Images Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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John Dodson Taylor, Sr. (1860-1936), had a sister, Sarah Rebecca Taylor, who married Andrew Hassell, of Lynchburg, Virginia.

Images Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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These are the best images of the notices I can acquire.  I scanned photocopies from another source, so at least they are somewhat legible.

John Dodson Taylor, Sr. (1860-1936) was my great-grandfather.

Texts follow:

Atlanta Journal, July 3, 1936

J. D. TAYLOR BURIED

Summerville Business Hours Closed in Tribute

SUMMERVILLE, Ga., July 3–Business hours of this community were closed as final rites were held at 4 o’clock this afternoon for Colonel John Dodson Taylor, distinguished Chattooga County citizen and pioneer northwest Georgia business leader.

The Rev. Sterling Hunter, pastor of the Summerville Presbyterian Church, of which Colonel Taylor was a lifelong member and a ruling elder, officiated at the services.  Several hundred persons attended the funeral.

Colonel Taylor, who was 76, died early Thursday morning at a private Atlanta hospital in Atlanta following a brief illness.  He was widely known throughout the state and prominent in many enterprises.

Burial was in Summerville cemetery.

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Atlanta Constitution, July 3, 1936, Page 10

COL. JOHN D. TAYLOR, OF SUMMERVILLE, DIES

Leading Chattooga Citizen Passes in Hospital After Brief Illness

Colonel John Dodson Taylor, of Summerville, distinguished citizen of Chattooga County and active in business, civic and church affairs, died early yesterday morning at a private hospital in Atlanta.

Colonel Taylor, who was 76 years of age, had been ill only a short time.

His keen mind and vision made him one of the most outstanding leaders in business and citizenship in Chattooga County.

He was organizer and president of the Summerville Cotton Mills, the Summerville Oil Mills, the Chattooga County Bank, and the Taylor Mercantile Company.

In addition, he owned large farms and peach orchards in the county, was was senior member of the law firm of John D. & E. S. Taylor.  He was a lifelong member and a ruling elder of the Summerville Presbyterian Church.

Colonel Taylor served with distinction in the state senate as the representative of his district.

A native of Summerville and lifelong resident of that city, Colonel Taylor was the son of John Taylor and Arcissa Willshire Dodson, of Chattooga County.  He received his formal education at Oxford, Ala., where he met his wife, the former Miss Harriet Stoddard.

Surviving are two sons, John D. Taylor, Jr., and Eugene Stoddard Taylor, and two daughters, Mrs. Wilford Caulkins, of Chattanooga, and Mrs. John B. Whisnant, of Summerville.

Funeral Services will be held at 4 o’clock this afternoon at the Summerville Presbyterian Church, with the Rev. Sterling Hunter, pastor, officiating.

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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The family members are standing in front of the old house at Summerville, Georgia.  I conclude that the date is no earlier than 1915, for Arcissa Wilshire Dodson Taylor (1824-1915), mother of John Dodson Taylor, Sr. (1860-1936), is absent.

From left to right:

Eugene Stoddard Taylor, Sr. (1890-1944)

Helen Dodson Taylor (later Caulkins; died February 13, 1977)

Sarah Faye Taylor (later Whisnant; died November 1980)

Harriet “Hattie” Stoddard Taylor (1865-1932)

John Dodson Taylor, Jr. (1905-1976), my grandfather

John Dodson Taylor, Sr. (1860-1936), my great-grandfather

The surviving siblings in the late 1960s:  https://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/taylor-siblings-late-1960s/

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

Above:  An Article from The Atlanta Constitution, April 8, 1917, page 9

Obtained via newspapers.com

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Above:  The 1889 Building of Summerville Presbyterian Church, Summerville, Georgia

Image Source = Nan Rich, History of Summerville Presbyterian Church, 1841-1988 (1988), page 2

The 1889 structure of Summerville Presbyterian Church, having become unsafe in 1923, went the way of all buildings past their prime.  The new facility was ready in April 1924.

Image Source = Page 5

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John Dodson Taylor, Sr. (1860-1936) was the bald gentleman in the center of this close-up.  I guess that the woman to his left was his wife, “Hattie” Stoddard Taylor.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

Above:  A Clip from The Atlanta Constitution, March 30, 1918, page 6

Obtained via newspapers.com

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Recently, while researching family history online, I found this article, which I “clipped” electronically and saved to my computer.  Oh, the wonders of technology!

Sarah, daughter of great-grandfather, John D. Taylor, Sr. (1860-1936), and my great-grandmother, Harriett Stoddard Taylor (1865-1932), and sister of my grandfather, John D. Taylor, Jr. (1905-1976), died in November 1980.

John Black Whisnant, Sr., died on February 1, 1972.

The April 21, 1918, issue of The Atlanta Constitution, page 10, contained this update on the story at the top of this post:

I imagine what the interior of the old house (not old then) looked like for the festive occasion.  I also wonder how my ancestors looked.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

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:  A Photograph of the Stolen Painting

Image Courtesy of Randolph Fleming Taylor

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Our family has been blessed with the presence of very talented people in all of its branches.  Writers have abounded.  And some painters have been among us.    Harriett Stoddard Taylor (1865-1932) painted.  And so did another great-grandmother, Nellie Sequin Fox Barrett (1876-1958), as this link attests.

Unfortunately, vandals have stolen the painting shown above, which used to hang in the Taylor house in Summerville, Georgia.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 18, 2013 COMMON ERA

Photograph Courtesy of Randolph Fleming Taylor

She was my great-grandmother, wife of John Dodson Taylor, Sr. (1860-1936).

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

AUGUST 9, 2013 COMMON ERA

Above:  The Taylor House, Probably in the 1930s

Two months ago I wrote the following post:  https://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/requiem-for-a-house/.  At the time the fate of the old house seemed doomed.  The house where my great-grandfather (John Dodson Taylor, Sr.) and great-grandmother (“Hattie” Stoddard), my grandfather (John Dodson Taylor, Jr.) was born and lived my grandmother (Nell Taylor) lived, where my uncle (Randy Taylor) and father (John Dodson Taylor, III) grew up, and where my sister (Barbara Jackson) and I spent part of our childhoods with Mom (Sally Taylor), Dad, and Grandma seemed to be near destruction.  And it might still be so, but there is a local grassroots effort (https://www.facebook.com/SaveTheTaylorHouse) to save and restore the old place.  May it succeed!  And may the house cease to sit idle.  No, may it have a use which is positive for the community.  I think that an educational component would be most appropriate, given the value our family has placed on books and learning.

The above picture shows the house as it was when my great-grandfather was still alive.  The white paint job did look better.

Above:  The House Circa 1950

I, being born when I was, never saw the old north wing, shown here on the right.  But it does look lovely, does it not?  I recall Dad saying that it lasted until the early 1960s.

Above:  My Grandparents in 1967

I never knew my grandfather, for he died three years after I was born.  Yet I am confident that I would like to have known him.

I recall aspects of the house for which I have no pictures.  In the bedroom next to where the north wing had been, for example, there was a small kitchen attached.  My grandparents used to rent out that bedroom, kitchen, and north wing as an apartment.  And I remember the old garage in the back of the house.  Getting a car back there now would be quite an accomplishment!

A renovation and restoration of the house would be a great task.  To reopen blocked doorways would give old house a good, more period-specific look.  I, as a history buff, like old things.  So old houses fascinate me.

My life is elsewhere.  The congregation closest to my spiritual type is in Athens, Georgia, for example.  But I am keenly aware of my family’s roots in Summerville, Georgia.  And I want the old house to become a vital part of the community again.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 16, 2013 COMMON ERA

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http://www.thesummervillenews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6458:city-wants-northwest-congress-street-lot-cleaned&catid=1

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Above:  John Dodson Taylor, Jr., and Nell Barrett Taylor, My Grandparents, In Front of McGinnis Drugs and the Chattooga County Courthouse, in Winter 1960

Image Source = Gene McGinnis, Summerville, Georgia

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BLOGGER’S NOTE:

I found an image of the 1909 Chattooga County Courthouse at the county’s website here:  http://www.chattoogacountyga.com/.

I found another image (with more background) here:  http://hwy27.com/chattooga.html.  I learned there that the model was the Appling County Courthouse.  This interests me because I used to live in Appling County.

And here (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gachatto/pix/place/place.htm) I found some more relevant images, including one of the previous courthouse.

Here is a link to an old postcard image of the 1909 courthouse:  http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=8214.

Here is a link to a close-up image of the clock:  http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/jun/08/historic-district/

“Papa” is John Dodson Taylor, Sr.

“Mama” is Harriet “Hattie” Stoddard Taylor.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

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History records that for fifty years Summerville was twenty-five miles from a railroad.  Its happy, contented populace never allowed their fondest ambitions or dreams to picture it as anything more pretentious than a village.  The woodlands hung like green drapery around the town, the fringe rolling down within the very corporate limits.

In the center of this village there was a courthouse, necessitated by the fact that not all the inhabitants were as law-abiding as they should have been.  In addition to this judicial institution, there were a few stores where general merchandise was sold:  there were four saloons which were called “groceries,” a blacksmith and wagon-repair shop, and a cobbler shop.  There was one doctor.  Drug stores and dentists were unheard of.

In those days a community had to earn the right to be called a town.  One of the main requirements seemed to have been that a hanging take place.  Summerville could boast of two such sporting events, so a town we were!

Papa told me how Pigg Van shot North White one cold day in the spring of 1888.  It seems that the two had been very close friends, but this time they each had taken one sniffer too many as they sat by the fire in the rear of one of the hardware stores.  Their tongues became oiled, their tempers rose, and one word led to another.  Finally, North White left he store for a drink from the well which occupied the center of the square which is not intersection of Washington and Commerce Streets.  Tradition has it that Pigg Van followed him to the door and drew his bead just as White reached the well.  Justice took its course, and Pigg paid the penalty up in the hollow just west of what is now called Jakeville.  The second event took place were the Georgia Rug Mill is now located.  Details of this event have been lost in the past, however.

The courthouse, where justice was meted out to all and sundry, was a drab two-story affair of brick construction.  I cannot remember many of the details because I was at the tender age of four when it was removed.  At the front of the courthouse, a balcony opened into the courtroom upstairs.  It seems that one time they borrowed Mama’s piano to “live it up” for a beauty contest which was held in the courtroom, but there was some trouble.  It was necessary to hoist the piano by way of the balcony, which was, you will agree, rather rough treatment for such an instrument.  I always thought the piano was a little off; perhaps that move explains it.

The cast-iron stairways to the courtroom were suspended on the outside of the building.  (Stairways on the outside of the building always did puzzle me and make me wonder if the genius who conceived such an idea didn’t need to have his head examined!)  These monstrosities were fine in pretty weather, but ascending and descending them in bad weather posed read problems.

Our present edifice succeeded the older one in 1909, and at that time it was the last word in architectural perfection.  It is of concrete construction with four entrances.  The crowning glory–at the time of its erection–was the big, four-faced clock on top; but things, like people, can fall from grace.  Certainly that blessed clock is no exception!  Its downfall came many years ago, and no time-piece could have been more unreliable.  (I distinctly remember hearing it strike thirteen times for three o’clock in the afternoon.  No doubt it believed in good measure.)  It has been a long time since I have seen its four faces together on the correct time of day.  This discrepancy was caused by any one of a number of reasons, the main one being that pigeons used the clock hands as their ferris wheel.

The courthouse had rooms and more rooms, and I have seen them filled with everything from exhibits on fair days t dead bodies which had been brought in for examination.  The courthouse was actually a community center in those days.  There have been rummage sales, cake walks, crap games, school programs, debates, beauty contests, revival meetings, chautauquas, and singings held within it.  All were part-and-parcel of life in this county.

JOHN DODSON TAYLOR, JR.

Leaves in the Wind, pages 11-12

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