A Little Bit About the Family of Sarah Rees and Ephraim Austin Taylor

While reading the notes from the talk that my dad gave at the funeral of his grandmother, Avagail Taylor Moore, I wanted to learn more about her and her family, especially when her mother died and she helped to raise her brothers. So, I looked to see what I could take from the dates in my genealogy file, and this is what I was able to piece together:

Ephraim Austin Taylor was the son of Annie Sophia Brian and Joseph Ephraim Taylor. Ephraim Austin was the second of nine children, born in 1886 in Fremont, Utah. All of Ephraim’s siblings were born in Fremont, Utah, between 1885 and 1902.

Sarah Rees was the daughter of Sarah Jane John and Thomas Parley Rees. Sarah was born in 1887 in West Portage, Utah, the second of sixteen children (Sarah was the oldest surviving child in the family, as her elder brother, William Thomas Rees, died at six months of age). After living in West Portage, Box Elder county, Utah where Sarah and her older brother were born, Sarah’s family relocated to several different towns within Wayne county, Utah, including West Portage, Thurber (now called Bicknell), Horse Valley, Fremont, Franklin, and Loa between 1889 and 1911. Five of Sarah’s 15 siblings passed away before they reached their first birthdays.

On 26 September 1906, in a little town called Loa, Utah, Ephraim Austin Taylor and Sarah Rees were married, at the respective ages of 20 and 19 years. On 14 November 1906 both Ephraim and Sarah were endowed, and the couple was sealed in the Salt Lake, Utah temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both Ephraim and Sarah grew up in families who were members of the LDS church, as each of their parents were sealed in LDS temples at the time of their marriages – Ephraim’s parents in the St. George, Utah temple and Sarah’s parents in the Logan, Utah temple. Ephraim and Sarah were both baptized members of the church at age eight, as were all of Ephraim’s and Sarah’s surviving siblings.

Eleven months and 7 days after their wedding day, Sarah gave birth to their first child, Dora Belle Taylor. Almost 15 months later their second child, Charles Ephraim Taylor, was born. And just under 2 years later Sarah had her third child, Orval Clell Taylor. When Orval was 13 months old his younger sister, Avagail, was born. A few weeks before Avagail’s third birthday, her younger brother, Pratt, was born. A couple months before Pratt turned 2, Sarah had her sixth child, a boy, who died the same day he was born. One and a half years after their buried their little boy in the cemetery in Loa, Utah, Sarah and Ephraim had their seventh child, Orlo Austin Taylor. Before Orlo’s second birthday, his little brother, Elmo G Taylor, was born. And two days before Elmo turned 2, he became a big brother to Harold R Taylor. (Most of Sarah and Ephraim’s ten children were born in Loa, Wayne county, Utah, except their third child Orval born in Carey, Idaho in 1910; their fourth child Avagail born in Fremont, Wayne county, Utah in 1911; and their youngest child Sarah born in Salina, Sevier county, Utah in 1925).

During their 15-year marriage, Sarah Rees and Ephraim Austin Taylor had become the parents to eight surviving children: 2 daughters and 6 sons, and buried one infant son. On 9 May 1925, at the age of 37, Sarah gave birth to her last child. I assume that there were complications with the delivery, because Sarah Rees Taylor passed away on the same day that her last child was born. On that day she gave birth to a little girl, Sarah Ann Taylor, named after her mother. Sadly, little Sarah Ann passed away when she was only eight months old, and she was also buried in Loa, Utah. So, as a 38-year-old father, Ephraim was left a widower with nine children ranging in age from 17 down to a newborn, and after less than a year he was forced to also bury his baby daughter. The youngest surviving child, Harold, was only three years old when his mother died.

Just under six months after her mother’s death, Ephraim and Sarah’s oldest child, Dora Belle Taylor, was married to Boyd Oyler Blackburn. That left Ephraim, a widowed farmer, with six sons and one daughter, Avagail, who was 13 years old at the time of her mother’s death. Avagail had two older brothers (ages 16 and 14 at the time), and her four younger (surviving) brothers were 10, 7, 5, and 3 years old at the time of their mother’s death. It became necessary for Avagail to stop attending school so that she could take care of her brothers and the household.

Four years after her mother died, at the age of 17, Avagail Taylor was married to Ivan J Moore on 29 July 1929 in Richfield, Sevier county, Utah. Ivan was the third of ten children born to Edith Hunt and John Augusta Moore Jr. Avagail and Ivan had three children, Gwen, Faun, and Ivan Guy Moore. Avagail passed away on 8 February 1999 at the age of 87.

Avagail Taylor:

Avagail and her oldest daughter, Gwen Moore:

Ivan and Avagail Moore with their children, Faun, Guy, and Gwen:

Avagail Taylor and Ivan J Moore:

Avagail with one of her grandchildren, Steven John Chidester:

Avagail with her dog, Sheba: