U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Taylor, Milton Harold (1869-1954) --------------------------------------------------------------------- A History of Preston County West Virginia Biographical Department, Supplied by J. R. Cole Kingwood, W. Va., The Journal Publishing Company, 1914 by H. S. Whetsell Pages 690-692, MILTON HAROLD TAYLOR. The history of the Taylor family in Preston county is somewhat legendary. No very definite account can be obtained of this lineage. In descent, however, they are all of English origin. George Washington, the father of M. Harold Taylor, was born on a farm about six miles northeast of Morgantown, two miles north of a place on Deckers Creek called Dellslow. Twenty years afterward he was married near Reedsville to Eliza Jane, oldest daughter of John and Catherine (Robinson) Emerson. Mr. Emerson was of English descent, and a well to do farmer. The Robinsons were of German extraction. The grandparents of this couple were emigrants from England and Germany, respectively. His mother, Eliza Jane Emerson, was born on Cheat River at what was then known as Jackson's Works, about eight miles north of Morgantown. To this union nine children were born. Thornton, the eldest, was born October 13, 1851; Marcellus, 1853; Albert, 1855; Clayton, 1857; Cyrena Jane and Ami — twins, in 1859; Mack, in 1862; Melverna, in 1866, and Milton Harold, October 7, 1869. Milton Harold Taylor first saw the light of day in the old Taylor homestead four miles east of Masontown. Here he grew up and received practical instruction in the rudiments of a farmer's avocation, and here too be became established on lines of rectitude and honesty in the business and social world for the life to follow. Not satisfied with the attainments of a common school education, at the age of thirty-three, and after becoming the father of four children, Mr. Taylor sacrificed business and other relations, for the time being, and entered the University of West Virginia at Morgantown, and pursued a course of study covering a period of three years, which very much better equipped him for the duties and obligations of a leader among the farmers, which he afterwards became. In 1893, he located on a fifty-acre farm two miles southwest of Masontown. In 1895, two years later, he purchased another farm, and in 1901, moved to the Simon Martin farm, half a mile north of Masontown, but moved again in April, 1903, to a farm on the Ice's Ferry and Tunnelton Pike road half a mile south of Masontown, which he had purchased from Samuel B. Kirk. This farm was settled about 1776, being one of the first in this part of the country. Mr. Taylor had little time or inclination to seek political favors, nevertheless, he has been called into public service to some extent. In 1903, being a staunch Republican, he was made Notary Public, and in 1908, elected Justice of the Peace, and in 1912 was elected to the more important position as a member of the Preston County Republican Committee for a term of four years. A position at this time of vast importance to the party. Socially, Mr. Taylor stands high as a fraternity man. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has held office from Inner Guard to Noble Grand in Preston Lodge No. 143. He was the youngest Past Grand representing a Subordinate Lodge at the session of the Grand Lodge that met at the dedication of the Odd Fellow Temple at Morgantown in 1894. He also filled the highest office in the Colfax Encampment, when representing the Masontown Encampment at Wheeling in 1909. He has been honored with high positions in the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and as a Knight of Pythias. He is also an active member of the Masonic fraternity at Kingwood, which he joined in 1910, at Kingwood, West Virginia. In 1898, Mr, Taylor became an active member of the Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, one of the most powerful agricultural societies in existence. He represented Valley Grange No. 359, at a special session called at Buffalo, West Virginia, in 1900 to consider tax reforms in West Virginia, and was one of a committee of five to draft resolutions and recommendations to be submitted to the legislature at the next session. As one of the members of that committee, he enjoyed the confidence of such men as Prof. T. C. Atkinson, Dean of the College of Agriculture, of the State University; Dr. James H, Stewart, Director of Agricultural Experiment Station, and others, and many of their recommendations became embodied in legislative enactments. At the National Grange, Lansing, Michigan, held in 1902, Mr. Taylor received the decoration of the degree of Ceres, or the Goddess of Grains, called the Seventh Degree. He was steward of the West Virginia State Grange four years, and served by appointment as its Deputy Master, several years. He also organized many subordinate Granges in different parts of the State. In this work it occurred to Mr. Taylor, that farm insurance property belonged to the Granges, and in materializing that idea, helped to organize the Grange Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and was the first secretary for several years, a company which saved the farmers of West Virginia many thousands of dollars. He is vice-president of the company at the present time. Mr. Taylor is a member of the following associations in West Virginia: State Poultry; State Live Stock; State Sheep Breeders' and Wool Growers; State Horticultural; State Forestry, and the State Dairy, and has held offices in nearly all of these associations. He has also represented several of these associations as a public lecturer. He was employed by the State Board of Agriculture to lecture before the farmers' institutes of the State for several years, and in 1911, by appointment from Governor Glasscock, he represented, with others, the State at a session of the Farmers' National Congress, held at Columbus, Ohio, where he was chosen as one of the vice-presidents of the said congress, and which position he now holds, as a representative of West Virginia, and is at this time President of the West Virginia Branch of the above congress. Mr. Taylor was one of the organizers, also, of the Masontown Bank. He is a member of the Masontown Board of Trade; a director of the Masontown Telephone Company; and is with his family an active member of the Oak Grove Presbyterian Church. January 25, 1893, Mr. Taylor was married to Anna Belle Martin. She was a daughter of Simon R. and Sarah A., descendants of one of the oldest settlers in Preston county. Mrs. Taylor was born at Clifton Mills, June, 1869, Mr. Martin was a soldier in the Third Regiment of the State of Maryland, and served in the Civil War three years. He was captured by the Confederate forces at Harper's Ferry and made a prisoner of war, at one time. Children born to Mr. and Mrs. Martin are as follows: Howard, Mintie, Victoria, Anna Belle, Granville Ross, Sabina Jane, Otis Judson, and Atlanta Laura. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are: Ferris Adair, born October 10, 1895; Lynn Arden, born October 1, 1896; James Otis, born March 1, 1898; Mabel Ruth, born April 26, 1902; John Martin. Washington, born July 14, 1905; Dorthea Alice, born June 3, 1912. --------------------------------------------------------------------- From Death Certificate, Preston County, WV #8580 FULL-NAME: Milton H. Taylor BIRTH-DATE: October 7, 1869 BIRTH-PLACE: Masontown, W.Va. DEATH-DATE: July 10, 1954 DEATH-PLACE: Monongalia General Hosp., Morgantown, Monongalia Co., WV MARITAL-STATUS: Widowed OCCUPATION: Farmer FATHER: George W. Taylor MOTHER: Eliza Emerson CAUSE-OF-DEATH: Cerebral hemorrhage / arteriosclerosis INFORMANT: J. Martin Taylor BURIAL: Masontown Cemetery --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Preston County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/preston/bios.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------