DEATH OF TOM TAYLOR CAME AS SHOCK TO ENTIRE COUNTY Pneumonia Took Life of Most Prominent Business Man In Webster History; Ill Health of Two Years Climaxed By Severe Illness Ending In Death At Greenville. Thomas Francis Taylor, Sr., Webster county�s most prominent business man, died of pneumonia at the King�s Daughters Hospital at Greenville on April 23rd, after an illness of five weeks. Mr. Taylor was in his seventieth year, and had enjoyed splendid health until about two years ago when he found it necessary to shift some of the details of his varied business interests to others. At the time of his death he was president of the Taylor Brothers Lumber Company, a partner in the mercantile firm of Taylor Brothers, a vice-president and member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Eupora, member of the Board of Directors of the Columbus & Greenville Railroad, and executive director of the Standard Life Insurance Company, Jackson. Since 1900 the name of Taylor has signified industry, integrity, and prominence in Webster county�s business life. The firm of Taylor Brothers, organized in 1900, when the deceased and his brother, W. G. Taylor, came to Eupora, has stood for fair dealing, widespread and increasingly important trade, and progress. �Tom� Taylor, as he was known throughout North Mississippi, was recognized at least thirty years ago as one of the state�s most energetic and capable business men. After having launched and established on a firm basis the mercantile and produce business he and his brother jointly supervised, he became, in 1920, interested in the manufacture of lumber. Since that time the firm of Taylor Brothers Lumber Company has grown to be one of the largest producers of soft pine lumber in the state. To that business, in the last few years, has been added the younger, fast-growing T. F. Taylor Jr. Lumber Company, headed by the son of the deceased. Developed Market Early in the 20th century Tom Taylor saw the need in Webster county of a steady market for the produce of the county�s farms. He began slowly to build up a market for chickens and eggs. In those early days, according to his brother, W. G. Taylor, eggs and chickens were shipped to the Delta and other Mississippi regions �on a gambling basis�. The partners never knew what the price would be, but they managed (often at a loss) to maintain a market for farmers and gradually established a business that has gone a long way toward making Eupora today the largest poultry products market in the state.  Mr. Taylor was born at Bentley (Calhoun county) on August 14, 1872. He was the son of W. C. Taylor and Millie Jane Neal Taylor whose parentage was pioneer, and of the solid, early settler type of small farmers who hewed productive places out of the virgin forests of this section of Mississippi. On reaching manhood Mr. Taylor accepted a place as store clerk for C. C. Cross, Montpelier merchant. Later he was employed by the Lowenstein Shoe Company and then the Goodbar Shoe Company, Memphis. He traveled for these firms in Texas and elsewhere for seven years. In 1899 he established a business at Walthall, later turning it over to J. R. Taylor, a half-brother, to come to Eupora and establish the firm of Taylor Brothers. In 1902 he was married to Miss Willie Trotter, of Winona, daughter of one of the most prominent Montgomery families, her forebears having included the famed Colonel I. P. Trotter of the Confederate Armies. Directorships Through the years Mr. Taylor, while never assuming leadership in civic affairs and never actively engaging in politics, gradually assumed a place of prominence in finance and merchandising. He had served capably for many years as member of the directorate of the Bank of Eupora, his advice and financial genius having stood the Grenada Banking System in good stead through years of depression as well as years of prosperity. On the death of the late Captain T. W. Foard, former vice-president of the local bank, in 1927, Mr. Taylor was named to that important post. Later, as he grew in stature, he was appointed to the boards of the Standard Life and the C. & G. Railroad. He was a member of the Eupora Methodist Church in good standing; was also a member of the Masonic order and the Woodmen of the World. Surviving relatives include his widow, Mrs. Willie Trotter Taylor; a daughter, Mrs. Don Wilson, New York; a son, T. F. Taylor, Jr., Eupora; a brother, W. G. Taylor, Eupora; a half-sister, Mrs. Letha Brister, Lipton, La.; and a half-brother, R. D. Taylor, Bentley, Miss.
Home Services Funeral services, marked by large attendance, not only of friends of the town and county, but by hundreds from Mississippi and other states, and by the flowers which were expressions of respect for the deceased, were held at the family residence in Eupora on April 25th at 11 a.m. The simple rites were in charge of the Rev. M. E. Scott, pastor of the Methodist Church, assisted by the Rev. J. R. Reedy, of the First Baptist Church. Mrs. Judie Courtney and Mrs. C. P. Fortner directed the committee in charge of the flowers at the home and at the cemetery.
The following served as pallbearers: J. R. Phillips, Jr., W. E. Taylor, C. P. Fortner, R. H. Tyson, Dr. H. K. Curry, C. G. Logan, Ned Lee, H. H. Ross, A. J. McCaslin, Charles N. Field, Alex McKeigney, A. W. Sugg. Burial in Eupora Cemetery was in charge of Hooper Funeral Home. Included in the scores of out-of-town visitors who attended the rites were: Mrs. Robert Sabin, Greenwood; Mrs. John N. Trotter, Mrs. A. W. Kelso, Miss Fannie Morrow, W. J. Morrow, Henry Hart, Winona; Lake Hays, Memphis; Billy Hays, Memphis; Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Henry, Columbus; Mrs. J. R. Taylor, Tarrytown, N. Y.; Mrs. John Morrow, Atlanta; W. Chamberlin Trotter, Oxford; G. S. Gaines, Columbus; Paul Taylor, Greenwood; Mrs. Etta Mae Taylor, Maben; Mrs. Moss Watkins, Lake Charles, La.; Mr. and Mrs. J. H. McNutt, Miss Mary McNutt, Miss Eva McNutt, Sam Giardina, Greenwood; Miss Pauline Taylor, Derma; Mr. and Mrs. Wade Forrest, Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Sumners, Stewart; Dr. J. R. Hervey, Moorhead; Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Mabry, Sampson Mabry, Derma; Mr. and Mrs. S. B. Griffis, Miss Virginia Griffis, Grenada; L. T. Griffis, F. M. Adams, M. W. Barron, Barron Thomas, Sturgis; E. E. Raper, Duck Hill; Mr. and Mrs. Hilliary Collins, Maben; Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Finger, Ackerman; Robert D. Taylor, H. A. Cooper, Bentley; A. M. Hill, Columbus, Miss., and St. Louis; Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Spellman, Birmingham; T. B. Harrison, L. K. Arrington, Jackson; J. A. Cooper, B. C. Adams, G. W. Patty, J. T. Thomas, A. N. Rayburn, Mrs. Willie Smith, Grenada; Mrs. A. T. Patterson, Mrs. Edward Pryor, Calhoun City.