Earl Taylor

EARL TAYLOR is one of the recent newcomers to the new Town of Elkhart and is supplying a valuable interest to the community through his activities as a real estate man. Mr. Taylor is thoroughly experienced in the agricultural and landed affairs of this section of Southwestern Kansas, and has been a successful farmer and rancher both in Colorado and Oklahoma.

He is a native of Kansas, born near Dorance in Russell County January 30, 1887. When he was a child his parents moved to Ray County, Missouri, where he grew up and received his education in local schools and also the Richmond High School. His early life and experience was on a farm, and when he was fifteen the family moved to Bucklin, Kansas, where he lived for five years.

Leaving home, Mr. Taylor came to the Western Kansas border land and did some farming on a deeded tract before taking up his own claim near Stonington, Colorado. He came into this western region in January, 1907. He finally relinquished his claim and took up a homestead in Baca County, Colorado, west of Elkhart. This he proved up, substantially improved, and that tract became the nucleus of the section of land which he had accumulated there. As an active farmer he has always placed his main reliance on broom corn, and has been one of the leading growers of that crop. He also represents a firm handling and using broom corn. Every year since he came into the West he has planted this crop, and has never failed to harvest a fair yield. The average price of the corn has shown that it is a paying venture.

He has also raised quantities of milo maize sufficient to feed his graded White Faced cattle, which has been another important adjunct of his ranching business. Mr. Taylor continued to live on his homestead in Baca County until he came to Elkhart in May, 1917. In Elkhart he has given his chief time and attention to real estate as a speculator and dealer, and has bought and improved and developed a large amount of land and brought in many new settlers whose enterprise is already showing results in the development of the region.

Mr. Taylor and family occupy a very attractive home on an eminence commanding a full view of Elkhart. It is an attractive bungalow of seven rooms, and Mr. Taylor's office building is also of his own construction and is a substantial addition to the main street of Elkhart. He is strictly a business man, and has never ventured into the field of politics, merely voting his sentiments as a democrat.

His grandfather, Joseph Taylor, was a native of London, England, came to America, in early life, lived in Indiana but died in Ohio just before the Civil war. He was a farmer, and his only son to grow to manhood was Eli Taylor. Eli Taylor, father of the Elkhart business man, was born near Marion, Indiana, in 1858 and acquired a fair education. He spent his life quietly, but at one time was a county commissioner of Seward County, Kansas. He voted as a democrat, was a member of the Protestant Church, affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, and died in July, 1916. He married Mary Howard, daughter of Joseph Howard, an old settler of Carroll County, Missouri, where he was a farmer. Joseph Howard was a Union soldier from Missouri and fought in the battle of Wilson Creek and in many other campaigns of the war. Mrs. Eli Taylor is now living in Texas County, Oklahoma. Her children are: William R., an insurance man of Richmond, Missouri; Zell Edgar, of Ida, Iowa; Earl; Mrs. Bane Smith, of Doretta, New Mexico; Guy, a farmer in Texas County, Oklahoma, where his mother lived; Miss Alice, also of Oklahoma; and Robert W., on the Oklahoma farm.

At Stonington, Colorado, April 25, 1911, Mr. Earl Taylor married Miss Birdie Mae Thompson, who was born April 21, 1889, daughter of Truman B. Thompson. Her father was born in Yadkin County, North Carolina, February 10, 1848, and as a youth served in the Home Guards of the Confederate army. About 1898 he moved to Johnson County, Missouri, and from there came to Baca County, Colorado, in 1902, where he took up public land. He died in February, 1905. Truman B. Thompson married Drucy M. Long, who was born at Independence, Virginia, January 9, 1846, daughter of Emanuel and Lucinda (Lawrence) Long. The children of Truman B. Thompson and wife were: Mrs. Anna V. Falk, of Stonington, Colorado; Robert H., who died at Lee Summit, Missouri, unmarried; Samuel L., of Stonington, Colorado; William A., of Stonington; Joseph H., a resident of Alberta, Canada; and Mrs. Taylor. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have two children: Elma E. and Vernon E.