Family By Dorothy Taber Hughes

The ancestry of the Taber family has been traced back to 625 A.D., when they were wandering Bohemian minstrels. If you have read of the early wandering minstrels of Europe, you will remember that, versed in the genealogy of the land, they were welcome guests at the various feudal castles, where they played and sang lyrics, which they composed, describing heroic deeds and warriors of renown. Some became instructors of the young lords. They were a most reliable source of information between distant castles. About 975, these minstrels so pleased the French king that to honor them, he gave them a sir-name and chose it for the name of their musical instrument -- the Tabour. By 1375, they were known as the “Taborites” and were said to be invincible Bohemian gypsies. They had the most liberal religion, way in advance of their time. It is said those who were not in war were Quakers. The Taborites absolutely refused all Ordinances not expressly appointed by the Holy Scriptures, which shows they belong to the most advanced reformers. Dr. Fredrick Tabor cured a wounded French king by use of Peruvian bark, then little known, and was granted a coat of arms. The crest is a lion with a spear thrust through the neck. The motto is “Virtue alone Enobles.” They went to England with William the Conqueror, and some of them were granted Earldoms. William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold and his English forces at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066. In 1630, Phillip Taber of Essex, England came to Plymouth, Mass.

I've heard some stories from family members that talked about one of the Tabors being a Knight and fighting in the Crusades which seems to be confirmed by the DNA which states that our Northern European ancestry is from a diaspora in North Africa.

*Dorothy Taber Hughes was the daughter of James Wilson Taber, son of Isaac Taber. Isaac was the son of Archibald Taber and brother to James A. Taber. The article was submitted by Dene Hughes of Theodosia, MO, son of Mrs. Hughes.

From Kate:

Marcella sat in my living room and I asked her to tell us about her life and these are the things she said. I pretty much just took dictation.

Truman stories from Marcella:

He only started talking when he stopped working, because then he had the time. He worked for the Rail Road during the Great Depression. They took the train from Watts to Stillwell, when Marcella was only 5 years old, to vote. It is one of her first memories. Truman was a stanch Republican. She remembers him threatening to disown anyone in the family who voted Democrat. They would sit out in the evening and talk, he was very good, handsome when he was young, when older, and not able to work, he talked about his childhood.

The Jesse James Gang: He knew their folks and remembered the bullets whizzing through the log cabin they were living in, he was very young could barely remember. It was in Lutie, Missouri or somewhere close to where the Tabors are buried in the Rhodes cemetery just outside of town.

The Blantons had 500 acres in the river bottom but they were bought out and moved to the top of the hill with the money. Jack Blanton was a Baptist preacher. Etta Lorena Blanton ( Truman's mother) was actually named Roundtree.

Elizabeth Blanton had an affair with a Blackfoot, Horse Trader. No one in the family knows his name. Elizabeth was married to Jack Blanton at the time but, according to Bonnie Tabor, that is why sometimes the Tabor kids look very Indian. **according to dna results the only person showing a connection that we know if is me. (Kate). My DNA shows someone Japanese at the 4th Generation. Two possibilities exit for this. The mysterious Grandpa Roundtree or Alice Downing. As we now know, Native American DNA doesn't show as Native American since all people in the Americans came from elsewhere. But, some of the first settlers in the Americans were from Japan. This has shown up in my DNA through two tests but not for anyone else in the family that we know of. Not sure what this means at this point. We will wait for advances in DNA to know for sure.

Charlie, next to Truman, lived in California died at Clear Lake, Ca , worked at Owens Libby glass factory in Oakland, died around 1980s.

Myrtle, beautiful, died at 28 in Oakland, CA of TB. She visited when Marcella was 12-14 and brought presents. Marcella really liked he.

Argie: Had long black hair, very pretty, very Indian looking. She was the youngest and married Quinton Beavers. They are Jimmy, Lanny, John and Carolyn Beavers' parents.

The Builder

Cliff (Etcel)

Moved to Monterey, CA and became a builder. He was the handsomest of all. He became a contractor and became very wealthy. He built several housing tracts in California. He also came to visit in Oklahoma.

His grandfather, Archibald Taber had a red beard down to his waist and was over 6 ft tall with a full head of bushy red hair, and was a very imposing man.

His father was Johnny Byrd Tabor. They used to live a mile and a half from the Watts, farm and across Ballard creek. They used to have ice cream socials, and the women would bring the food. They took turns meeting at someone’s house on Saturday nights. They worked hard, cleared off space and Johnny Byrd would play the fiddle, he was very good, “The 8th of January” was always his first song. “I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen”, “Danny Boy” were some of the others. They danced square dances, jigs, high stepping’ and kicks with the women holding up their skirts. They did not slow dance.. The men drank their liquor (moonshine) behind the barn. They made their own, never bought it. The women wouldn’t allow the drinking around the kids or in the house. They thought they were hiding by doing it behind the barn, but everybody knew.

Etta Tabor, was her favorite grandma. When she was mad at Marcella she would cross her legs and her foot would bob up and down, and Marcella knew to watch out. At one of the parties, she was in the kitchen by herself and Reese came in all wild and very shook up. He told her, “ If you ever tell this, I’ll kill you, but grandpa just killed a man.” Referring to Johnny Byrd. No one seems to know who was killed since nothing else ever happened. Marcella guesses that he was buried on Grandpa Tabors farm. No one knows what the fight was about. She says it bothered her a long time, but she recently asked her brothers about it and they confirmed that it happened.

When she got older, she drove Etta into town in their Model T. One time she was going into Westville and a black cat crossed the road and Etta made her turn around and go all the long way around so she wouldn’t cross the black cat’s tracks.

One time she sent Etta a pink dress with ruffles all down the front, she bought it at J C Penny’s and sent it to her from Colorado. Etta loved the dress so much she was buried in it. Etta was a good seamstress, she made all her own clothes, when she went to Etta’s house, they had to keep their hands busy because it was wicked to sit with idle hands. She had pulleys up in the ceiling and attached a quilt frame and when they were there they had to quilt. They were not allowed to have dresses with pockets because that was a temptation to steal.

Johnny was the first to die; he must have had a stroke. Marcella was about 16. When she went to visit him, he told her that Etta was trying to murder him, and he died the next day. Etta went quite a while after that.

Marcella says they were good people, religious; they attended the Colony (Holiness) Church. They rode the Molly mare about 3 miles through the woods to attend services. Etta always wore long divided pants and a starched white shirt, with a ruffled collar; she would ride sidesaddle like a lady with Marcella behind. When they got to the other side of the woods, she would tie up the horse, and put on her skirt and walk to the church. And on the way back she would put on her pants again.

Marcella says they were very hard working and always working but liked to have fun at their dances. The women would bring pies, different kinds that were auctioned off to the highest bidder. The most beautiful young women would present the pies. Marcella says it was like a popularity contest, if the men thought you were the prettiest, they would buy your pies. She says she sold a few and Argie sold some too.

Thurman, moved to California during the depression to get jobs. He was a builder possibly, in Hayward, Ca. He had sons and daughters.

From Carolyn Beavers Gonzales: ...apparently Jack Blanton was a Baptist preacher and instilled the fear of God in his children.Grandma Etta was really into religion. Even with this religion Grandma followed the traditions of the hills and planted her garden and did other things according to the "signs" that she got from the Farmer's Almanac. She was quite an interesting character. I liked her and got along with her well, but not everyone did. She taught me about sewing, quilting, braiding rugs and stuff like that. She was an excellent seamstress. Grandma made the best biscuits in the world. They were tall and light and fluffy and it only took her a few minutes to whip up the dough. Grandma was also strong willed and outspoken and critical of many things and many people.

Arizona Harper Tabor

from Carolyn:

I remember Arizona being a nice woman. She and Truman worked very hard. When I was young, every year they traveled west with their kids to California, Washington, Colorado or where ever there were crops to be picked. They would be gone for several months between the time school was out and the time it started again in the fall. Their lives weren't easy, but they made the best of things. I think Arizona liked flowers. I remember going over to their house one time and seeing a long row of bright zinnias that led from the yard down to the road. It was brilliant and beautiful. I assumed Arizona planted them. I guess it sticks in my mind because back in those days, people didn't "waste" money on something that was purely ornamental. Money was so scarce that it had to be used for the basic necessities. I thought it was nice that Arizona thought the beauty of flowers was important enough to deserve hard-earned cash and hard labor.

From: Kate

I remember those flowers as well. I remember she used to take a flower and make the blossom into a lady with a full skirt that floated on the water. She also was the only person that told me to sit like a lady with my knees together and taught me how to walk with a book on my head.

She and Truman came together from Lutie, Missouri. Evidently, both of their families were from there and that is where they met, before setting out to Oklahoma and establishing themselves in Watts.

From Dene Hughes: Isaac Tabor (Archibald Tabor's brothers family)

L - R Paddy Taber, Jim Taber, Arch Taber, Wash Taber, Fielden Taber,

Rachael Taber Brown, Ike Taber, Linda Taber Bias, Front, Isaac Tabor,

Rachael Hampton Taber

Historical Society Story of the Early Missouri Tabers

In 2009 we made a trip to New Mexico to visit that beautiful state, to meet up with Carolyn and Nestor and to check in with our New Mexico cousins that I hadn't seen since I lived in Colorado many moons ago. Please read my posted blog on our trip and see the pictures and video. But for now, I would like to pass on some of the information that we gathered from them.

They are all Uncle Carl Taber's daughters and their Mother is Mildred Stewart. Their names are Carla, Donna, Becky, Sharon, Pam and Linda and their name is spelled Taber. They have spent most of their lives in and around the Albuquerque area. Their mother Mildred is spoken of with great love and respect and I'm very sorry I did not have the opportunity to meet her as an adult, she sounds like a great lady but unfortunately, she has passed on. They told me that she was in love with Carl until the day she died. As so many military wives will understand she raised the girls mostly on her own, Carl visiting between deployments. In a situation similar to Princess Diana, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, it wasn't until much later that they realized that Carl had a mistress living in a house, just down the road from them name Linda who was from Germany and that he later married. Although they were hurt by the situation, they have all struggled for forgiveness and talked about how wonderful it is to get together for the Family Reunions held every 4th of July on Grandma and Grandpa Taber's farm and the joy of finally being able to spend some time with their father.

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