Lockley, Fred.  "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the
Sea." Vol. 3.  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928.  p. 206.
 
JAMES TAYLOR

     Inseparably interwoven with the history of the northwest is the life story
of James Taylor. While thirty-six years have been added to the cycle of the
centuries since he passed from this life, there are many who remember him as a
sterling pioneer who made valuable contribution to the early development and to
the later progress of this section of the country. He was a sturdy youth of
nineteen years when he started out to try his fortune amid unknown scenes in a
foreign land. His birth occurred in the Orkney Islands, off the coast of
Scotland, August 15, 1813, and there he was reared and educated, but in 1832 he
signed a five-year contract for service with the Hudson Bay Company, many of
whose employees were from the Orkney Islands. He was immediately sent to Hudson
Bay, where he spent the winter of 1832-33, and following the orders of his
company, the following spring he crossed the Rocky mountains in charge of a dog
sled. For three years thereafter he was engaged in hauling supplies by dog sled
to the northern trading post of the Hudson Bay Company and in 1835 he made his
way to Fort Vancouver, where he worked for Dr. John McLoughlin, who placed him
in charge of his dairy. At that time Dr. McLoughlin was the owner of about four
hundred and fifty cattle, one hundred horses, two hundred sheep, three hundred
hogs and a considerable flock of goats. That year five thousand bushels of wheat
had been raised on the Hudson Bay farm, while about thirteen hundred bushels of
potatoes, two thousand bushels of peas and a large quantity of barley and oats
had been harvested. Upon the place there was also an orchard of apples, peaches
and other fruit, a vineyard and strawberry beds, and thus the farm was rich in
those products which add so materially to the comforts of life. There was
likewise a flour mill operated by ox power, and six miles above Vancouver the
company owned and operated a sawmill. At the bakery they not only turned out
bread for the use of the employees of the fort, but also made sea biscuit in
large quantities for use at the interior trading stations. The equipment of the
company at Fort Vancouver also included a blacksmith shop, carpenter shop, tin
shop and various other enterprises, a great business having been developed in
the northwest through this gigantic business organization, which at that time
largely controlled the trade of this entire section of the country.
     That James Taylor was one of the earliest of the pioneers is shown in the
fact that at the time of his arrival at Fort Vancouver, Dr. John McLoughlin and
Duncan Finlayson were the only two chief factors of the Hudson Bay Company west
of the Rocky mountains, although the working force of the company included a
large number of factors, chief traders, traders, clerks and trappers. That Mr.
Taylor proved his capability for leadership and successful management is shown
in the fact that after a few years he was sent to Sauvie's Island, to take
charge of the farm of the Hudson Bay Company, his salary being sixteen dollars
per month, such being the scale of wages at that period. When his first contract
with the company expired he renewed it and remained in the service of the Hudson
Bay Company for sixteen years, and he became familiar with every phase of
frontier life. Before removing to Fort Vancouver he was stationed for a time at
York factory. When Dr. McLoughlin decided to take up a claim at Willamette
Falls, he sent Mr. Taylor to get out the logs and to build the first house at
what is now Oregon City. A detailed account of Mr. Taylor's experience with the
Hudson Bay Company would present a most graphic picture of frontier life in the
northwest at that period. When gold was discovered in California he resigned his
position and went to the mines but did not realize his dream of winning a
fortune in the gold fields. Accordingly he returned to Sauvie's Island in 1860
and here took up a donation claim on which he established a dairy. As time
passed he added to his holdings until he was the owner of six hundred acres of
land that is now very valuable. A part of this he cleared, equipping it with the
modern improvements of that period, and successfully continued in the dairy
business and in stock raising.
     In 1853 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage to Mrs. John Spence, a widow,
whose maiden name was Arabella McKinzie and who by her first marriage had seven
children. Her father was a factor in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company. It
was in 1841 that she came to the Puget Sound country from the Red river of the
north, at which time Dr. Tolmie and others of the Hudson Bay Company were
endeavoring to establish a colony on Puget Sound. Most of those who there
settled later came to Oregon and established homes on Tualatin Plains. Mr. and
Mrs. James Taylor became the parents of five children, the eldest being Edwin
J., who was born on the donation land claim May 20, 1854, and still occupies
that property, having an attractive home overlooking the calm and tranquil
waters of Wapato lake. The others of the family were: George A., born September
29, 1855; Mary Jane; Emma; and John. The last named died in childhood. The
others are still living on the old homestead and the only one married is Edwin
J. Taylor, who on the 6th of September, 1905, wedded Mrs. Clementine Bullock nee
Phillips, then a widow with one son who was a student in the University of
Oregon when America entered the World war and who enlisted, serving in France
for a year and a half. Mr. and Mrs. Edwin J. Taylor had two children: Edward
James, who died at the age of fifteen years; and Mary C., who is a graduate of
the Jefferson high school. Miss Mary Jane Taylor, the eldest daughter of the
family, was appointed the first postmaster following the establishment of the
post office on Sauvie's Island by President Arthur. It was first called
Willamette Slough and a room of the Taylor home served as the post office. Later
the name was changed to Arthur and Miss Taylor continued in charge of the office
for twenty-five years.
     Both Mr. and Mrs. James Taylor were laid to rest on the old home place, the
father passing away when eighty-six years of age and the mother at the age of 
seventy-six. Great indeed have been the changes since James Taylor first made
his way northward from San Francisco to Astoria on a sailing vessel which was
forty-one days in completing the journey. All of the experiences of the fur
trader and of the frontiersman of that period were his. He lived to witness
remarkable changes as the work of development and progress was carried forward
and he took a most active and important part in advancing the work that
transformed the northwest from a wild and unsettled region into a section rich
with all the evidences of modern civilization. He possessed sound judgment, was
practical in his methods and accomplished satisfactory results. His enterprise
was unfaltering and obstacles and difficulties in his path did not deter him.
These he overcame by determined and persistent effort and he utilized the
materials with which nature endowed this country in the development of a region
that is now second to none in its equipment and in its opportunities. The name
of James Taylor will ever be an honored one in the northwest by reason of what
he accomplished.

 
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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.