A Sesquicentennial History of the Green River Missionary Baptist Church 1836 - 1986, Written and Compiled by Wendell Holmes Rone, Sr., For the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Church, 1987. By permission of author. Ohio County. JAMES PENDLETON TAYLOR, the Thirteenth pastor of the Church, served on two occasions .. from July, 1893, through June, 1894, and again in April through December, 1898. He was the writer's maternal grandfather. Brother Taylor was the third preacher son of Elder Alfred Taylor to follow in his father's steps and serve in the Baptist Ministry and as Pastor of the Green River Church, in particular. He was born in Ohio County, Kentucky, on November 29, 1841, and died at Rochester, Butler County, Kentucky on April 12, 1911, in his sixty-ninth year. His remains were interred in the Rochester Cemetery. He was the fourth child and third son born to Elder Alfred Taylor (1808-1865) and Mary (Mahon) Taylor (1812-1852); and was the grandson of Joseph Taylor (1765-1853) and Mary (Slade) Taylor, (1766-1840). Joseph and Alfred Taylor, father and son, served with George Render as the Presbytery at the organization of the Green River Church, on July 16, 1836. Brother Taylor grew up on his father's farm near Green River and south of Beaver Dam and attended the common schools of the day. He followed the occupation of farming, and on September 29, 1869, in his twenty-seventy year, he was united in marriage to Susan Mary Stevens (b. April 4, 1852-d. April 19, 1880) of Ohio County, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Blackston Stevens and Hannah Ann (Taylor) Stevens. They became the parents of four children: Heloise "Lossie" Taylor (b.c. 1870), Blackston Taylor (b.c. 1872), Montie Taylor (1875-1960) and Mary Taylor (1880-1955). The mother died when the fourth child was born, and was buried in Ohio County, Kentucky. For a time, from about 1870 to 1877, the family had lived in Cowley County, Kansas. He was united in marriage, secondly, to Mildred Evelyn Bunch (b. September 26, 1854 - d. February 7, 1945), the daughter of Leander Bunch (1821-1902) and Elizabeth Wayne (Hunt) Bunch (1825-1901). They were married on December 25, 1880, in Butler County, Kentucky. They became the parents of eight children, two sons and six daughters. The second son died in his second year. They were: Carson Taylor (b. October 6, 1881 - d. c. 1966), Leila (Taylor) Haley (b. December 23, 1883 - d. May 13, 1937); Hellie Barabara (Taylor) Taylor (b. September 6, 1885 - d. January 28, 1955); Judson Hays Taylor (b. March 15, 1888 - d. June 30, 1889); Isa Carey (Taylor) Rone-Bennett (b. July 17, 1890 - d. December 22, 1945); Irene (Taylor) Belcher (b. January 8, 1892 - September 19, 1980); Edith Jewel (Taylor) Strother (b. July 6, 1895 - d. February 15th, 1987); and Nelda Claire Taylor (b. May 195h, 1901 - d. January 23, 1986). James Pendleton Taylor did not become a professing Christian until he had reached his thirty-fifth year (in 1876), being baptized into the fellowship of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Cowley County, Kansas, by pastor James Hopkins. By this Church he was ordained to the Gospel Ministry on March 4, 1877, by Baptist Ministers David Thomas, J. F. McHugh, Solomon Fergerson and James Hopkins of the Silver Creek, Maple Grove and Mt. Zion Churches. Brother Thomas served as the Moderator and Brother Hopkins served as the Clerk of the Presbytery. His first pastorate was in Cowley County, Kansas. He returned to Kentucky in late 1877, and resided at Auburn, in Logan County, Kentucky. In all, he served about 30 churches, most of them on a quarter-time basis. One was in Kansas, three were in Texas, and the rest were in Kentucky, in the Counties of Muhlenberg, Butler, Logan, Simpson and Warren. He pastored Monticello Church at Provo, in Butler County, for twenty-five years. The largest salary received for one year was $500.00. His only Ohio County pastorate was at Green River, as noted above at the beginning of this sketch. Having moved to Pinchico, near Cromwell, he and other members of his family held membership in the Green River Church for a time. He united with the Church by letter in September, 1906, as did his wife (Mrs. J. P. Taylor) and daughter, Irene Taylor. Daughter Jewel Taylor also later joined it by Christian Experience and Baptism on August 5, 1909, subsequent to this. The writer's mother (Isa Carey Taylor) had also united with the Church by letter in September, 1907. She remained in the membership until June 17, 1916, when she was lettered out to the Rochester Baptist Church. The others were lettered out in October, 1909, to the Rochester Church. This was only seventeen months before his death. J. P. Taylor was a strong believer in the Temperance Movement, and was a Total Abstainer himself. He believed in every Baptist being a fellow-helper to the truth. He was a man sound in the faith and an able defender of Baptist principles and usages - a perfect example of Christian piety and fidelity. Like his father, Alfred Taylor, he had inscribed on his monument that he was "A Sinner Saved By Grace." His second wife's inscription bears the appropriate Scripture reference from Mark's Gospel applicable to her life, also "She hath done what she could," chosen by her daughter Edith Jewel (Taylor) Strother (1895-1987). He and his wife were enthusiastic and zealous in their burning desire for the salvation of sinners, and the advancement of the cause of Jesus Christ. Taylor Mahon Slade Stevens Bunch Hunt Haley Rone Bennett Belcher Strother Hopkins Thomas McHugh Fergerson Hopkins = Butler-KY Cowley-KS Auburn-Logan-KY TX Simpson-KY Warren-KY Muhlenberg-KY http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/ohio/taylor.jp.txt