Charles M. Taylor, who in former years was prominently and actively associated with the agricultural development of Walla Walla county, is now living retired in Waitsburg, having put aside the more active work of the fields in order to enjoy a rest which he has truly earned and richly merits. His former activities brought to him a comfortable competence, so that he is now enabled to meet all of the necessities of life and also to enjoy many of its luxuries.
CHARLES M. TAYLOR
MRS. CHARLES M. TAYLOR
Mr. Taylor was born in Johnson county, Missouri, January 10, 1859, a son of Simon and Harriet (Burgess) Taylor, both of whom were natives of West Virginia. In young manhood, or about the time he attained his majority, the father removed westward to Missouri. The mother accompanied her parents to that state when she was but two years of age. There she was reared and eventually they were married in Missouri, where they resided until 1880, when they started for the west, accompanied by their five sons and daughter-in-law, Mrs. C. M. Taylor. Besides the five sons there was one daughter born to them in Missouri but she remained in that state. The family continued their journey to the Sunset state, arriving in Walla Walla on the 20th of March, 1880. The father brought with him some capital and here he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Wilson Hollow, about six miles southeast of Waitsburg. With the assistance of his sons he at once began the development and improvement of that place and not long afterward he bought a half section of land, which he and his sons continued to cultivate for a number of years. The father then had the misfortune to lose a leg which was cut off in a horse power machine. His sons then persuaded him to leave the farm and remove to Waitsburg that he might be free of all care and responsibility, and there the last seven or eight years of his life were passed. He died in 1899, while his widow survived him for a considerable period, passing away on the 1st of August, 1911. They were worthy pioneer people of this section of the country, enjoyed the respect and goodwill of all who knew them and Mr. Taylor contributed in no small degree to the agricultural progress in pioneer times.
Charles M. Taylor was reared to manhood in Missouri, being about twenty-one years of age when the family started for the west. He pursued a public school education in his native state and on the 4th of February, 1880, he was united in marriage to Miss Nannie White, a native daughter of Johnson county, Missouri. Within less than a month he and his bride started on their wedding journey to Washington, accompanying his father and brothers, and after reaching this state Charles M. Taylor worked for two years on the Baker Railroad. He was also employed on the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company's line, after which he concentrated his attention upon farming.