Carrie and twin, Harris Taylor, were born in Wakefield, Louisiana to Nelson and Martha Morgan Taylor. She used to live with us in Metairie and would travel to New Orleans to attend church. Cawoo, a named given to her by me when I was a toddler, was the storyteller in our family. At night after a long day of working as a domestic, she would relax smoking her pipe and talking about "the good ol' days." Grandma would sit in a dark room, rocking back and forth, puffing on her pipe and regaling us with tales of St. Francisville, Bayou Sara and her birthplace,Wakefield.
Carrie Taylor gave birth to my father, Harold, on July 29, 1920 at home in New Orleans. On April 25, 1942 she married Theodore Ferguson Bayonne and though separated for as long as I can remember, they remained married until death. Prior to Harold's birth, Carrie Taylor and Mack Johnson gave birth to Sullivan Johnson.
Cawoo was the kindest, the sweetest and most generous person that I ever met. My mother,Gussie, called her a saint. She was an excellent cook and when she was not working she attended church.
On October 11, 1959, Carrie Taylor Bayonne suddenly passed in New Orleans at the home of her sister, Ida Taylor Walker of hypertensive cardiovascular disease. A wake was held on October 14 and the funeral on Thursday, October 15, 1959 at Pleasant Zion Baptist Church. She was buried in St. Mary's Baptist Church cemetery in Wakefield, Louisiana.
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