Chap. 4,6f
         gen. (iv)                     Ethel Victoria Hedley (1886-1953) and
                                            Abbott Carman Taylor (1876-1953)

 Pedigree
 Descendancy

Ethel Victoria Hedley, born July 1, 1886 in Black Jack, Kansas, was the second child of James Hedley and Emma Hays. Ethel was the second-youngest child in the household. When she was born, her older brothers JohnR., James U., and George were in their late teens. Mary Margaret, her half-sister was 14, and her brother Frank was seven years old. Her younger brother Ralph was born when Ethel was six years old. Ethel was probably in her early teens when her family moved from Black Jack, Kansas to a farm in Minnesota. By then the older children in the family had married or left the household to find work.  Only Ethel and her two brothers moved to Minnesota with their parents. James, Emma and their two sons Frank and Ralph and daughter Ethel ran a family farm in Polk County.  Eventually all three children chose marriage partners from the area of Crookston,  Polk County, Minnesota. Ethel, age 25,  was the first to marry.

Ethel Victoria Hedley married Abbott Carman Taylor Oct. 8, 1911. Ethel was 24 and Abbott 34. Ethel and Abbott had  met at a cousin’s wedding in Crookston, Minnesota the previous year.

 Abbott Carman Taylor was born Dec.1, 1876 in Napanee, Ontario, the son of Richard Kemp Taylor and Melissa Submit Wait, who were married in New Hawksbury, Ontario in 1862.
 Richard and Melissa Taylor had nine children. Abbott, born in 1976, was the youngest. Mary Dracass, a daughter of  Abbott Carman Taylor, stated that her father, Abbott, was named after the Bishop of the Anglican Church at the time. The Taylor family moved from Napanee to Winnipeg when Abbott was two years old. Abbott recalled herding the family cows where the Legislative Building now stands in Winnipeg. When Abbott was nine, his father Richard Kemp Taylor took up a homestead in the Silver Plains District north of Morris, Manitoba where he worked as a Methodist lay preacher.  Mary Dracass, his granddaughter, recalled that he preached in three different churches, walking the distance between them each Sunday. He was authorized to conduct funerals but not weddings, to the disappointment of couples who walked all the way from Emerson, Manitoba to Morris to be married.

After their marriage in 1911 Ethel and Abbott lived in the Silver Plains district north of Morris until 1919, when they bought a farm in the Graysville district. In 1918 Abbott’s parents Richard and Melissa Taylor moved to the west coast. When Richard’s eyesight began to fail they returned to live with their son and daughter-in-law, Abbott and Ethel Taylor, at Graysville.

 Richard and Melissa are buried in the Morris Cemetery. They died within eleven days of each other, as did their son and daughter-in-law, Abbott and Ethel, years later.
Abbott died on April 22, 1953 at age 76. Ethel died eleven days later, on May 3, 1953. She was 67. Ethel and Abbott Taylor had eight children (v):

                   (1) Olive Victoria Taylor was born July 30,1912 in Morris, Manitoba.
                         m1 was to Ralph Hollis Lewis (b. June 6, 1889) on Oct. 28, 1933
                         in Graysville, Manitoba. Olive and Ralph Lewis had two sons:
                                 [1] Donald Abbott Edward Lewis, b. 1934
                                       m. Sally Sarah Friesen in 1957. Five children:
                                                {1} Howard Winston Lewis b. 1961
                                                        m. Heather Margaret Kingdon. Three children:
                                                                     1- Meaghan Lewis, 1990
                                                                     2- Declan Gordon Winston Lewis, 1993-1995
                                                                     3- Riley Lewis
                                                {2} Linda Caroline Lewis, b. 1963, m. Rick Dwyer in 1992
                                                {3}- Robert Donald Lewis, b. 1972, m. (--?--)
                                [2] Gary Ralph Lewis b. 1942
                                      m Beverly Zinn Reed in 1978. One daughter:
                                                {1} Tanya Lewis, b.1982 in Morris, Manitoba
                         m 2 of Olive Victoria (Taylor) Lewis was to Arthur Enns, Vancouver.

                   (2) Emma Melissa Taylor, born in 1914 died in infancy.

                   (3) Mary Gertrude Taylor, born Dec. 21, 1915 in Morris Manitoba, married
                        George ‘Cecil’ Dracass of Carman (b. 1918). Cecil served in the Royal Canadian
                        Air Force (1940-1944). They were married April 2, 1946 and bought
                        property north of Carman and built a home and farm buildings,
                        turning the bald prairie setting into a beautiful treed farmyard with tall
                        spruce trees, huge vegetable gardens, flower beds and apple trees.
                        Mary also found time to sew, knit, make quilts, decorate over 200
                        wedding cakes and do china painting as well as curl in winter and go
                        camping in summer. Cecil was injured in a farm combine accident and
                        retired from active farming in 1976. Mary and Cecil moved to Carman
                        in 1997. Both Mary and Cecil died in 2000, Cecil on August 20 and
                        Mary a month later, on Sept.23. They were both buried in Greenwood
                        Cemetery, Carman, Man. Photo of Mary & Cecil
                        They had two children (vi):

                              [1] Cecil 'Glenn' Dracass married Linda Prior of Winnipeg.
                                    They live in Red Deer, where Glenn works for Alberta Hydro.
                                    They have two children (vii):
                                             {1} Deirdre Dracass, born in 1975, married Murray Lobb
                                                    (b. 1972) of Calgary, Alberta in 1997. One son (gen. viii):                                              {2} Daryl Dracass, born in 1976, married Jacqueline (Jacquie)
                                                    Graham (b.1977). They live in Calgary. Three children (gen. viii):
                                                       1- Kaelynn Jade Dracass b. 2002
                                                       2- Teagan Marie Dracass b. April 2005 (twin)                             [2] Nancy Jean Dracass*  born in 1955 works as a lab technician in
                                  a Winnipeg dairy. Nancy married Clifford Peters (b. 1957) of
                                  Gretna, Manitoba in 1979. Cliff died of a brain tumour in 1997.

                (4) James 'Hedley' Taylor was born Nov. 11, 1917 in Morris, Manitoba
            (5) Richard ‘Franklin’ Taylor was born in1920 in Graysville, Man., d.1952

            (6) Emma Lucille Taylor, born Sept. 7, 1922 in Graysville, married John Wesley
                  Sheeley (b. July 26, 1913) on Sept. 1, 1948. John died Jan. 15, 1992 at age 58.
                  Emma now lives in Topeka, Kansas. John and Emma had one daughter:
                           [1] Dorothy Jean Sheeley, b. in 1955,
                                 m. Herbert Seal in 1994. They live in Topeka, Kansas.

           (7) Ethel Vivian Taylor b. Aug. 8, 1925, Graysville, Man.,
                 m. William Melville Dracass of Carman, Man.(Aug.31,1914-Dec.3,1987)
                 Ethel and William Dracass were married in 1945. They had six children:
                         [1] Kenneth Brian Dracass, b.1947,
                               m. Betty Rose Cole in 1969. Two children:
                                  {1} Brian Jeffery Dracass b.1970.
                                  {2} Heather Nicole Dracass b.1973
                                         m. Brian Gerald Heinrichs in 1997. Two children:
                                                1- Brenden Avery Heinrichs 1997
                                                2- Kaeden MacKenzie Nicole Heinrichs b. 2000
                        [2] Ethel Irene Dracass b.1949,
                              m. Larry John Stevenson in 1971. Two sons:
                                 {1}William Campbell Stevenson b.1974,
                                        m. Jolene Marie Cairns in 1997. Two children:
                                               1- JeremyWilliam Stevenson b. 1995.
                                               2- Emily Marie Stevenson b. 2000.
                                 {2} Robert John Stevenson b.1976.

                        [3] Shirley Ann Dracass* b.1950,
                              m. Cornelius Ruiter in 1971. Four children:
                                 {1}Valerie Leanne Ruiter
                                        m. Donald Henry Hildebrand in 1992. Two children:
                                               1- Emarie Rose Hildebrand b. 1991
                                               2- Travis Aaron Hildebrand b.1993
                                 {2} Barry Malcolm Ruiter b.1973,
                                        m. Katherine AnnMarie Purdon in1997. Two children:
                                              1- Kayla Jessica Ann Ruiter b.1994
                                              2- Malcom Adam Jonathan Ruiter b.1996
                                 {3} Carla Dawn Ruiter b.1976, m. Cory James Harkness in 2003.
                                 {4} Wesley Bruce Ruiter b.1978,
                                        m. Angie Katherine Yeadon in 2004. Two sons:
                                              1- Nicholas Marvin Edward Yeadon b.1994
                                              2- Damen Alexander Yeadon-Ruiter b. 2001.

                        [4] Helen Laurine Dracass b. 1953,
                              m. Brian Curtis Wiebe in 1972. Three children:
                                 {1} Curtis Dean Wiebe b.1973, m. Rebecca Lynn Howitt in 2001.
                                       Curtis and Rebecca live in Saskatoon, Sask. One child:
                                             1- Tyler Curtis Wiebe b. 2004
                                 {2} Angela Laurine Wiebe b.1974 and Dwight Allan Horudko
                                             1- Janelle Laurine Wiebe b.1995.
                                 {3} Janice Amber Wiebe b.1977.

                        [5] Barry Melville Lynn Dracass b.1958,
                              m1 Judy Lynn Dodge in 1980; m2 Jeanette (––?––) in 2000.
                              Barry and Judy Dracass had two children:
                                 {1} Pamela Jane Dracass b.1986.
                                 {2}Taylor Clayton Dracass b.1989.

                        [6] Bruce Frederic Dracass b.1961,
                              m. Carol Ann Elizabeth Wood in 1990. Four children:
                              {1} Rebecca Dawn Dracass b.1992.
                              {2}Samantha Lynn Dracass b.1994.
                              {3}Evan Murray Dracass b.1998.
                              {4}Allan Bruce Dracass b.1995

            (8) Esther Louise Taylor, born in 1929 in Graysville, married Clayton
                  Reginald Metcalf. They farmed near Carman, Manitoba. Esther Louise
                 died in December 1999 in Carman.