Joseph Taylor and his wife Mary Moore Taylor, along with their daughter Clarissa Jane, had traveled from Nauvoo to Kanesville (later called Council Bluffs), Iowa, on their way to the West. While living in Council Bluffs, Mary Melvina, Joseph Allen and William Andrew were added to the family circle. Joseph Allen was born 3 August 1848.
After the family migrated to Utah, a stillborn son was born at Kaysville, Utah, at that time the mother died in 1852.
Joseph Allen’s older sisters and younger brother played an important role throughout his life, but particularly during his early years.
After crossing the plains, the family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley 5 September 1850 after suffering hardships and trials of the early pioneers. They lived in Salt Lake City for a short time, then moved to Kaysville, Utah. Their names appear in the 1850 census of Utah in “Kay’s Ward”, as Kaysville was first designated.
Joseph Alien’s father acquired a farm there and built a log house for his family. In the spring of 1852 the family decided to build a new adobe home down near the center of Kaysville in what is now the town square. Mary Moore Taylor helped her husband by mixing mortar. One day while thus working, she became ill, went into convulsions and died after giving birth to a stillborn son 4 April 1852.
While the family was still living in Kaysville, Joseph Allen’s father married Jane Lake Ordway in Harrisville on 12 July 1852. Shortly after that time the family moved into Ogden, then in about 1858 moved to West Harrisville (now Farr West) as its first settlers.
Joseph Allen had but a few months of formal schooling. He attended the early pioneer school in Harrisville during three months in the winter for two or three years. Food was scarce and without variety, and clothing for the two boys was sewn by hand out of canvas and old wagon covers. Their shoes were also made of canvas, or at times the hides of cattle’s ankles were turned inside out and canvas soles attached. Joseph Allen was seventeen years old before he had a “store bought” coat.
A man by the name of Squires came to the valley from the Midwest with a herd of cattle on his way to California. He found it impossible to continue westward with the cattle, so he asked Joseph Taylor to care for them on shares. Joseph Allen and William Andrew became the herders, moving them from one feeding place to another. Their family milked about forty cows in the summer and took them to Salt Creek in the winter.
During the winter that Joseph Allen was eleven, he and his brother stayed with the cattle, living in a dugout. They wore canvas suits, shoes and straw hats. One night some Indians came into the dugout, motioned for the boys to go to bed and they would not be harmed. Then the Indians ate all of the boys’ food. Of course the boys got no more sleep that night. Next morning Joseph Allen sent Andrew home to tell his father what had happened. Andrew walked the ten or fifteen miles through the snow, arriving late in the afternoon. His stepmother had no food ready, so he had to wait until the next day before his father could take fresh provisions to his brother. Melvina, the younger of his two sisters, later told how hard and fast she worked in helping prepare the food for the boys and also how she worried and prayed for the safety of her young brothers. Such a wonderful relationship of love and sympathy developed between Melvina and her brothers, which continued throughout their lives. (The older sister Clarissa was already married by this time.)
Joseph Allen and his brother Andrew were anxious to get out on their own, so they took up land by “squatter’s rights.” The land, later owned by their sons Lorenzo and Riley Taylor, was situated between 2000 West and Farr West Drive along the north side of 1800 North Street in Farr West. One day Bishop Daniel Rawson came to Joseph Allen and told him he would have to give the east five acres of land to a Wilson family that had just moved into the valley and had no home. He hated to part with his best land, but he did so. Several years later he was able to buy it back for $1,000. Jane Rawson, a close neighbor of the Taylors, said, “No two young boys in pioneer times endured and suffered greater hardships than did Joseph Allen and William Andrew Taylor.”
During Joseph Allen’s young manhood he was called to take a team and wagon to go back to Iowa for a load of emigrants. When he arrived there, his wagon was loaded with telegraph wire, since there were no emigrants ready for the trip. It was a hard trip. He faced severe sand storms, which made visibility very poor; the storms caused him to have trouble with his eyes. He wondered in later years if his eye troubles stemmed from this earlier experience on the plains.
On 5 September 1868 he married Mary Lake, daughter of William Bailey and Sarah Jane Marler Lake, in the Endowment House, Salt Lake City. They had five sons and five daughters, Mary Jane, Joseph Allen, Jr, Harriet, Jedediah, George Bailey, Lettie, Lorenzo, Chester Lewis, Zina and Amy. Hattie died at the age of four of diphtheria during a severe epidemic, which took the lives of many young children. Chester Lewis died just before his sixth birthday of spinal meningitis. The other children all grew to maturity. All except Joseph Allen Jr. were married in the temple; Joseph Allen’s temple work was done later.
Joseph Allen also married Sarah Lake, sister of his first wife Mary, on 19 January 1874 in the Endowment House. They had three boys and four girls: Charles Allen, Laura, Josiah, Susan, Sarah, Carrie and Joseph Howard. Charles, Laura and Susan died of diphtheria during the same epidemic mentioned above. Joseph Howard died later of unknown illness. Josiah, Sarah and Carrie lived to raise fine families. Josiah and Carrie took out their own endowments and were sealed. Sarah’s work was done later.
Joseph Allen built a log home for each of his families. Their homes, though humble, were equal to any built at that time. He later built frame homes for them, which were much more convenient and spacious for the growing children. He planted trees, both shade and fruit, berries and fine vegetable gardens to help supply food for his loved ones. His crops consisted of wheat, corn, potatoes, and sorghum. Molasses was made from the sorghum, which was an important part of their diet. Milk cows, pigs, good horses, sheep, chickens, turkeys and ducks were a part of their “farm life”.
He was especially fond of his fine-quality horses. He dug and rocked up wells at both homes to furnish water for his families. Being a very strong man, he worked very hard during his early years, swinging the scythe and cradle to harvest his grain and hay. All work on the farm was done by hand with the help of the horses and a few primitive tools and implements. He expected his boys to be ambitious and industrious, teaching them by example.
During his early married life, when he had Mary (his first wife) and two children, he was called by the authorities to go with a group of men to follow the Little Colorado River, hunting for suitable places for the Saints to colonize. He left his little family, and with poor clothing and few rations, he was gone six long months, enduring severe hardships and suffering. The trip was declared unsuccessful; Joseph Allen returned home half starved and in poor physical condition.
The ward needed property to build a tithing yard and scales to receive the tithing .produce raised by farmers. It was their only means of paying their tithing, so Joseph Allen deeded to the church one acre of land (where the Lorenzo Taylor home still stands (2000). Lorenzo bought it back from the Church in 1910 after its use was no longer required. People began paying tithes in cash. This was just before Lorenzo bought the farm when his father wished to retire.
Joseph Allen held numerous and varied positions. He was one of the workers building the Harrisville Canal. He served as water master on that canal for several years. He also served as a school trustee for Farr West and as water commissioner on Ogden River in the division of water rights. He was also Road Supervisor for Farr West, where he had responsibility for building a new road and repairing old ones. Lyman Skeen, one of the Weber County Commissioners, recommended the name of Joseph Allen to serve as Superintendent of Weber County Infirmary, so he was appointed to this position in the spring of 1898. He held this position until he resigned in 1906. His wife Mary was appointed Matron at the same time. These positions were important to the sick and infirm, who needed the best of care and attention in their declining years. Both Joseph Allen and Mary worked diligently to fulfill the trust placed in them. An eight-acre farm and orchard had to be productive, and seventy-five patients had to be cared for with both hard work and comforting words. He was active in developing and colonizing the community of Roy, helping in an advisory capacity on the road-building program.
Although his name is not mentioned in early church history of Farr West Ward, he took an active part in the contributing of his means, talents and labor. He hauled loads and loads of material for building the first ward church, and he helped build it. He held the office of High Priest, attended all his meetings, paid his tithing and other donations, served as ward teacher for many years, was active in all organizations, and was considered a stalwart supporter of all church functions. He was not satisfied with just ward donations, but used his own means to help widows and their children, the aged and less fortunate, providing food and clothing. He gave hay for cattle, seed grain for those who needed the help, and he frequently provided assistance in doctoring sick cattle. His advice was sought by many throughout the valley on farm, cattle, horses, water and business problems.
Joseph Allen was a gentle man, kind and considerate of his fellow men. His honest dealings were to the point of being a detriment to himself. He and his family were very conservative, so they always had a little ready money which, in several instances, he loaned out of sympathy to men; some were never able to pay off the loans.
- Lorenzo Taylor, who provided most of the material for this biography, added one postscript: “I am sure my father Joseph Allen would want me to pay a tribute of love to his mother, Mary Moore Taylor, who died at the early age of 26 years. The children had slight characteristics of their father of sternness and strength of character, but the many other sterling qualities as shown by her children which were so varied from those of their father, came from their young mother, who endured each hardship and suffering. She will never be forgotten by her children, grandchildren, and all posterity who follow the story of her life.”
Joseph Allen died at the age of 81, passing on to his reward 29 November 1929, and being buried in the Ogden City Cemetery.
Amy Taylor McEntire, last surviving member of Joseph Allen’s family, reviewed the preceding material, then wished to add two comments: first, he never listened to off-colored stories, and second, he was very kind to children. He never spanked one of his own children except once when George, firing a gun, narrowly missed his mother and struck a clock in the house.
The following article appeared in the Ogden Standard-Examiner with a picture, of Joseph Allen and Mary Taylor. 60th Anniversary Observed Is first child born in North Ogden Mr. & Mrs. Joseph A. Taylor About 30 of their 100 descendants gathered Wednesday in Lorin Farr Park to honor Joseph A. and Mary Lake Taylor of Farr West, who celebrated the 60th anniversary of their wedding. Mr. Taylor is a son of the late Joseph Taylor, who was a member of the famous Mormon Battalion. Mrs. Taylor was the daughter of Bailey Lake, who was killed by Indians while on a mission to the Salmon River area in Idaho. She was, it is said, the first girl born in North Ogden, December 15, 1849 (should be 1851). Mr. Taylor was born on August 3, 1849 (should be 1848), in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, and came to Utah with his parents in 1852 (should be 1850), after his father had received his discharge from the Mormon Battalion and had returned to Winter Quarters, where the family had remained while he was away. In 1866 he made a trip back across the plains by ox team with Horton Haight for the purpose of bringing back telegraph wire, with which the Deseret telegraph lines, the first in Utah, were built. In 1873 he received a call and went to Arizona on a colonization mission. He was among the first settlers in Farr West and took a foremost part in redeeming the country from its barren condition. He served longer than any other man as water master and director of the Western Irrigation company Canal. (Sources: The original biography, written by Lorenzo Taylor, a son, was copied in 2000 essentially as written. Minor corrections and few added details were included by Brian L. Taylor in the rewritten documen
