Wikipedia

Annie Edson Taylor

For other people called Annie Taylor, see Annie Taylor.

Annie Edson Taylor (October 24, 1838 – April 29, 1921) was an American schoolteacher who, on her 63rd birthday, October 24, 1901, became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel.[1] Her motives were financial but she never made much money from her adventure. She died penniless and her funeral was paid for by public donations.

Annie Edson Taylor
Black and white photo of Annie Edson Taylor standing next to a human-sized barrel
Taylor posing next to her barrel
Born
Annie M Edson

(1838-10-24)24 October 1838
Auburn, New York, U.S.
DiedApril 29, 1921(1921-04-29) (aged 82)
Lockport, New York, U.S.
Other namesQueen of the Mist, Queen of the Falls
Occupations
Known forFirst person to go over Niagara Falls intentionally and survive

Early life

edit

Annie was born on October 24, 1838, in Auburn, New York.[2] She was one of eight children born to Merrick Edson (1804–1850) and Lucretia Waring;[3] her father owned a flour mill and died when she was 12 years old, leaving enough money to provide a comfortable living for the family. She became a schoolteacher (she received an honors degree in a four-year training course). During her studies, she met David Taylor. They were married and had a son who died in infancy. Her husband died soon after. After she was widowed, she spent her working years in between jobs and locales.

Eventually, she ended up in Bay City, Michigan, where she hoped to be a dance instructor. Since there were no dance schools in Bay City at that time, Taylor opened her own. She moved to Sault Ste. Marie in 1900 to teach music. From there, she traveled to San Antonio, Texas, then she and a friend went to Mexico City to find work. Unsuccessful, she returned to Bay City.[4]

Niagara Falls

edit
 
"The Queen of the Mist" posing with her barrel and cat

By 1900, Taylor had fallen upon hard times, having been burned out of her home and having lost money invested with a clergyman. She claimed to be only 42 years old at the time, suggesting that she could make money more easily if she were younger. Having always associated with "the best class of people, the cultured and the refined," Taylor believed that she needed money to hold her place in the world.[5] In the 1900 Federal Census, she declared her year of birth as 1860.[6] Hoping to secure her later years financially, she decided she would be the first person to ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Taylor used a custom-made barrel for her trip, constructed of oak and iron and padded with a mattress.[7] Several delays occurred in the launching of the barrel, particularly because no one wanted to be involved in the stunt. Two days before Taylor's own attempt, a domestic cat was sent over the Horseshoe Falls in her barrel to test its strength to see if the barrel would break or not. Contrary to rumors at the time, the cat survived the plunge and seventeen minutes later, after she was found with a bleeding head, posed with Taylor in photographs.[8]

 
Annie Taylor helped to shore after going over the falls

On October 24, 1901, her 63rd birthday, the barrel was put over the side of a rowboat, and Taylor climbed in, along with her lucky heart-shaped pillow. After screwing down the lid, friends used a bicycle tire pump to compress the air in the barrel. The hole used for this was plugged with a cork, and Taylor was set adrift near the American shore, south of Goat Island.[9]

The river currents carried the barrel over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, which has since been the site for all successful daredevil stunting at Niagara Falls. Rescuers reached her barrel shortly after the plunge. Taylor was discovered to be alive and relatively uninjured, except for a small gash on her head. The trip itself took less than twenty minutes,[10] but it was some time before the barrel was actually opened. Taylor was helped out of the barrel by Carlisle Graham, her friend and the first man to run the rapids on a raft.[5] After the journey, Taylor told the press:

If it was with my dying breath, I would caution anyone against attempting the feat ... I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon, knowing it was going to blow me to pieces than make another trip over the Fall.

Later years

edit

She briefly earned money speaking about her experience but was never able to build much wealth. She wrote a memoir and returned to Niagara Falls to sell it.[11] Her manager, Frank M. Russell, ran away with her barrel, and most of her savings were used towards private detectives hired to find it. It was eventually located in Chicago, only to permanently disappear some time later.[citation needed]

She spent her final years posing for photographs with tourists at her souvenir stand, attempting to earn money from the New York Stock Exchange, briefly talking about taking a second plunge over the cataracts in 1906, attempting to write a novel, re-constructing her 1901 plunge on film (which was never seen), working as a clairvoyant, and providing magnetic therapeutic treatments to local residents.[9]

Death

edit
 
Taylor's grave

Taylor entered the Niagara County Infirmary in Lockport, New York on February 23, claiming her age to be 57.[12] She died on April 29, 1921, aged 82 and was interred next to her friend and fellow daredevil Carlisle Graham,[13] in the "Stunter's Rest" section [14] of Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls, New York.

Since she died penniless, public donations were sought to pay the costs of her funeral,[15] which was held on May 5, 1921. She attributed her bad health and near blindness to her trip over the falls.

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Niagara Falls Live Archived July 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Niagara Daredevils". niagarafallsforyou.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  3. ^ Kusmierz, Marvin (March 20, 2010). "Anna Edson Taylor (1839–1921) Bay City teacher was first person to go over Niagara Falls". Bay-Journal, Bay City, Michigan. Archived from the original on October 25, 2016. Retrieved July 4, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ Biodata Archived July 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b "Annie Get Your Barrel". Newsday. November 21, 1981. p. 31.
  6. ^ "1900 United States Federal Census for Anna E Taylor". United States Federal Census. June 6, 1900. Retrieved July 3, 2022 – via Ancestry.
  7. ^ Parish, Charles Carlin, Queen of the Mist: The Story of Annie Edson Taylor, First Person Ever To Go Over Niagara Falls and Survive (Empire State Books, Interlaken, New York, 1987, ISBN 0-932334-89-X); p. 47.
  8. ^ Parish, C. Queen of the Mist, ibid., p. 55
  9. ^ a b Parish, Charles Carlin, Queen of the Mist: The Story of Annie Edson Taylor, First Person Ever To Go Over Niagara Falls and Survive (Empire State Books, Interlaken, New York, 1987, ISBN 0-932334-89-X)
  10. ^ First barrel ride down Niagara Falls, History.com, Retrieved 23 October 2016
  11. ^ "Overlooked No More: Annie Edson Taylor, Who Tumbled Down Niagara Falls Into Fame". The New York Times. May 1, 2019. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  12. ^ "Woman who went over Niagara dies". The Pittsburgh Press. April 30, 1921. p. 1.
  13. ^ "Woman Goes Over Niagara in a Barrel". Oakwood Niagara. The New York Times. October 25, 1901. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
  14. ^ "Oakwood Cemetery Commemorates War of 1812: Historic Congressional Presentation, Stunters Rest Tour, Nature Walk, Tree Planting" (PDF). Niagara Chamber of Commerce. Oakwood Cemetery of Niagara Falls. July 9, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
  15. ^ "Anna Edson Taylor: Junior Editors' Quiz". Rocky Mount Telegram. November 17, 1984. p. 9.
  16. ^ "Niagara Falls Daredevils | IMAX Theater, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada". www.imaxniagara.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2008. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  17. ^ "BBC Radio 3 – The Verb, Emma Donoghue, Hannah Silva, Gary Shteyngart, Roz Goddard, Winning Words". BBC.
  18. ^ "Transport Group's Queen of the Mist, Starring Mary Testa, Extends Through December 4". Broadway.com.
  19. ^ "TV Murdoch Mysteries 7-1 "Murdoch Ahoy"". CBC News. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  20. ^ "Niagara Falls Daredevil, Accidental Nuclear Bomb, Railroad Heroine." Mysteries at the Museum, performance by Don Wildman, season 4, episode 1, Travel Channel, 15 Nov. 2012.
  21. ^ Visser, Lindsey Lauren. "Annie Edson Taylor's Barrel v. Niagara Falls". The Buffalo History Museum Podcast. Podcast audio, October 28, 2021. https://open.spotify.com/episode/00zZvfHeoQpRO5eGTAhxW2?si=428fe1e7e0844519.
  22. ^ Maas, Tyler. "Trapper Schoepp Uses Old Formats To Tell New Stories On Siren Songs". Milwaukee Record. Album review, April 21, 2023. https://milwaukeerecord.com/music/trapper-schoepp-uses-old-formats-to-tell-new-stories-on-siren-songs/
edit
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Annie Taylor.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Annie_Edson_Taylor&oldid=1252281031"