James H. Taylor: Adulthood (part 2)
James H. Taylor : Hard Work, Heartbreak, and Determination
Though James H. Taylor started life as a farm boy in Granger, he never stopped dreaming of ways to do better for his family. Alongside tending crops and cattle, he once tried his luck mining for gold in the Oquirrh Mountains — with help from neighbors like Wiley Ludwig Larsen. Though he never struck it rich, the land he prospected wasn’t far from what would later become Kennecott Copper’s famed Barney’s area, proving James always had an eye for possibilities.
On June 8, 1898, James married Clara Clarke, a young English immigrant. His parents gifted the newlyweds seven acres in Granger where they raised a bustling family of twelve children. Ever hopeful for a better life, James bought a 150-acre farm in Naf, Idaho, in March 1915 and moved his family north to start again. Clara stayed behind to give birth to their youngest son — but just days after the baby arrived, she joined James in Idaho. The journey and the hardship were too much; her health failed quickly. When word reached James, he rushed home from Salt Lake, where he was testifying for the U.S. Smelter, but arrived just in time to say goodbye. Clara passed away the next morning, leaving James with ten motherless children to raise. He brought Clara back to Salt Lake to be buried near home.
When the Idaho farm failed soon after, James packed up his family and returned to Salt Lake, moving in with his parents while he built them a new house close to his boyhood home. Despite hardship, James carried on with determination — working hard, shooting jackrabbits for dinner when he had to, and raising his children as best he could. He’d drive them to the Granger Ward house each Sunday, never knowing his mischievous boys sometimes slipped right out the back door as soon as they were dropped off.
In 1918, James moved his family to Richard Street in South Salt Lake. A year later, he found companionship again and married Katherine Schick on October 10, 1919. They had four more children together, adding to his busy household.
James’s granddaughter, Susan Larsen, remembered him fondly — how as a girl she’d rest in Grandpa’s kitchen when she didn’t feel well after school at Blaine Junior High, and how the family always gathered in that warm kitchen no matter how nicely decorated the front room was.
After Katherine’s passing in 1949, James’s health declined. In 1951, he went to live with his daughter Susan and her husband Wiley Larsen, where Susan cared lovingly for her father until he passed away on January 21, 1953.
Through drought, danger, heartbreak, and hardship, James H. Taylor never stopped working for a better life. His grit and faith carried his large family through hard times and planted deep roots in Granger’s early history — roots that still hold strong today.
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.
As an adult, James H. Taylor carried the same grit and hard work from his boyhood into every chapter of his life. He farmed tirelessly, first on the family homestead in Granger and later on his own land, always looking for ways to build a better life — even trying his hand at mining for gold in the Oquirrh Mountains. He married Clara Clarke in 1898, and together they raised twelve children on seven acres in Granger given to them by his parents. In 1915, ever determined to provide more, he moved his growing family to a new 150-acre farm in Idaho, only to suffer heartbreaking loss when Clara passed away shortly after. Returning to Salt Lake, James rebuilt — literally — constructing a new home for his children just a block from where he was raised. He remarried in 1919, this time to Katherine Schick, with whom he had four more children. Through it all, James worked the land, provided for his large family, drove his kids to church each Sunday, and stayed deeply rooted in the Granger and South Salt Lake community until his passing in 1953. His life was one of hard work, heartbreak, second chances, and the steadfast belief that you always do what it takes to care for family and land.
