Sonoma County Biography
Benjamin Franklin Taylor
The modern and well-kept ranch which belongs to Benjamin F. Taylor bespeaks the ability and energy which have characterized the effort put into the cultivation of the property. Santa Rosa is his postoffice and market town, where he finds a ready market for all of the produce and stock which his ranch produces.
A native of the state and county of which he I now a resident, Mr. Taylor was born in Geyserville in 1865, the son of Henry M. and Rebecca (Rhodes) Taylor, natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania respectively. The father died in 1902, the mother having preceded him many years, her death occurring in 1869. Besides an own sister, Mrs. Duncan, Mr. Taylor has five half-sisters. When he was a child of four years Mr. Taylor was taken by his parents to Healdsburg, remaining there six years, after which removal was made to Middletown, Lake county, and three years later they returned to Sonoma county. All of his life thus far had been passed in an agricultural community, and thus when he attained mature years Mr. Taylor naturally adapted himself to his environment and took up the life of the agriculturist. Two miles from Santa Rosa may be seen as fine a ranch as can be found in Sonoma county, the property of Mr. Taylor and the scene of his activities since 1893. Here he has one hundred and ten acres of fine land, eighteen acres in grapes, thirty-five acres in grain, and fifty-five acres in pasture, on which he raises and fattens his stock, horses, cows, besides six hundred chickens. All of these varied interests yield god incomes, and from his grapes alone during the year 1909 he received $540 for forty-five tons of fruit.
In 1888 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage with Miss Lulu Manion, one of the four children born of the marriage of William and Elizabeth (Barnett) Manion, her birth occurring in Sonoma county in 1865. A sketch of her father, William Manion, and her brother, William H. Manion, will be found elsewhere in this volume. Her sisters are, Sarah F., the wife of W. C. Wooley; and Lilly Belle, now Mrs. P. D. Wheeler. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have one child, Ethel, who was born July 7, 1902, and is now attending the district school ear the home of her parents. Politically Mr. Taylor is a Democrat, and with his wife is a member of the church of Latter Day Saints.
History
of Sonoma County, California
History by Tom Gregory : Historic Record Company, 1891
Los Angeles, Ca. 1911
Transcribed by Roberta Hester Leatherwood
May 4, 2011 Pages 692-695
Sonoma County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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