James Emory Taylor

was born about 1866 in Rusk County Texas. On the left is a picture of James Emory Taylor’s mother Sarah Berry Taylor. James Emory Taylor married Elizabeth Maculine who was born in May 1872 and died in 1954. They had six children who would all be the seventh generation from Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry from Orange County North Carolina. The James E. Taylor Family lived in Galveston Texas.

Over the years I heard several variations of the story of Grandpa Taylor (James Emory Taylor my g grandfather) not living with his mother as he grew up but I never heard exactly why. The following three paragraphs are from a letter Aunt Marie (youngest daughter of James Emory Taylor and Elizabeth Masculine born December 3, 1910) wrote to my aunt Evelyn shortly before she (Aunt Marie) died. The letter has faded over the years and is difficult to read but I have attempted to quote it, errors and all:

“When my father was ready to go to school Grandma gave him to Mr. Thomas (Tommie) Clark to raise and educate him. Mr. Tommie had elementary and high school and my father lived with them and graduated from high school. Mr. Tommie was a frequent visitor in our home. The last visit was after I was married. Mr. Tommie was a real gentleman.

Mr. Tommie had two brothers, Adrian and Randolph who had a college in Thorpe Springs. Add-Ran College. They later moved the college to Ft. Worth, Tex and it became TCU.

VIEW PICTURE OF THOMAS MARSHALL CLARK FAMILY

Mr. Tommie wanted my father to go to college and be a teacher or doctor. My father would never say so but we are sure that he thought Mr. Tommie had done enough and he wanted to be a printer so Mr. Tommie brought him to Galveston and got him on as an apprentice at the Galveston News. That is Texas oldest paper and in those days Galveston was one of the leading cities in Galveston. Also, Uncle Tom and Grandma Dippold lived here.”

Another story I heard numerous times concerning Grandpa Taylor you may not have heard follows:

Just before the 1900 Galveston hurricane that killed so many hit (Saturday, September 8th), Grandpa Taylor had gone over to Bolivar to go fishing. The storm came in unexpectedly and he was unable to get back. Bolivar is a low lying flat sandy peninsula that stretches northeast for a number of miles with little or no habitation.

The southwestern end nearest Galveston was a popular fishing area and had a large lighthouse.

When the storm started moving in he and a friend were trapped. They made it to the lighthouse which was already full and locked up. After some pounding on the door they were the last to be let in and rode out the storm safely. The 125 people in the Point Bolivar lighthouse survived. Most others on the peninsula didn’t. I’ve always been able to relate to this because when I was growing up, my grandparents would take my cousin and me over to Bolivar to camp and fish. We would usually go on a Friday night and take the ferry over then drive past the old lighthouse (it has been sold and is privately owned now) on the way to where we camped. I like to imagine that my great grandfather did the same thing on September 7th, 1900.

When I have a bit more time, I’ll pass on the story of Grandma Taylor and her adventures with five kids (my grandfather was not quite one year old at the time) during the same storm. Everyone from all of the related families survived which was pretty remarkable considering 6,000 to 8,000 people died.

One more quick story from Aunt Marie, this time about her Grandma Dippold:

“Grandma Dippold lived with Uncle Tom but when she became terminally ill she lived with us. She died in the north upstairs bedroom. I was six and all the bells and whistles were blowing to declare the start of WWI. Mother cautioned me to be quiet and not tell Grandma why so much noise as Grandma hated war. I imagine she had a bad time in the Civil War and she died not knowing.”

Emery, Lillie and Leroy with a donkey

One last thing. In reading your email, I noticed that you had Sarah Berry married four times. I had always heard that she had been married and widowed five times. The only husband I didn’t see listed was Henry Stoneham. The information I have was that they were married August 29, 1868 and he died in July 1870. I am not sure how reliable the information is but if you don’t have it, it might be worth looking for.

Ross

This paper was written by Ross Simpson

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Children of James Emory and Elizabeth Masculine Taylor

1. 1. Wallace Thomas Taylor
   b. August 1891, TX — d. 1946
2. 2. James Emory Taylor
   b. January 1893, TX — d. Unknown
3. 3. Ethel Margaret Taylor
   b. August 1895, TX — d. 1982
4. 4. Lillian Sarah Taylor
   b. September 1897, TX — d. 1979
5. 5. Leroy William Taylor
   b. September 1899, TX — d. 1962
6. 6. Marie Eleanor Taylor
   b. 1910 — d. 1990

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Census Information

• Emory Taylor at school 1880 living with Tommie Clark
• James Emory Taylor and his family in Galveston Texas 1900 Census
• James Emory Taylor Galveston Texas 1910 page 1 Census
• James Emory Taylor Galveston Texas 1910 page 2 Census
• James Emory Taylor was listed in the 1920 Galveston Texas Census Page 1
• James Emory Taylor was listed in the 1920 Galveston Texas Census Page 2
• James Emory Taylor was listed in the 1930 Galveston Texas Census

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Sarah Berry was born in Alabama and died in Galveston Texas.

February 27, 2008 — Updated 10/19/2015