San Francisco County
Biographies
EDWARD PAYSON TAYLOR
EDWARD PAYSON TAYLOR, a bookseller and
stationer of Oakland, was born in Williamsburg,
New York, February 2, 1849, the youngest
child of John Bevin’s and Mary (Barker) Taylor. The father, born in Rhode
Island, October 31, 1803, deceased in Oakland,
August 31, 1879, was in mature life a merchant of New Bedford,
Massachusetts, interested in whaling, and later in the
shipping business in New York City.
He left New York City with one of his sons, F.A., in
December, 1849, and arriving in San Francisco by the Panama
route in January, 1850, he engaged in the Produce business, making a specialty
of supplying merchant vessels. Retiring from active business in 1866, thought
feeble health, he moved to Oakland
in 1870, and was an invalid for several years before his death. The mother born
in 1807, deceased in Oakland December 13, 1879 was a
daughter of Deacon Joshua Barker, of New Bedford,
and was married in that city. She came to this coast in 1855, with four sons,
three others having preceded her: F.A., as stated; J. B. and W.H. at different
dates in 1853.
Mr. and Mrs. John B. Taylor were the
parents of nine children, of whom the two eldest died in infancy, the third
Joseph Barker, born December 6, 1833, died in San Francisco, December 4, 1857;
and six are living in 1891: William Henry, born September 1, 1835 now a dealer
in furniture in Sacramento; Francis Alexander, born January 11, 1838, now a
carpenter at Salinas; Charles LaSalle, born in New York city March 9, 1840 now
a dealer in furniture and carpets in San Francisco; John Bevin’s, Jr., born
July 6, 1843, now owner of newspaper
delivery routes in Oakland; Frederick Augustus, born July 4, 1846, bookseller
and stationer at San Jose; Edward P., the subject of this sketch. Grandfather Simon Taylor, born May 7,
1774, a son of Gideon and Elizabeth Taylor, who are believed to be English, was
married in Rhode Island, October 13, 1799, to Mary Ann
Jones (Boucher), a native of Wales.
His main career was that of a farmer near Little Compton, Rhode Island, where
he lived to be over seventy and his wife reached the age of eighty-six. Aunt
Keziah Taylor, born October 4, 1801, married to Thomas Boucher, a farmer of
Poplar Ridge, Cayuga county New York, is living in 1891. The grandparents Barker
were also long-lived.
Edward P. Taylor, the subject of this
sketch, a resident of California, from the age of six
was educated in the public schools of San Francisco,
and at sixteen went into the book and stationery business as a clerk with H. H.
Bancroft & Co., remaining four years. At twenty he traveled around about a
year clerking for brief periods at two places. Returning at twenty-one, he went
to work in Oakland as a clerk for
his brother Charles L., who had opened here on March 16, 1870, the first store
devoted to sales of carpets and paper hangings, and remaining with him eight
years. In 1878 he went into business on his own account, making a specialty of
buying, building up and selling newspaper delivery routes. In 1882 he started
in connection with his newspaper business, a small book and stationery store,
which grew by degrees to dimensions requiring a larger place, and in October
1889, he rented his present quarters at 857 Broadway, 20 x 100 feet. In May,
1889, during the replacement of the old building by a new structure, he rented
a place in the Playter Block at the junction of Broadway and San
Pablo Avenue, which he still carries on as a
branch store.
Mr. Taylor was married in Oakland
in 1874, to Mattie J. Judson, a native of Connecticut,
the daughter of Dr. Monroe Judson of Newton and his wife, by birth a Miss.
Blackman. The mother died at forty-three; the father, a Practicing Physician
for many years at Newton, lived to
the age of seventy. The Judson’s and Blackman’s have been settled in Connecticut
for several generations. Grandfather George Judson was also a Physician in that
section; and his wife, nee Hubbard, survived him many years, reaching the age
of eighty.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Edward P.
Taylor are: Mary Barber, Hattie Benedict, Florence Monroe Judson, who deceased
at eight years of age; and Edward P., Jr., born in October, 1885.
Transcribed by Kim Buck.
Source: "The Bay of San
Francisco," Vol. 2, Pages 599-600,
Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2006 Kim Buck.
California
Biography Project
San
Francisco County
California
Statewide
Golden
Nugget Library