tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752332474102067032.post1004337944720636487..comments2023-03-09T10:56:20.101-08:00Comments on The Westover-Fulton Post -- Just Be Noble: Downton Abbey - Russian Style (Part One)Robert Westoverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09835186062975011085noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752332474102067032.post-75358226670709170452023-03-09T10:56:20.101-08:002023-03-09T10:56:20.101-08:00Hello Robert
I have found your article very inter...Hello Robert<br /><br />I have found your article very interesting and illuminating, as I have a family connection to Olga. My mother (Sybille, who died recently at the age of 101), was like Olga, a grand-daughter of Henry Taylor, but through his second wife (Elizabeth Prudence Conrey) rather than his first (Mary Anna Meyer). My mother and Olga were therefore quite closely related, but Sybille was only able to pass on sketchy and possibly inaccurate information to me about that side of her family (these included rumours of several Faberge eggs being owned by family members - but not us! - which the rest of us dismissed as nonsense but I see now may well have been well-founded!).<br /><br />My grandmother (and Margherita's half-sister), Eleanor van Vredenbugh Taylor, was apparently trying to make her way, in the UK, as a comedy actress, when she met my grandfather (Captain Arthur Scott), married him in 1916, and swiftly gave birth to my mother the following year. The background of the First World War, the effort of bringing up two small children, and her subsequent death in childbirth in 1925 all meant that interest in my family's American connection was largely sidelined. <br /><br />Eleanor was the tenth of 14 (legitimate) children fathered by Henry Augustus Taylor (Margherita being the fourth, by his first wife); there appear to have been some unusual legacies in his will when he eventually died, so there may have been more. Eleanor may well have been passionate about being an actress, or maybe it was suggested that she make her own way in the world as soon as possible: but she would have been around 30 when she met my grandfather.<br /><br />I was only really made aware of my American link when my great-aunt Henrietta ("Aunt Harriet", who followed her elder sister to the UK at some point) died in 1969, and bequeathed her niece (my mother) a handful of (largely valueless) shares in the Wabash Railroad.<br /><br />I am in the process of piecing together my family tree, and your interesting interview has shed light on several aspects of that, so thank you.<br /><br />JeremyJeremy Higginsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13913967794162399157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752332474102067032.post-55649165681893684852021-02-27T08:50:28.822-08:002021-02-27T08:50:28.822-08:00My apologies for such a long delay in responding t...My apologies for such a long delay in responding to your lovely memories of dear Olga! She was such a magical person! Just beautiful and touching. Thank you for sharing! Robert Westoverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09835186062975011085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752332474102067032.post-83297712679833114402021-02-27T08:39:52.237-08:002021-02-27T08:39:52.237-08:00Thank you, Dorena, for sharing you story about our...Thank you, Dorena, for sharing you story about our Fabulous Olga! In my little tribute memoir, Lessons in Nobility, I explain why and how her friendship literally saved my life. A saintly women if ever there was one!Robert Westoverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09835186062975011085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752332474102067032.post-69411648040202997452021-02-18T13:45:29.736-08:002021-02-18T13:45:29.736-08:00I knew this wonderous lady throughout my teenage y...I knew this wonderous lady throughout my teenage years...she called me either "the little one..or a sylph.." we ( my grandmother mother and myself) would visit her every little while. I have many magical memories of her and her enchanted home in the Laguna hills..where time stood still ,filled with her treasures. My just thinking about her brings a smile before I realize it..the way she treated all as if of greatest nobility..but most of all the funny things she said. In her high cambridge english accent(yes,she also told me of her lothing for her governess ..she said her sister and herself called the woman 'jumpa' which she said was a really nasty word for your rear end.i will recount two humerus experiences I remember..my mother and grandmother and I were invited to lunch with Olga and as she took crystal stemware out of a cupboard to set the table she saw a thick layer of dust on one of them..she was unexpected. And said oh how horrid,how terribly,terribly horrid...oh well,I've seen far worse at the Huntington Hartfords".. she also share the little diamond clasp with me..as well as the upstairs room which was filled with her massive jewelry collection..it literally filled the room...every wall,every drawer ..I remarked. Olga ,why on earth do you want to keep so much jewelry? . You couldn't wear it all if you covered yourself entirely from head to toe every day of your life? She quickly replied..well,dear, if there is a revolution in this country..it's the only thing that will save you" she gave me many priceless pieces she said we're from her family. One cross from the 16th century and a blackmore head pin in 22 k whose head was a large carved sapphire. Dorena the huntresshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02598566199493522419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752332474102067032.post-20309590106135976892019-12-04T21:35:27.537-08:002019-12-04T21:35:27.537-08:00As a teenager, I used to clean Olga Morgan's h...As a teenager, I used to clean Olga Morgan's house once every two weeks or so. This would have been in 1967-1969. I would have been 15-17 years old. I lived in Laguna Beach and was a student in high school. I had been recommended to Olga through a couple whose home I also cleaned and with whom Olga was friends. I remember her home was full of amazing relics, but I mostly remember the polar bear rug she had. She insisted that I could not use the vacuum on it; I must give it a gentle brushing with a broom only. I also remember that she was very kind to me and we sometimes spoke French together. I was born in Montreal, Canada to a Quebecoise mother who had taught me French. Olga had an air of nobility and seemed to carry a huge wealth of history within herself, although she never shared any of it with me. Most of what I learned about her past came from her friends, my other cleaning clients. They gave me a tiny peak into her past.Elizabeth Blanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10423420676550157690noreply@blogger.com