James H. Taylor A Granger Boy Who Knew Hard Work

James H. Taylor was born on September 2, 1870, in Granger, Salt Lake County, Utah, to humble parents, James Taylor and Susan Peck. Growing up on a dry farm of about 135 acres of river bottom land along 33rd South, young James learned the value of hard work early. In those days, the family raised meadow hay and small grain crops, and life depended as much on grit as on good weather.

Formal schooling was scarce in the scattered Granger settlement. James first learned his letters from a farmer’s wife who taught local children from a single book. Later, a teacher with a diploma taught in an old farmhouse, until the community built a small one-room schoolhouse. But for James, time in a classroom was short — farm work called him away while he was still a boy.

By age twelve, James was working sunup to sundown behind a plow, planting, irrigating, and harvesting grain. Winters meant trips to the canyons for wood and endless chores: milking cows, tending animals, and keeping the household going. Recreation was a luxury most farm families did without.

James’s boyhood was marked by narrow escapes that strengthened his faith that no one leaves this earth before their time. As a boy, he survived being gored by a bull in the corral, dragged by runaway horses, and nearly drowned in the river after cramping up during a cold swim. Each close call reminded him how thin the line could be between farm work and tragedy — and how resilience and quick thinking could mean the difference between life and death.

In his later years, James recalled how the small canal that early settlers built slowly transformed Granger from dry, dusty farmland to irrigated fields, and how better equipment made the endless labor a little lighter. Though he never had much schooling, James H. Taylor grew up with a lifetime of knowledge about the land, the value of hard work, and the grit it took to make a living on the edges of the Salt Lake Valley.

His story is part of Granger’s foundation — a reminder of the families who braved tough soil, sparse water, and long days to build a place where later generations could thrive.

James H. Taylor’s boyhood was shaped by the rugged life of the Jordan River bottoms, where he grew up on his father’s homestead in Granger. From the time he was barely big enough to hold the reins, James worked alongside his family, coaxing crops from dry soil, cutting hay in the meadows, and plowing fields that seemed to stretch forever. His days were long and his chores endless — milking cows, hauling wood from the canyon, and planting and harvesting grain by hand. Despite the rough work and a near absence of formal schooling, James’s resilience was remarkable. He survived run-ins with bulls, runaway horses, and near drownings — each time rising again, more determined than before. Through hardship and danger, young James learned early the grit, faith, and sheer perseverance it took to carve a living from the wild river bottom land — qualities that would shape the rest of his life.

James H. Taylor: A Granger Boyhood of Grit and Determination