Contra Costa County
Biographies
VOLNEY TAYLOR
VOLNEY TAYLOR. Alike
in Contra Costa county, where he owns and manages large landed interests, and
in the city of Oakland, where he has made his home a number of years,
Mr. Taylor wields an influence as a capable and resourceful man and
intelligent citizen. The family of which he is a member and which has been
identified with this portion of California for many years, originated in Great
Britain and established itself in Canada during the early history of America.
His father, Alexander T. Taylor, who is an honored pioneer of the west,
was born in the township of Bolton, province of Quebec, Canada,
September 15, 1821, and at the age of twenty started out in the world
for himself, having no capital except rugged health and willing hands. From
early boyhood he possessed an aspiration to attain an honorable success in
order that his old age might be crowned with ample means and the respect of
associates. In 1844 he rented a farm in Canada and the start thus secured
rendered possible the subsequent purchase of a place, which he owned and
cultivated for eleven years. On selling the property he returned to the place
of his birth, where he remained until his removal to the Pacific coast.
Accompanied by his
family, November 6, 1866, Mr. Taylor took passage at New York for the
Isthmus of Panama and from there proceeded up the Pacific ocean to San
Francisco. His first location was near Vallejo, Solano county, where he
cultivated a rented farm for two years. Coming to Contra Costa county in
September, 1868, he bought three hundred and twenty acres in the Point of Timber
district, and on this tract experimented with the raising of grain. As yet few
improvements had been made in the country, the value of the land was an unknown
quantity and the crops for which it was best suited little understood. From the
first he was successful and large crops of grain made his land a valuable
investment. In 1873 he turned over to his sons the management of his land, and
now resides in a beautiful home at No. 1622 Ninth street, Oakland, where in the
twilight of his existence he enjoys the comforts accumulated by earlier
industry and judgment.
The marriage of
Alexander Taylor, solemnized June 17, 1845, united him with Miss Louisa Bruce,
a native of Vermont, and their children are Valeria M., Avyette, Volney and
Alexander V. The elder of these sons, who forms the subject of this
article, was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, June 20, 1851,
and came with his parents to California at fifteen years of age. In this state
he attended school at Vallejo and in 1872 was graduated from the Pacific
Business College in San Francisco. Upon leaving college he took up farm
pursuits and later purchased from his father the old homestead in Point of
Timber district, Contra Costa county. While the land is especially adapted to
wheat and produces enormous crops of this grain, he is now sowing barley to a
considerable degree, finding that it maintains the richness of the soil better
than wheat. The land is not adapted to fruit, but raises large crops of alfalfa
even without irrigation. In addition to the lands purchased from his father,
Mr. Taylor bought two other tracts, one adjoining and the other near the
old homestead, and has the same under cultivation to grain. Since about 1896
Mr. Taylor has made Oakland his home, but during the seasons of sowing and
harvesting he may be found on his Contra Costa county lands, returning to
Oakland in the interim between these busy times on the farm. He holds fraternal
relations with the Blue lodge and Eastern Star of Masonry, the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows and Good Templars, and is also
warmly interested in movements for the growth and prosperity of his country
district and home city. His wife, formerly Agnes E. Andrews, was born in
Illinois and came to California with her parents in 1862. Mr. and
Mrs. Taylor have an only son, Everett B., who married Miss
Carrie F. Bohmen, of Sacramento,
December 11, 1901. Everett B. Taylor also makes his home in
Oakland, where he is engaged in the real estate business.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 01 August 2014.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 268. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2014 Marie Hassard.
Contra Costa County Biographies