Edward R. and Ann Taylor

Edward R. and Ann Taylor

Edward Ruthven Taylor, born in August 1845 at Independence, Texas, moved with parents Edward Wyllys and Aaroline Taylor to Houston in 1848. Here, in the city's formative years, the family made an impact in the cotton business and in the public education system.

At the start of the Civil War, Edward Ruthven attended private school in New York. In 1862, at age 16, he returned to Texas and joined Waul's Texas Legion. He served with the unit at the battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he was captured. While held as a prisoner of war, he contracted tuberculosis and the Legion later discharged him from service.

As he recuperated at home, Edward became close to one of his family's slaves, a girl named Ann. Some sources indicate Ann came from Hungerford, Texas, and slave papers list her name as Ann George. Edward and Ann fell in love and unofficially married, as interracial marriages were not legal in Texas at the time. At the age of 25, Edward moved to Myrtle, later known as Pierce Junction, with Ann and their first child, Pinkie. Establishing a farm of more than 600 acres, the family grew, and Ann and Edward had five more surviving children: Major Julius, Samuel, William E., Nettie C., and Burt Taylor. In 1903, Edward deeded half of his property to Ann. She lived until 1909 and is buried on the original Taylor homestead with three children who did not reach adulthood.

A few years before Ann's death, the family became aware of potential oil deposits on their land. In 1921, the Pierce Junction field had its first substantial oil strike. The oil rush continued beyond Edward's death in 1924, and his children, given equal shares of the property, continued to maintain the land and its resources. Family members donated the original homestead to the City of Houston in 1986.

(2003)