Taylor, Mary (nee Rolfe) (1831-1915)

Transcription of obituary published in the Primitive Methodist Magazine by W.W.G

The widow of the late Rev. Robert Taylor, who died September 11th, 1910, survived her husband until March 9th, 1915, reaching the ripe age of eighty-three years. Mrs. Taylor became a decided Christian in her teens at Colchester. It was there she met the young minister, whose life’s work she subsequently shared. In her more active years she was a great help to her husband in his ministry, and attracted numbers about her, particularly young people, who were made welcome in the home and encouraged in many ways.

She was a devoted worker, and often spent herself unsparingly in order to ensure the success of bazaars and other efforts. Mrs. Taylor was blessed with a strong constitution, and had a stately, attractive presence. She had lived for many years at Dover, where Mr. Taylor located on his superannuation in 1885.

For a number of winters Mrs. Taylor suffered from bronchitis, necessitating her keeping indoors most of the time, but she bore the weight of years surprisingly well. Her name is now among those “enrolled in heaven.”

Family

Mary was born in 1831 at St Leonards, Colchester, Essex, to parents Henry Rolfe, a gun maker (1841), and Sophia Nichols. She was baptised on 27 November 1831 at Colchester.

She married Robert Taylor (1826-1910), a PM minister, in late 1858 in the Colchester Registration District, Essex. Census returns identify five of seven children.

Susan (1860-1932)
William Robert (b1863) – a grocer
Mary (b1865)
Sophia (b1867)
Elizabeth (1871-1924) – married Henry Bean Ellis, a builder and later a sanitary inspector

Mary died on 9 March 1915 at Dover, Kent.

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1915/662

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers