WILLIAM ALANSON TAYLOR	HETTIE ELIZABETH WEBB
1864--1930	1869--1970

William Alanson "Willie" Taylor, son of Alanson and Sarah McFarlin Taylor, was born October 23, 1864 at Eagle Creek (now called Ono). He attended Ono School and assisted his father on the family farm.

Hettie Elizabeth Webb was born August 15, 1869, at a place called the Red Barn, near Wheatland, California. When she was three years old, her parents, James Allen and Elizabeth McCormick Webb, moved the family to the Bald Hills in Shasta County. She learned all the usual 'women's work' on a ranch and herded turkeys on horseback when she wasn't attending
school at Gas Point.

Willie and Hettie probably met at some large community affair--a dance, a house-raising or at church. They were married February 15, 1885 by Willie's uncle, the Reverend W.S. Kidder.

The couple had six children:

James William "Jim"	b. July 15, 1886	m. Violet Nelson
Hettie Olive "Ollie"	b. January 6, 1889	m. Dave Miller
George Leonard	b. March 6, 1891	m. Esther Smith
Nora May	b. October 31, 1893	m. C. R. "Doc" Graves
Cora Ellen	b. August 19, 1895	m. Rolla Graves
Bessie Emelin	b. July 2, 1899	m. D. V. McWhirk

Willie farmed around Ono and in 1891, he applied to homestead land near Rainbow Lake. He built a four-room house with an orchard, a vineyard, and some livestock. In 1899 or 1900, a severe storm flooded their property. After a dangerous evacuation, Willie converted an old granary at his mother's place into their temporary home.

Willie acquired about twenty acres of land on Cottonwood Creek and built a home. He farmed and did a little mining to supplement his income. They enjoyed living there, but the doctor advised another location because of Willie's asthma; the family moved to the former church parsonage at Ono.

When Willie took a job as water distributor and ditch tender for the Happy Valley Water Company, the family again moved to the "company ranch" about three miles northwest of Ono where Willie and Hettie lived until they moved to Redding in 1922.

Hettie had a reputation as a water witch and neighbors often asked her to douse for wellsites. This probably didn't enhance the family income because a profit motive usually hinders that kind of talent.

Willie played the violin and Hettie played the accordion; they raised much of their own food and milked five cows, which meant milk and cottage cheese as well as fruit, vegetables and lots of cranberry beans. After years of being virtually self-sustaining, they moved into Redding in 1922.

Willie enjoyed the easier life for only eight years; he died January 24, 1930. Hettie lived to celebrate her one hundredth birthday and enjoy her twenty grandchildren, some great grandchildren and a few great-greats before her death on May 17, 1970. Both are buried in the Ono Cemetery.

Source: Shasta Historical Society - November 1995