Lockley, Fred.  "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the
Sea." Vol. 3.  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928.  p. 792.
 
EDWARD A. TAYLOR

     An honored member of one of Clatsop's real pioneer families, and who has,
during his life here of four score years, been an active participant in the
remarkable progress and development of this section of the Columbia River
valley, is Edward A. Taylor, whose comfortable home is located on the highway
between Warrenton and Seaside. Fred Lockley, after an interview with Mr. Taylor,
wrote the following article, which was printed in the Astoria Budget on July 6,
1928:
     "'William Morrison, who is eighty-three years old; Charlotte Eifler,
eighty-two, who lives at Columbia Beach, and myself are about the only ones left
of the Clatsop county pioneers who still live on Clatsop plains,' said Edward A.
Taylor when I visited him recently at his home on Clatsop plains. 'This is the
old John Jewett claim. Jewett married Mrs. Nathan S. Kimball, whose husband was
killed in the fall of 1847 in the Whitman massacre. He was a widower with
children and she was a widow with several children. It was due to the Whitman
massacre and the fear of the settlers of an uprising that I was born at Oregon
City instead of on our claim at Clatsop plains. I will be eighty years old on
the 25th of next October. My father, James Taylor, was born in Pennsylvania in
1809. When father was fourteen years old he went with his parents to Ohio. When
he was twenty-one he taught school. Later, with his brother William, he ran a
trading post in the Indian country. My father was married in Ohio in 1841. My
mother's maiden name was Esther D'Armon. Father was appointed register of the
land office at Lima, Ohio, in 1843. In the spring of 1845 father bought four
wagons and some oxen and started with his wife and baby and a band of loose
cattle for the Willamette valley. At The Dalles he met Samuel K. Barlow, who was
building the Barlow road around the base of Mount Hood. He left his wagons at
The Dalles, packing part of his goods on packing horses and driving his loose
cattle around the south side of Mount Hood. They reached Oregon City on October
10, 1845. He and A. L. Lovejoy went into partnership and built a mill, which was
washed away by the high water. Father had struck out for the shores of the
Pacific, so he decided to go as far west as he could. He came to the mouth of
the Columbia and found a settler who had taken a six hundred and forty acre
claim, which he was willing to sell, so father bought it.
     " 'When father came down to Clatsop plains he found that W. H. Gray, Ton
Owens, R. W. Morrison and a few others had already settled here. The Astoria
Golf and Country Club now owns part of father's original donation land claim.
During the Cayuse Indian war father was stationed at Fort Waters. At the
conclusion of the war he came back to Oregon City and reentered the sawmill
business with A. L. Lovejoy and Medorum Crawford. The high water in the winter
of 1849-50 carried the mill and their lumber away. The provisional legislature
of 1848 appointed father director of the proposed mint. When Governor Lane
arrived at Oregon City in 1849 to become the first governor of Oregon territory,
he would not allow the territory to run a mint, so the mint was operated
privately, my father being one of the owners. They coined something over fifty
thousand dollars in gold dust into five dollar and ten dollar "Beaver" gold
pieces.
     " 'In 1851, when I was about three years old, we moved back to Clatsop
plains. Father shipped stock to Victoria and to the Fraser river country. In
1856 father bought Sam C. Smith's claim in Astoria on Young's bay and Smith's
point, which is now known as Taylor's Astoria, I was about seven years old when
I started to school in the old pioneer Presbyterian church on Clatsop plains.
Later I went to the parish school in Astoria, taught by Rev. Mr. Hyland and his
wife. When I was about eighteen I went up to Lewiston, Idaho. At that time
Lewiston was a city of log cabins and tents. I came back to Astoria and went to
fishing for the. cannery. In those days the owners of the canneries agreed to
take all the fish you could catch, at twenty-five cents each. I built two boats.
I hired a helper to go with me in one and I rented the other. About a dozen of
us young chaps in Astoria hired a house and a cook and kept bachelor's hall. We
made good money catching salmon at twenty- five cents each. Many's the salmon I
have turned in for twenty-five cents that weighed from fifty to sixty pounds. I
remember one time the salmon were running so heavily that they limited us to one
hundred salmon a day. Later we made a contract with the cannery whereby they
agreed to accept all fish we caught at twenty-five cents each. We swamped them
with fish, and the proprietor asked us if we would take twenty-five dollars a
day per boat not to fish for awhile. We laid off for ten days.
     " 'When I was a young man forty dollars a month was considered big pay, and
a man was glad to work twelve or fourteen hours a day for that money. No matter
how much you pay nowadays, you pay more than a man is worth, for he will only
work eight hours and he spends a good part of the time looking at his watch to
see if his time is up.
     " 'I was married fifty years ago, on November 1, to Mary Carnahan. We were
married by Rev. T. A. Hyland, of Astoria. My father-in-law, Hiram Carnahan, came
to Oregon in 1844. He took up a claim at what is now known as Olney. Judge Cyrus
Olney, one of the early territorial judges, took up a claim on what was later
known as the Carnahan place. Carnahan Station was located on my father's old
donation land claim. My brother-in-law, Frank Carnahan, who will be seventy-six
in August, lives at Seaside. His sister, Mrs. Nellie Mercer, lives at Los
Angeles.
     " 'In 1886 I was appointed deputy collector of customs under Captain
Merryman. When Harrison became President I was appointed collector of customs
and served four years. I continued to live at Astoria and for many years handled
my father's property, selling lots in Taylor's Astoria. My wife and I had two
children, both boys. One of our boys was a mining engineer and was killed while
superintendent of a mine in Mexico. Our other son was killed during the World
war.
    " 'When I first remember Astoria there were about fifteen families living
there the Shivelys, Welches, the McKeans, the Boelings, the Hustlers, the Browns
and some others. In those days Skipanon was known as Lexington. Before Astoria
became the county seat Lexington was the county seat. My father built what was
known as the Bay railroad, nearly forty years ago, to develop his property on
Young's bay. My father was elected as a republican to the Oregon Territorial
Legislature in 1856.  The Whigs and democrats had no use for republicans, so,
though he was legally elected, they counted him out.'"
     Supplementing the foregoing, it may be stated that James and Esther Taylor
died, respectively, in 1893 and 1892. They became the parents of seven children,
of whom three are living, Edward A., of this review, and Mrs. F. R. Strong and
Mrs. George Taylor, both of whom are living in Portland. James Taylor helped to
build the first Presbyterian church at Clatsop plains in 1846, which was also
the first Presbyterian church west of the Rocky mountains. Later Edward A.
Taylor donated to and helped to build the second and third churches here. During
all of the years of his residence here Mr. Taylor has stood consistently for
those things which count for the betterment of society and the progress of the
community along all legitimate lines, and no citizen of Clatsop county is held
in higher esteem that he, for his distinction as one of the few survivors of the
early pioneers, for his long and useful career and for his kindly manner and
sterling personal qualities.

 
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2011 by Diana Smith. Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.