Los Angeles County CA Archives Biographies.....Taylor, Wendell B. B. 1875 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com December 18, 2005, 12:25 pm Author: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908) WENDELL B. B. TAYLOR, pioneer attorney of Sawtelle, was born at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, May 4th, 1875. He is the son of Rev. George Taylor, pastor of the Baptist Church of Sawtelle. On the maternal side he is a son of the Revolution. At the age of seven years, with his parents, he moved to Maine, where he lived three years, when the family determined to come to California, arriving here in December, 1885. After residing nine months in Los Angeles the family moved to Pasadena, where over fifteen years of Mr. Taylor's life was spent. There he received his education. After being graduated from the Pasadena High School, in the Class of 1897, and spending one year at Pomona College, Claremont, he took a thorough course of bookkeeping and stenography and entered upon the study of law at the law offices of Hahn & Hahn, the leading attorneys of Pasadena, spending five years in hard study and office work, receiving a thorough training in both theory and practice. He was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of the State of California on the 20th day of October, 1903, at which time he enjoyed a good practice, which has since grown. His practice includes all phases of the law, both civil and criminal, but he is making a specialty of corporation and probate law and conveyancing. Since coming to Sawtelle he incorporated all the established churches of the place, the Sawtelle Water Company, the Sawtelle Cemetery Association, beside other corporations, while his probate matters carry him frequently into the courts. These, together with his office practice, make him a busy man. He came to Sawtelle about the middle of April, 1902, and commenced work for Mr. W. E. Sawtelle, then manager of the Pacific Land Company, and remained with him until they formed the real estate co-partnership of Sawtelle & Company, which did a good business for a number of years. Mr. Sawtelle then became associated with the Citizens State Bank and Mr. Taylor became the first City Attorney of the City of Sawtelle and turned his attention solely to the practice of law and to fire insurance. Mr. Taylor has served as Clerk of the Sawtelle School District and Sawtelle City School District Boards for about six years; has been two terms Chief Templar of the Sawtelle Good Templars Lodge; is serving his fourth term as Clerk of the Baptist Church of Sawtelle; served one term as Noble Grand of the Sawtelle Lodge, No. 128,I. O. O. P., and is serving his sixth year as Secretary of the Sunday School Convention of the Los Angeles Baptist Association. On the 8th day of June, 1904, Miss Carrie Adelia Hoyt and Mr. Taylor were united in marriage at the home of the bride's uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. O. E. Goodale, at Los Angeles. Mr. Goodale was for fifteen years the efficient chief civil engineer at the Pacific Branch, N. H. D. V. S., which position he resigned to take up architectural work. During this period Mrs. Taylor was a member of Mr. Goodale's family. She was a hard worker in the Protestant Chapel of the Home, as choir leader and organist and her activity in religious and patriotic circles of the institution made her acquaintance an extensive one. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor reside at Pine Knoll, No. 654 West Oregon Avenue. They have two small children. Mr. Taylor has two brothers, both married. Mr. Hawley O. Taylor is proficient as a civil and mining engineer, and is now a student at Cornell University. Mr. Almo R. Taylor, with his family, reside at present at Sawtelle. He is chief artist for the Neuner Company, Los Angeles. In the long struggle for the incorporation of the City of Sawtelle, Mr. Taylor was a hard worker for the cause of incorporation, which finally triumphed. After the incorporation of the city and election of the first board of trustees and officers, the disincorporationists petitioned for an election to disincorporate under the law provided for that purpose. Mr. Taylor, as the first city attorney, rendered an opinion that the board of trustees were without jurisdiction to entertain the petition or call the election on the ground that there was no method of ascertaining the sufficiency of the petition as to the requisite number of qualified electors signing the same, as there had as yet been no municipal election in the City of Sawtelle within the meaning of the disincorporation act, the election to incorporate the city being a special election and not a municipal election. The act provided that the petition must be signed by qualified electors of the city equal in number to one-half the vote cast at the last municipal election held therein. The matter was carried into the courts and the opinion of Mr. Taylor was sustained. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Ingersoll's century history, Santa Monica Bay cities: prefaced with a brief history of the state of California, a condensed history of Los Angeles County, 1542 to 1908: supplemented with an encyclopedia of local biography and embellished with views of historic landmarks and portraits of representative people. Los Angeles: Luther A. Ingersoll (1908) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/losangeles/bios/taylor175bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 5.3 Kb