Compiled by Brian L. Taylor, Grandson
To best understand the circumstances surrounding the birth of William Andrew Taylor, some background information is required.
Although the first three companies of [LDS] pioneers had arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the main body of the Church still remained in temporary settlements in Iowa and Nebraska. (Berrett, p.382)
Joseph Taylor, William Andrew’s father, was one of 15 men from the Mormon Battalion appointed to escort General Stephen W. Kearney and his detachment bringing Lt. Col. John C. Fremont from California to Missouri for court-martial proceedings. Joseph was discharged at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas in August 1847, after which he continued eastward to rejoin other members of his family in Iowa. (Reynolds, p. 43, 45)
In a general epistle dated 23 December 1847 sent from Winter Quarters, Brigham Young and the Twelve Apostles advised the Saints scattered from Nauvoo and those living in Canada and England to gather to Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), Iowa. This place was to be a resting place and recruiting point for western migration to join the Saints in their new home in the West. (Berrett, P. 394)
Thus it was that William Andrew Taylor entered his mortal life on 15 May 1850 in Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), Pottawattamie County, Iowa. No doubt his parents, Joseph and Mary Moore Taylor, were in the process of completing arrangements for their westward trek, for they departed in the Captain Hawkins Company just two weeks later.
During their journey across the plains, Andrew’s mother wrapped him in a blanket and laid him on a buffet in the wagon while she combed her hair. The wagon wheel hit a rut and threw the baby out onto the ground. She was terrified a she jumped out of the wagon and ran to retrieve the small baby. She found, much to her relief, that his being wrapped firmly in a blanket had saved him from injury.
The Taylor family arrived in Salt Lake City 5 September 1850, where they stayed a short time before moving northward. The journal of Hosea Stout, Joseph’s brother-in-law, provides the earliest record of any of the Taylors’ moving to Kaysville. “Monday, Sept 9th 1850. Pleasant Green Taylor moved North today.” (Stout) According to Pleasant Green’s journal, his family settled on Hayte (Haight’s) Creek, where he fenced in 10 acres of farm land. (Taylor, P.G., p.11)
Both Pleasant Green and Joseph settled on property located in what is now Fruit Heights. According to family tradition, their land was located just south of the intersection of Green Road and Mountain Road. In the 1850 census (actually taken Apr 1851) the Joseph and Mary Moore Taylor family was house #30 in Kay’s Ward (Kaysville). (1850 Federal Census of Utah Territory)
Early in the spring of 1852 the Taylor family relocated into the center of Kaysville near the present location of the main square. While they were in the process of building a new home, Mary Moore Taylor became very ill. A few hours later she gave birth to a stillborn son and died shortly afterward on 4 April 1852. Thus Andrew was left motherless before he was two years of age. Even though he was very small, he remembered his father’s picking him up to let him look into his mother’s coffin. Then, setting down his small son, the father turned away and cried.
On 12 July 1852 Andrew’s father married the widow Jane Lake. Since she wanted to live nearer her parents, they moved into Ogden the next year. For some time they were residents in Bingham’s Fort. In 1857 they resided just east of Adams Avenue on 24th Street in Ogden.
About 1854 Andrew’s father married Hannah Mariah Harris in polygamy. Andrew took his meals at her home. He never felt much love for this young woman, and apparently the feeling was mutual. One of her ways of punishing the young boy was to make him go without his meals. In later years he told his family, “My family will never be punished that way, because I know how hard it is to go hungry.”
Andrew was always fond of buttermilk. One day while he was a young boy, after the butter had just been churned, his sister Clarissa was going to empty the buttermilk into the pig’s trough. He begged her to give him some; however, being in a hurry, she proceeded to empty the churn into the trough. Not to be deprived of his favorite drink, he climbed over the pen and drank from the trough with the old sow.
In about 1858 the Joseph Taylor family moved to the area now known as Farr West and became its first settlers. Here Andrew helped his father on the farm and attended school whenever possible.
When Andrew was about nine years of age, a Mr. Squire, who was driving a herd of cattle from the mid-west to California, changed his plans when he reached Utah. He offered Andrew’s father half of the milk and half of the increase from the herd if he would care for the cattle. Andrew’s older sister did most of the milking during the summertime; however, during the winter Andrew and his older brother Joseph Allen were assigned to herd the cattle in the area of Salt Creek (Warren), where they could get feed. Living in a dugout, the boys wore canvas suits, shoes and straw hats while they performed their chores. The two boys, age nine and eleven, were visited one night in their dugout by some Indians. Motioning the boys to go to bed and assuring them that they would not be harmed, the Indians proceeded to eat all the boys’ food.
Next day Joseph Allen sent his brother to tell their father what had happened. Because it was too late in the day to return with the food after it had been prepared, Andrew stayed overnight at home, then returned next day with his father to take provisions to his brother.
As Andrew grew up in his teens, he began to take notice of the girls. One sweet young girl named Millie Lake particularly attracted his attention; she, too, seemed very fond of him. When he was 18, he proposed marriage to Millie, then only 15. When he threatened to go to California if she refused, she consented to the marriage. She certainly didn’t want to the reason for his going so far away. They proceeded with plans for the marriage.
To go to Salt Lake City for marriage required two days of travel. Using a wagon drawn by a mule team, they drove as far as Farmington alone, where they stayed overnight with some relatives. A cousin rode on to Salt Lake City with them next day. While hitching up the mules, Andrew dropped the temple recommends out of his pocket. Discovering his loss when just a few miles from Salt Lake City, he decided where he must have lost the papers. Unhitching the mules, he tied one to the wagon and rode the other back toward Farmington, leaving the two girls sitting in the wagon. The mule that was left behind made a terrible fuss. Finally breaking loose, the animal followed its mate toward Farmington. The recommends had been picked up by a man, who took them to the family with whom Andrew and Millie had stayed the previous night. Andrew was certainly relieved to obtain them once again. As he started back toward Salt Lake City, he encountered the other mule and took it back to the wagon. The girls had been very worried about Andrew, the recommends, and the mule.
Andrew and his bride were married 26 April 1869 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City.
After returning to their home, they lived with his father’s families for a few months. That fall they built a one-room log cabin with a lean-to on one side. The home was located by a spring on property he had pre-empted at $1.25 an acre. They settled on 160 acres (one-fourth section). They later shared part of the land with other families needing a home.
With youth and vigor they struggled along with other settlers in the area to establish a home and family. After they had five lovely children, the terrible scourge of diphtheria struck during the winter of 1879-80. Nearly every family in the community felt the devastating effects of the oft-fatal disease. Andrew and Millie’s four eldest children contracted the disease; Bailey, Almeda and George died. Will, the eldest son, recovered from the disease, an Mary, a nursing baby, escaped its grasp. In a two-week period Andrew made three crude wooden boxes and one by one took them wit their precious contents to the Ogden City Cemetery in a sleigh for burial during the bitterly cold weather..Millie tearfully gathered up a doll and a few toys and put them away. Sometimes Andrew talked about their deaths, but Millie’s sorrow was too deep to discuss the tragedy.
In 1884 Andrew and Millie built a new two-room frame home on the west side of their property. Three years later they added three rooms on the north side of their home, making plenty of space for their growing family.
While the house was under construction, five-year old Mary walking on some floor joists, slipped and hurt her leg. At the time it bothered her a little. However, she later had to have it lanced twice, then operated on twice to remove pieces of bone. Her leg gave her a lot of pain for two years, then she still favored it a few more years before it eventually returned to normal.
In one of their early years of their marriage, a swarm of grasshoppers struck the Taylor farm one afternoon and began devouring what little crop they had. A small patch of potatoes that they had tried so hard to grow for their year’s food supply was hard hit. Trying desperately to save their crop, Andrew and Millie each took an end of a long rope and dragged it back and forth from one end of the patch to the other. Seeing that their efforts were fruitless, they had to give up. By nightfall nothing was left of their crop.
On 12 November 1887 Andrew was set apart by Heber J. Grant to serve a mission in the Northwestern States. He spent two years in Nebraska and Kansas. Millie, with the help of seventeen-year old Will, carefully managed the farm and family in his absence.
After Andrew returned from his mission, he purchased some property with a house on it across the street and a little north of the family residence.
Andrew was a member of the school board for five years. He also held various positions in the priesthood, such as one of the presidents of the Sixtieth Quorum of Seventy.
On 30 November 1890 when the Farr West Ward was organized in western Harrisville, Andrew was selected as its first bishop. He and his counselors received good support from ward members. Together, they built a new frame meetinghouse, completing it in four months’ time. The ward claimed 290 members at the time, most of them active.
Bishop Taylor, who made friends easily, won the love and respect of ward members. He raised good melons, so he told the young people in the ward that if they would not destroy his melons, he would give them all they could eat. They enjoyed numerous melon “busts” at his home.
Andrew was kind to the less fortunate. He used to give milk to the Thomas Brown family; however, he was addicted to teasing and insisted that the boys sing for him before he would give them the milk.
In 1891 Andrew and Millie took their family for a ride up Ogden Canyon. Riding in their horse-drawn buggy, they found the river so high that the water often washed into the outside wheel track on the road. In places the road was so narrow that they would have to wait for vehicles that were coming from the opposite direction to pass before they could continue their journey.
After Andrew came from his mission, he had several spells that were labeled “cholera morbus.” Millie, using her best nursing skills, usually helped him to feel better soon. However, on Saturday, 28 February 1892, after he came home from a trip to town, he complained of a bad pain in his abdomen. His companion used the same procedures that had proved successful previously; however, the pain only increased. Finally, on Thursday she called on Dr. Allen, an old Civil War surgeon, to come and see the patient. The doctor diagnosed the problem as “inflammation of the bowels” and left some medicine for Andrew to take. Nothing seemed to help. Millie became terribly worried. On Saturday morning Will helped her to get his father into a sitting position in bed with a chair at his back to lean against. Then Will went out to do the chores. Andrew soon grew tired of sitting and wanted to lie down again. Young Mary, age 12, tried to help her mother ease Andrew down carefully; however, the young girl, unable to handle the heavy weight, had to let him drop. That caused more pain than before.
A man was sent by horseback to summon Dr. Allen from Ogden. When he arrived in his buggy, he decided that surgery was necessary; however, he said he would need help. Another person was sent to Ogden to summon Dr. Perkins.
The family moved the kitchen table to the front room, where it was covered with a quilt and a sheet to become the operating table. Water was heated in a wash boiler on the coal stove, and a coal oil lamp was readied to provide necessary light. (Another member of the family indicated that the doctors insisted they needed some cigars before they performed the operation, so a messenger was sent to Ogden to procure the cigars.)
Before the surgery, Millie, who was expecting, was sent one-fourth mile south to Uncle Jimmy Taylor’s home. Niels P. Lee, Joseph Stephenson and Joseph Allen Taylor witnessed the operation on Sunday, 6 March 1892.
“Ruptured appendix,” stated a doctor.
“Just plain butchery,” said Joseph Allen, Andrews brother.
Niels P. Lee, standing by Andrew’s head as he came out of the anaesthetic, heard him remark, “The pain is gone.” His father, Joseph Taylor, seated himself in a chair at the bedside. At one point when the older gentleman rose to leave, his son pleaded with him to stay. He did.
Andrew passed away later that same day at the age of 42. He was buried in the Ogden City Cemetery. A large, impressive cortege of 92 vehicles followed the remains to the cemetery.
Andrew was the father of eleven children: William Andrew Jr., Bailey, Millie Almeda, George Lorin, Mary Ellen, Ida, Eliza Ann, Aner, Riley Edmund and the twins, Iriminda and Icivinda, who were born two months after their father’s death.
He was about five feet ten inches tall and weighed about 180 pounds. He had light blue eyes, olive skin, and very dark hair.
His daughter Mary wrote of him, “He was loved by all the people of the ward and so was mourned by all. Father was a staunch Latter-day Saint. I never heard him say a word in criticism of anyone in authority and we children were always taught to obey and uphold those placed over us.”
References:
- 1850 Federal Census of Utah, FHL film 025,540.
- Berrett, William Edwin. 1940. The Restored Church, 2nd edition. Salt Lake City: Department of Education of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Black, Porter, Johnson, Bloxham, BYU, Biographies, Mormon Battalion. Data received from Nauvoo Visitor’s Center.
- Stout, Hosea. Diary.
- Taylor, Brian L., “Mary Melvina Taylor Rawson” Biography.
- Taylor, Pleasant Green. Autobiography of Pleasant Green Taylor.
- Previously prepared historical and biographical information was provided by Iriminda T.
Stephenson, Mary T. Lee, Ida T. Chugg, Riley E. Taylor, Lola T. Wells, and Leila C. Heslop.
An Exciting Sunday
by Brian L. Taylor
Sunday morning at the Will Andrew Taylor home brought a flurry of activity as both parent and older children made their usual preparation to get the home chores finished. The time would soon arrive for them to leave for church.
“I almost hate to think of taking Riley to church today,” Millie confided to Mary as they finished the last of the breakfast dishes together. He’s been so full of energy lately that it’s hard to keep him quiet in meeting. I’m hoping that he’ll get through this stage.”
Why don’t you let me stay home today and keep him here,” Mary volunteered. “I really don’t feel very well this morning. Perhaps some rest will help me to snap out of it. We’ve got a heavy week ahead of us.”
“Well, if you feel that way, I suppose it would be all right. I really would like to be able to enjoy the speaker all the way through meeting today.”
With the day’s program decided, most of the family was soon ready to walk to church, leaving Mary to entertain her younger brother for a couple of hours.
Since it still felt a little chilly that morning, Mary added a little fuel to the fire in the old three-legged stove, which was propped in position with a few bricks in place of the missing leg. Then pulling the family rocking chair near the stove, she helped Riley to climb into the chair where he could entertain himself a few minutes while she went to her room to find a good book to read.
Two small arms grasped the arms on either side of the rocking chair, and with typical childish vigor, Riley quickly had the rocker going back and forth, back and forth as hard as it would go. Closer and closer it crept to the old heater in which the fire was adding to the warmth of the room. Enjoying his favorite pastime, Riley pushed the rocker to its limit. Suddenly, it crept just close enough that the next “rock” brought Riley’s feet squarely against the rickety old stove and sent it tumbling off the unsteady footing and spilling the fire out onto the floor against the wooden wainscoting.
The sudden clanging noise brought Mary rushing into the room to see what was the matter. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw flames already licking the wainscoting and smoke quickly billowing out into the room. Instinctively sweeping Riley into her arms to get him out of danger, Mary then grabbed a bucket and raced out to the nearby irrigation ditch for some water. Back to the house she flew, in through the doorway, and threw the bucket’s contents full force onto the creeping flames. Fortunately, the threatening flames had not had time to get a good start, so the ample water immediately changed the flaming mass to a steaming heap of dead coals. Mary had saved the day–and the family home!
