Sutter-Yuba County Biographies

THOMAS J. TAYLOR

Transcribed by: Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

            Among the enterprising men who have been instrumental in building up 
the business interests of Meridian, Cal., is Thomas J. Taylor.  He was born near 
Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa, February 4, 1871, a son of Marion and Elizabeth 
(Harris) Taylor, natives of Indiana, who while young had moved with their 
parents to Iowa, where the father became a farmer and later engaged in the 
mercantile business.  Mr. and Mrs. Marion Taylor were blessed with three 
children:  William, deceased; Fannie, Mrs. Thompson, of Roseville; and Thomas 
J., the subject of this sketch.
            Thomas J. Taylor attended public school in Iowa and also attended 
college at Stansberry, Mo.  In 1892, he came to California alone, to stay a year 
and see the country, and has always remained here.  Grandfather William Harris 
came to California in 1862 and settled in Sutter, just north of Meridian.  In 
1893, Mr. and Mrs. Marion Taylor also came to the Golden State; and in November, 
1894, at Meridian, they started a mercantile business, where Thomas J. Taylor 
was engaged until his father�s death in 1910.  Mrs. Taylor is still living with 
our subject at Meridian, at the age of eighty-two years.  Thomas J. Taylor 
conducts a general merchandise business at Meridian.
            The marriage of Mr. Taylor occurred on September 23, 1895, at 
Sacramento, and united him with Miss Lena Gibbs, a native of Iowa, and a 
daughter of R. M. and Losana Gibbs.  Her father, who was a farmer, passed away 
in Iowa.  Her mother later came to Meridian, and here she passed away at the 
home of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor.  Mrs. Taylor was reared in Iowa and received her 
education at the public school at Ottumwa and the Highland Park College at Des 
Moines, Iowa.  Before coming to California, she taught school in Iowa for five 
years.  The home of Mr. Taylor, which he built in Meridian, burned down in 1921, 
but has since been rebuilt.  Besides his mercantile interests in Meridian, Mr. 
Taylor also has a two-acre Robney-Sargent prune orchard.  Mr. and Mrs. Taylor 
have been blessed with four children:  Loren, Leon, Archie and Mervin.  In his 
political views, Mr. Taylor is a Republican; and from McKinley�s to Wilson�s 
administration, about fourteen years in all, he served as postmaster of 
Meridian.  Fraternally, he is a member of the Odd Fellows.

History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p.  516-519