All Scans by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

The Trion Facts, Trion, Georgia, December 9, 1959, Page 16

All Scans by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

The Trion Facts, Trion, Georgia, December 23, 1959

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Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Image Source = Robin Lee Scott

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Here we see the way the old family home looked in a bygone era–from the 1940s-1950s.  The old north wing (no longer extant) is visible on the far left side of the image.

The old house has had an interesting architectural history.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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My grandfather (1905-1976)

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

Photograph Courtesy of Randolph Fleming Taylor

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My father, John Dodson Taylor, III (born in 1943), with my uncle Randy (born in 1945)

It is a very good picture, is it not?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 2, 2014 COMMON ERA

Above:  Jean

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Family history is a goldmine of stories one should never pass into the ether of things forgotten and lost forever.  That premise is one rationale for this weblog.  Today, acting on that rationale, I share information about a dog who saved my father’s life when he was a boy.  I have attempted to get the details correct, given conflicting memories.  Human memory is not like a video recorder, brain scientists tell us.

My grandfather, John D. Taylor, Jr., kept collies for a few years.  One of these was Jean, who appeared in a Lassie movie–either Lassie Come Home (1943) or Courage of Lassie (1946).  My grandfather had purchased her from the kennel of Rudd Weatherwax, who trained dogs for movies and television shows, including the Lassie films and series.  I have heard stories of the family going to an airport to pick up Jean, who was returning from Hollywood, and of the family watching the Lassie movie with Jean in it as my grandmother, Nell Barrett Taylor, pointed out Jean’s scenes.

Jean was a sweet dog.  My father (John D. Taylor, III) and uncle (Randy) rested their heads peacefully upon her on parts of Summer days spent on the veranda at the family house.  She was, simply put, a good dog and a wonderful friend and companion to them.

In 1947 or 1948, when my father was four or five years old and my uncle was two or three years old, Jean protected my father from a taxi cab in front of the house.  She recovered from her injuries, fortunately.  The National Humane Society awarded her a medal for saving the life of a boy.  (I wonder that medal is.)

Jean died, having been put to sleep, no later than 1953.  Yet my debt of gratitude to her remains, for, without her intervention, I would not exist.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 11, 2013 COMMON ERA

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Here are some more pictures, courtesy of my uncle Randy:

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Here is a photograph of Jean with my grandmother, Nell Barrett Taylor, and my uncle Randy (born in 1945).

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And here is a photograph of my father, John D. Taylor, III (born in 1943) and my uncle Randy (born in 1945) with Ginger the Collie.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 1, 2014 COMMON ERA

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My uncle Randy is to the left, my father (John D. Taylor, III) to the right

Image Courtesy of Randolph Fleming Taylor

Here is a photograph of my uncle and father standing in front of the Summerville Presbyterian Church prior to October 1959.  Why October 1959, you ask?  The architectural history of that structure provides that date.  I estimate the date of this photograph to be somewhere in the middle 1950s, based on my knowledge of birth dates.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013 COMMON ERA

Above:  The Taylor House in 2004

This Image and the Other One Courtesy of Randolph Fleming Taylor

I think of an old joke.  Two mature women–neighbors–were speaking across a fence.  One commented that she liked being married to an archaeologist.

The older I become, the more interesting he finds me,

she said.

Older women, in my experience, enjoy that joke more than younger women.

My ancestral family home–which goes back to the 1890s, with stages of construction and one of demolition (there was another wing, removed in the early 1960s)–is like a mature woman and I am like the archaeologist in the joke–I like old buildings.  And I, who have the floor plan committed to memory, want to see the old structure restored to grand dame status.  May house allies in Summerville, Georgia, succeed!  My family–from John D. Taylor, Sr., and his wife, “Hattie,” through my grandparents, John D. Taylor, Jr., and Nell Barrett Taylor, would approve.  And members of the generation preceding mine–my father, my uncle, and my mother–and of my generation also approve.

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Above:  The Canaanite Woman

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EDITOR’S COMMENT:

My great-grandfather was a Pietist; I am not.  So I do not understand what is wrong with playing cards on Sunday.  The main fault with Pietism is that it establishes its own substitute for ritual purity codes with which Jesus argued.  Jesus said, in my paraphrase:

You don’t need to keep over 600 laws; two are sufficient.

Yet many professing Christians keep getting closer to 600 than to two.

I recall that, years ago, my grandmother, Nell Barrett Taylor (1915-2001), said that her father (my great-grandfather) found a deck of playing cards in her home in Summerville, Georgia.  He was not amused.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 10, 2013 COMMON ERA

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Matt. 15, 28

The key to this passage is faith that triumphs over all difficulties.

I.

We trace her faith in her confession:

1.  Confessed her misery:  “My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”

2.  Confessed her weakness by asking his help:  “Have mercy on me.”

II.

[She] shewed her faith her faith in her prayer:

1.  Recognized his character–Messiah:  “Thou Son of David–a title popularly applied to Messiah.  Here her faith was thoroughly orthodox.

2.  She confided in his power, else she never would have approached Him.  Supplicants must believe he is able to answer prayer.

3.  She earnestly thought his blessing:  “Lord, help me.”  All her soul is in it.  Surely anyone can pray this prayer.

III.

We see her faith in her determined perseverance:

1.  She overcame the difficulty of approach.  [It] was difficult for a Greek and a woman to approach him at all.

2.  [She] overcame his apparent coldness.  “He answered her not a word.”  Still she pleads.

3.  She overcame the limits of his mission–to Jews only, not to dogs.

Faith is victorious; as in the conversion of Hudson Taylor, a boy going play cards on Sunday.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT