David served as Bishop of the Salem Ward from 1888 to 1920 and served two missions for the LDS Church. He served the community as President of the town board 1888-1889 and 1890-1893, also as a school teacher for one year 1879-80. He raised fruit and livestock, purchasing a ranch in Scofield. David Jr. had just recovered from typhoid fever.
David Rufus Taylor's Life Story was given to me by his great grandson, Daniel Taylor. It gives a few more details of the story of this company of "Saints" who left North Carolina in 1869 to go to Utah. David Rufus Taylor was a member of this company and he is a brother of Martha Ellen Taylor, who married James Madison Hiatt. David Rufus and Martha Ellen's parents are Thomas Taylor and Mary Ann Danley.
DAVID RUFUS TAYLOR SR.
David Rufus Taylor Sr., was born August 29, 1850, near Mt. Airy, Surry County, North Carolina; a son of Thomas Taylor and Mary Ann Danley.
The house in which he was born consisted of two rooms. Later, a new home was built where more conveniences and comfort were had. The new abode was a frame, neatly built and joined to the old by a roof made of clap-board and hewed logs. A neatly kept walk connected both houses and led to the public thorough-fare known as Hollow Road. On the east side of the walk stood a mulberry tree. On the west, and between the house and Hollow Road, was a wonderful, large spreading oak, under which Thomas Taylor read much, chiefly the Bible. Around and under these two trees were many happenings. Happy memories, thoughts of sadness, and mixed reminiscences all are connected with the mulberry and the oak. One evening, a very vivid thunder and lightning storm swept the country, splitting and killing the old oak tree, and heat greatly damaged the mulberry.
The Taylor family consisted of father, Thomas Taylor and mother, Mary Ann Danley and nine children - five boys and four girls namely: Permelia Jane, Martha Ellen, Isaac Lee, Eli Franklin, Maria Catherine, David Rufus, Zachariah Shadric, Sarah Ann, and Jedediah Taylor.
The family worked hard on the small farm which practically had to support and maintain the household and other expense. The soil was poor; four bushels of grain to the acre was considered a good yield. Tobacco, cotton, buckwheat, and flax also were grown - not so much for their commercial value, but for the immediate use of the family. A few sheep were kept for the wool which was made into clothing. Spinning and weaving, and making the clothing used by the entire family, also cooking and housekeeping were the duties of the women folk. Bees gave honey; chickens and geese contributed eggs and meat, which also helped.
David Rufus went with his father a great deal, and when old enough, helped on the farm, for no one was idle on the Taylor farm.Thomas Taylor was a very religious man by nature, a great Bible student. Methodist by religion, he was rigid and firm in his decisions and discipline. He believed in education and allowed the children to attend the little log huts where very meager instruction was given. Jedediah M. Grant had been called as a traveling Elder for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He passed through the country about 1845, and held a cottage meeting in the vicinity of the Taylor farm. (See History of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in North Carolina, contained in this volume.) Thomas Taylor, and his wife, Mary Ann, were greatly interested and pondered much over what they heard. Many years later, Henry G. Boyle of Payson, Utah and Howard Coray of Provo came as house-to-house Elders. Many evenings were spent talking over religious problems, and Thomas Taylor and his wife drank deeply of the Gospel message. On March 12, 1869, Thomas Taylor and three of their children Martha Ellen, David Rufus, and Zachariah Shadric, were baptized in an open stream where the ice had to be cut, and were added members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On March 15, 1869, the wife and mother Mary Ann Danley Taylor was also baptized. Four members of the family did not join the Church. On the 9th day of July of that same year, all those who had joined the Church, besides two of the youngest who had not been baptized, namely Sarah Ann and Jedediah, left for Utah, after making arrangements for their son and brother, Frank, to have the farm.
Later, these elders, Henry G. Boyle, and Howard Coray were replaced by David M. Stewart of Ogden, and Warren N. Dusenbery of Provo when they took this company of Church converts to Utah with them.
The trip to Utah, beginning on that July day in 1869, commenced by their leaving at one o'clock for Mt. Airy, five miles away. At the camp grounds that evening, (probably in Mt. Airy) a memorable serenade was given them and their company, numbering more than a hundred, by the 'darkies'. The old-time melodies and plantation songs were sung to the accompaniment of guitars and mandolins, as only the colored folk can sing them. They journeyed by team to Withville, Virginia, to the nearest railway station which took them three days; continued by train to Norfolk, Virginia, and from there took the boat to New York City, because of the cheaper fare.Upon landing with a great number of other emigrants, they went to a large hall. On the way, they were showered with dish-water and rotten eggs, the news having spread that they were 'Mormons'. From New York, the journey continued over the Bay to New Jersey, where they boarded an emigrant train for Taylors' Switch, near Harrisville, Utah, the terminus then of the Union Pacific Railway. It was a very slow and tedious journey, with not a change of cars. They were one of the first companies of Saints to cross the Plains by train.
So slowly did they travel crossing the Plains, that when herds of buffalo appeared, many of the emigrants jumped off the moving train, chased and shot at the animals, then came back and boarded the still moving train.
Upon their arrival at Taylor's Switch near Harrisville, they camped for three days, awaiting the twenty-nine wagons and teams sent by the Bishop of Payson, Utah, in which the emigrants and their belongings were loaded. Three days were required to make the journey to Payson, camping each night on the way. They camped the first night at Bountiful. Mary Ann Danley Taylor, (mother of Martha Ellen) and two of her children, Sarah Ann and Jedediah, slept on the porch of the Bountiful Tabernacle. Arriving at Payson on July 31, 1869, the company stayed at Union Hall until homes were found. The Taylor family moved out before night to the Orwell Simmons house. This was their abode until the purchase of the Daniel Stark place, located across the road. After a few years, this place was sold back to Mr. Stark and the family moved to a five-acre lot in what was called 'The Poorman's Field'.
He married Sarah Caldonia Alzira Richardson on June 1, 1874, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah. They lived at the home of his sister and brother-in-law, Martha Ellen and James Madison Hiatt, at Payson, Utah. Their home was where the White Top Inn now stands. From here, they moved to a little house across the street, west and north of the James Madison Hiatt home. It was here that their first child, Josephus, was born on April 16, 1875. They moved to Salem, Utah, to the Alvarius Meekem place, a log house where the Larsine Ottesen home now stands. They purchased the five-acre block, two blocks south, and began to clear the ground of brush. David Rufus went to the canyon and got out logs which were sawed into lumber, and they built a three-room frame house on the north-west corner of this five-acre block. A few years later, they added two brick rooms to the house, and had a one-room basement and an upstairs, unfinished. There was a lawn, some very choice ever-blooming roses, and shrubs which Rufus had received from his home near Mt. Airy, Surry County, North Carolina. There was a large North Carolina Poplar in front of the house; also a picket fence, and outside of the fence were some large locust trees. The old well, with a heavy wooded bucket, furnished the drinking water.FRANKLIN DEMARCUS HAYMORE
The Franklin Demarcus Haymore account tells the story with added details. The party left Mt. Airy, July 1869, traveling to Norfolk, Virginia, where they took a boat to New York. The ride from New York to Omaha was very pleasant and one of the passengers described the train from Omaha to Utah thusly: "The cars in which the passengers rode were very primitive; seats were either placed along the sides of the car with space in the middle for luggage, eating baskets, personal belongings; or seats were placed crosswise with an aisle down the middle."
Ann Jane Hiatt Taylor had never been on a train before, and she thought they were going too fast and the train was too noisy, so she told them to slow down. One of her grand daughters said: "Knowing my great grandmother Taylor, it was a wonder she did not get off at the first stop." After Ann Jane Taylor left Mt. Airy, she remembered that she had left a ham in the smoke house. She commented upon it many times because they needed it so badly on the trip.
Franklin D. Haymore was the only one of his family to join the Church. His parents, Daniel Haymore Jr., and Martha Hall, offered Franklin D. everything they had--farm, home, and blacksmith shop, if he would stay in North Carolina, and they would not assist him in any way to migrate to Utah. However, Franklin's mind was made up. He was married, and wanted to take his wife and go to Zion with the Elders. Although his parents were greatly disappointed, his father-in-law, Benjamin Taylor, loaned Franklin and Adeline money for passage to make the journey to Utah.
They arrived in Ogden, Utah on the train. There were thirty nine people in this company by the name of Taylor.
This story of the Haymore family was found in the Mesa Family History Center.
Z worked on his father's farm until 16 years of age when they moved to Utah. Z was large for his age and had to be dressed in his mother's clothes to keep from being taken to war, and was hid in the corn fields... They had to bury their food during the war to keep from being taken by the soldiers.
Z was a student of the Deseret University, now the University of Utah.. Here he took a normal course and graduated in 1879. From that time forward his life has been spent principally in school teaching, abandoning it in his later years to take up farming on account of failing health brought on by arduous duties. For the first three years , he taught in Payson fro where he moved to Goshen, and there became principal of the school, holding that position for ten years. From there he became principal of the school at Santaquin for one year, resigning his position and moving to Sale, where he served a term of eight years, during six of which be held the principalship. His health failing, he abandoned school teaching in 1901 and has since engaged in farming.
Z was twice married. His first wife Nellie Olsen was born in Sweden...her father died on the plains while en route to Utah and her mother lived in Payson. His second wife was Lucy Palmer Taylor. He married her in SLC while living in Goshen. He was one of those arrested and fined for polygamy under the Edmunds Law, and served six months in the penitentiary. In 1885 he went on a two year mission to the Southern States and for 19 months of that time, served as President of the North Carolina Conference.
Z was a Republican and was a member of the Salem Town Board for four years, served as clerk for two years. Was also a school trustee for a year. Hes also served as Sec and Treasurer for the Salem Irrigation and Canal Company for ten years..
Believe he came from England about age 8
address: 648 N 1st W. SLC, UT
School teacher.....address: 367 C St. SLC, UT. informant: Emma May Taylor 37 N. W. Temple
Charles and Berthas home.
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=7c6aef42-ecf7-4c40-ab22-2288da36e7ed&tid=22487502&pid=1311637953Charles Matthew Hacker
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=dac033bc-176a-469f-ab24-5030c5b5479b&tid=22487502&pid=1311637953Ted Hacker, Charles M Hacker, and Gene Hacker
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=8798a0b2-9d6d-43cf-bc10-8f3c37837a17&tid=22487502&pid=1311637953
Charles and Berthas home.
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=7c6aef42-ecf7-4c40-ab22-2288da36e7ed&tid=22487502&pid=1311637953Charles Matthew Hacker
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=dac033bc-176a-469f-ab24-5030c5b5479b&tid=22487502&pid=1311637953Ted Hacker, Charles M Hacker, and Gene Hacker
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=8798a0b2-9d6d-43cf-bc10-8f3c37837a17&tid=22487502&pid=1311637953
Some information on Charles Matthew Hacker compiled by his son, Charles Theodore "Ted" Hacker in 1988Charles Matthew Hacker
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=393761b4-d243-4771-acf2-6ce3e5a00330&tid=29253146&pid=157Ted Hacker, Charles M Hacker, and Gene Hacker
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=58bbddef-465f-46a7-a711-c00a3387db74&tid=29253146&pid=157
Some information on Charles Matthew Hacker compiled by his son, Charles Theodore "Ted" Hacker in 1988Hacker, Charles M. Marriage Record: Vol 22 - Page 372
Bertha Elizabeth Hacker (nee' Bode)
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=b3c18cce-88bb-446c-a2fd-a66ce60db038&tid=22487502&pid=1311637954
Bertha Elizabeth Hacker (nee' Bode)
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=b3c18cce-88bb-446c-a2fd-a66ce60db038&tid=22487502&pid=1311637954Bertha Elizabeth Hacker (nee' Bode)
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=41901719-88bf-4d48-b0e9-8c87889f9bbc&tid=29253146&pid=167
Believe he came from England about age 8