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Chandler Scott
Ancestral History Essay
William and
Florence Taylor
2/16/13
WILLIAM P. TAYLOR
William is the Father of my Grandma Burtenshaw. Grandma
Burtenshaw was formerly known with her maiden name as Beverly Taylor. She is my
mother’s mom and is the absolute best grandma to my cousins and I. This is his
story.
William
Pleasant was a man who filled his life with happiness and laughter. In his own
personal life narrative he said of himself, “I was like the little girl who
grew up in Uncle Tom’s cabin. I just grew up and took life as it came, although
I have had a full life and most of it has been happy and interesting life; not
all success and not all failure.” As I read through his own personal words I
was able to see his wonderful character. I can tell he was a great man and his
personality was full of kindness.
William
P. Taylor was born on February 2, 1894 in a one-room cabin on the family farm.
The Taylor farm was located in the Grant, Idaho area. He was the second child
born of eleven to his parents David and Ada Taylor. William’s sibilings were
born in order from oldest to youngest starting with Riley John, William
Pleasant, Florence Alpha, Eli Warren, James Marshel (died at the age of 2 from
a bad flu outbreak), Golden Ray, Arthur Leland, Loy Warren, Ralph Merideth, Jay
D., and a twin to Jay died at birth. The Taylors were a very large family, and
all worked together in harmony building up and clearing land to provide food
and other life essentials for themselves and others in their community.
William’s
parents, David and Ada started life together in the Utah territory. My Grandma
Burtenshaw said, “Grandpa David Taylor left Utah with a wagon and team, his
wife with child, and only a ten dollar gold piece his father had given him.”
Its so amazing to me the faith this man had to pull up stakes with his small
family and almost no money to come to the Snake River Valley. He put his faith
in God and moved north. The journey to Idaho took many days. In some places the
road was so sandy that they had to hook up four horses to one wagon in order to
continue on.
Before
David came to Idaho his Uncle Lymon Taylor had filed on land for him. The land
he acquired was all sagebrush with no ditches or water. But he was a hard
workingman and in the first year he cleared 25 acres of sagebrush and raised 25
acres of grain. That is quite an impressive feat to accomplish with such little
time and only his wife to assist him in his labors. William and his siblings
grew up with a phenomenal role model in their father. William said of him, “He
was the greatest man I ever knew.”
As
William grew up he followed in his father’s footsteps and learned to work hard
and enjoy life. He actively participated in clearing their acreage of
sagebrush. He explained how they would hook up horses on each end of an old
railroad rail and drag it back and forth breaking down the sagebrush into small
pieces. He enjoyed gathering up the sagebrush into piles and burning it at
night. I guess you could say he enjoyed having bonfires! During the fall and
spring seasons he would assist his father and other settlers in building a
canal system in order to bring irrigation to all of their farms. The canal
system they organized and dug by hand is the same one the farmers in the Grant
area are using even to this day! Willam worked very hard, but when the chores
were done he loved to engage himself in other fun filled activities.
One
of his favorites was clearing the farm of rabbits. Even to this day the Grant
area is still filled with little cottontails. William was very creative and
smart in his tactics for hunting rabbits. He explained one of his tactics in
vivid details. He would lay out a straight line of hay leaves in front of his
mother’s garden. Then he would hide himself in man made hunting blind and wait
for the rabbits to come. One night as he sat there waiting several rabbits came
and began eating from this line of hay leaves. He waited until the rabbits were
in a semi-straight line and shot once down the line with his father’s mussel
loader. He said the most he ever got in one shot was eight! His brothers loved
to tell the story whenever they got together with friends. Although eight was
the true number, he recalled the last time he had heard the story it had built
up to 32 rabbits with one shot! Although hunting was a favorite, he recalls
some of the most joyous evenings he had was just sitting around the table with
his mother and father under a coal lamp playing games, reading the scriptures,
or doing homework. They were a very close-knit family, who always enjoyed
spending time together.
School
was a matter of luxury for William. To get to school he had to walk two miles
each way. He said, “I was like one of my friends, the only time I got to go to
school was when the manure pile was frozen.” Although the farm work occupied
the majority of his time, he still went to school up until the eighth grade. He
did not graduate in all of the subjects but was still able to attend three
months of high school before school ultimately came to an end for him. In 1908
his father was called to serve a mission in Tennessee and North Carolina. So it
became the whole family’s duty to work hard and keep the farm running. With all
of their combined help they were able to support William’s father through a
two-year mission. William said, “When he arrived home he had five cents in his
pocket, an old trunk partly filled with unroasted peanuts, and a good case of
Malaria” (William’s Story, Pg.4 Par:3). Within only a few months his father’s
health stabilized and he started selling wagons, buggies, and harnesses for the
Studebaker Wagon and Machine Company. While he worked at selling, his kids and
their mother worked the farm.
In
1911, they built two extra rooms onto their one room log cabin, which was
bulging on all sides from their large family. Then after four more years they
tore down the older one room portion of their cabin, and built more rooms onto
the north end of the two previously built rooms. So with a grand total of four
rooms in their house, William and his family thought they were really well
taken care of! They lived simply, only having the necessary. One luxury William
told of was how is mother had the only washing machine around. He mentioned
that it was an extremely heavy machine, but would save his mother lots of time
and also wear and tear on her hands. William’s mother was so sweet, that she
would have the machine loaded on a flat and send it once a week to the
neighbor’s house. To her dismay, one evening when the neighbors were returning
it the horse ran free and dumped the washing machine end over end until it was
ruined! In his commentary he did not act as if his family was mad about it.
Only that they simply moved forward without holding any grudges. The Taylors
were a very great family!
No
matter what was going on in life, William and his family were always sure to
attend church on Sunday. They were apart of the Grant stake, and attended the
Coltman ward just down the road. This stake was one of the very first in the
area. It is actually quite interesting to note that I have a brother who
attends the same Coltman ward today! William was always a faithful member, and
was very active in magnifying his priesthood callings.
William
never was able to serve an actual mission because he was sent off to fight in
World War I. In 1918, William and most of his friends left home and went to
Europe to fight for democracy. Six weeks after leaving home, he was in Europe
on the battlefield without having learned too much about the art of defense.
William said the closest he came to dying was when he contracted the 1918 flu.
It took a greater toll on the troops than did the enemy. He was hospitalized
for over six weeks, but fortunately he overcame the sickness was able to carry
on. He knew he had been fortunate to survive, and was very thankful to still be
walking the Earth.
After
the war ended, William was sent into Germany as part of the army of occupation.
After serving in this occupation for one year, the Germans finally decided to
accept the peace treaty and William got transferred. His transfer sent him to
Paris, France where he was a truck driver for a small supply chain. After only
a short time in this position he was then assigned to drive and officer around
all day wherever he needed to go. This officer treated William very well, and
even took him on a tour through the Palace of Versailles. After the treaty was
signed William joined a regiment to go and be apart of a guard of honor for
General Perishing to come home. He returned to the United Sates with General
Perishing aboard the largest ship afloat called the Levation, which was a
German ship captured by the Allies during the war.
He
arrived in New York, then was sent to guide a convoy of trucks to Washington
D.C. After D.C his outfit was sent to Camp Mead, Maryland where his regiment
was demobilized and he was sent to Cheyenne, Wy. While in Wyoming he was
decommissioned with honor and boarded a train to Idaho Falls, Idaho. Upon
arriving home he found out that his sister Florence had died two days earlier
and had left a ten month old baby. William explained how devastating this news
had been to him. He was very close with his sister was so sad to never see her
upon returning home. He arrived
home on September 26th 1919 and started farming and raising
livestock immediately.
So
William grew up a fun loving boy, and turned into a hard working faithful man.
His daughter, my Grandma Burtenshaw said in her interview that William was one
of the best storytellers she ever knew. He had a great memory and could tell
you the date of anything. His major attributes consisted of being modest,
humble, and very honest in all his dealings. He is a man I am proud to call my
great-grandfather, and his example makes me want to stand taller for my last
name.
FLORENCE SARGENT
(TAYLOR)
Florence is the Mother of my Grandma Burtenshaw. She would
have been a grandma to my mother Annette (Burtenshaw) Scott.
John
Henry Sargent and Elizabeth Birch Sargent started life together in Hoytsville,
Utah in the year 1888. John Sargent was called to serve a mission in New
Zealand and Australia. He left is wife and six kids at the time for 3 years!
When he left, his family didn’t have much of any goods to support them or to
live with. The lack of money and goods made it essential that everyone in the
family went to work. His wife did absolutely everything to provide for her
family while her husband served in the Lord’s work. She picked up any random
work she could find, did domestic work, and even janitorial work at the school.
As life went on their small family kept growing.
After
having seven children, their eighth daughter Florence Sargent was born on
October 28th 1904. With her birth, they decided the small Hoytsville
Valley would not provide enough opportunity for their family to grow and
flourish. During the turn of the century (1900), many of the Utah settlers
started moving north into the lush Snake River Valley. So like many of the Utah
settlers, they decided to follow the highway into Idaho. They ended up buying a
parcel of ground in a small farm town due north of Idaho Falls, which at that
time was known as Eagle Rock. This small town was called Grant, Idaho and is
even called Grant today. This little area is only 3 miles from my present home
today.
By
the time John and Elizabeth had stopped having children they had a grand total
of 9. Starting from the oldest their names were; John Melvin, Wm. Richard,
Myrtle Elizabeth, James Albert, Vaughn, Thomas, Russell (only lived for an
hour), Howard Owen, Florence Alpha, and Ray Lorenzo. Their family was never
well off, and it really amazed me that they would have so many kids.
The
kids were very helpful with their next venture. They ventured into the Grant,
Idaho area and bought 160 acres of land. When they bought it, only half was
under cultivation. But, over the next few years they cleared it all out and had
it all under cultivation! It was said that everybody knew the Sargents, and
they had a way of making and keeping good friends.
Florence
Alpha came from an incredible family. She personally was a pretty amazing
person too! Growing up in Grant, she was surrounded by good friends and lots of
family. But even when she was alone she kept herself plenty busy. Some of the
activities she enjoyed were riding horses, skating, swimming, or just wondering
over the knowls hunting down arrowhead rocks.
When
she came of age she started school. She excelled at school and was very book
smart. In the year 1918 the flu became so bad that school was actually closed
for a while. After the school was reopened she fought very hard to catch up and
take the final exams to pass 9th grade. After 9th grade
she attended Ricks College. At that time Ricks was a mixed high school and
college. She was an active participant in the student council. While up at
Ricks College she gained many friends, and when Florence made a friend it was a
life-long friend. In 1920 she met a friend that she would share a lifetime
with!
WILLIAM
PLEASANT AND FLORENCE SARGENT
When
William got home from the war he started to keep company with the neighbor’s
daughter Florence Sargent. William explains that meeting her was the best thing
that had ever happened to him, and that nobody could have had a better life
companion!
For
their first date William and Florence went on a Sunday School Picnic out at
Liddy Hot Springs. This hot springs was located near Dubois, Idaho. Williams shares the experience
comically! He was out trying to walk a log to impress her, when the log rolled
and he crumbled into the water. He always said it was beyond him why Florence
was so taken with him. She was younger than him, but William explains she was
blessed with wisdom beyond her years. As we have already learned, she was very
proficient in academics. Florence was such a beautiful woman, and no matter
what William says he was a rather striking man.
After
courting for over two years, they were married on February 1st 1922
in the Salt Lake City Temple, and started a wonderful life together! Their
marriage was nothing like what happens in today’s society, since means of
transportation wasn’t so simple. On the morning of February 1st they
caught a train at 2 a.m. out of Idaho Falls to Salt Lake. They went just the
two of them, and they were married in the temple surrounded by strangers.
William mentioned the strangers were mostly of German decent and Florence and
he could hardly understand the ceremony! They were so consumed by the
excitement of being sealed to each other that by the end of the long day they
had no complaints, just were happy to be united as one.
The
year of 1922 was one of the worst depression years William had ever
experienced. In order to make the trip to Salt Lake to be wed he had to
mortgage all of his possessions! He only got $100 from the banker, but him and
Florence took it and went and spent the week in Salt Lake City. They came home
after a week and only $4.50 to start life off together. I feel like back in
those times marriage was so sacred and they were willing to give up everything
to have each other. It’s such a beautiful thing! I feel as a society we have
fallen away from this beauty.
Upon
returning from Salt Lake City they found out that William’s mother was bed
ridden in the hospital not expected to live. On the third day of their new life
together William’s mother passed away. The traditions back then were that the
family would take care of the body in the home. Florence had a very hard time
with this because she had never experienced anything like it. William explained
even though she was shaken, she still rose to the occasion and fed family who
stopped by while making preparations for the departed.
During
these rough times, the United States was suffering the worst depression in
history. William said he sold lambs and wool for six cents each and many
established farmers lost everything! It was after this year that he went to
Pocatello and gained employment working for the railroad. He got paid 57.5
cents per hour and it was the most he had ever made in his life. He took the
job to provide for his family, but the whole time he desired to be back on the
farm. After working at this job for 2 years he moved back to the family farm
and took it over.
They
bought the farm in 1928 just in time for the depression years of 1929-30.
William said that their greatest asset on the farm during these years was
Florence’s green thumb. She always had a large garden and because of her skills
they had plenty to eat and even more to sell.
Williams
states that Florence (Mother) would always go up and beyond to entertain the
grandchildren. She was a very special lady who loved spending time with her
family more than anything in the world. When the grandchildren came over, she
was always sure to feed them first. Then she would load them all up in the
front and back of the little old pickup William owned, and drive them down to
the old store to get treats. William recounts an experience during these trips
to the store. One of the little boys asked him if this is as fast as the pickup
would go. William replied that it would go faster. Then the little boys asked,
“Do you go slow because you’re a grandpa?” William answered him saying, “That’s
as good a reason as any” (William’s Story, Pg. 10 Par:1).
William
and Florence were both awesome examples of how I would like to live out my
life. They had ups and downs but never wavered in their faith in God or
eachother. It is an honor and a privilege to be apart of their family.
