Morrison A. Taylor Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1099-1100 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	MORRISON A. TAYLOR, M. D., of. Spencer, McCook county, was born in 
Clarksville, Butler county, Iowa, December 2, 1857, a son of James R. 
and Hester N. (Cook) Taylor, of whose five children he is the eldest of  
the three surviving. John M., a commercial traveler by vocation, is a 
resident of Mason City, Iowa, and Rose E. is the wife of L. M. 
Valentine, a prominent capitalist of that place. James R.Taylor was born 
in Fairfax county, Ohio, and his wife was born in Fountain county, 
Indiana.

	The ancestry in the agnatic line is of Scotch-Irish derivation, 
and the direct line is traced back to the youngest son of an English 
earl, he having left the parental home and located in Scotland, whence 
his descendants eventually came to America. The Cook family is of French 
Huguenot stock intermixed with German, the original progenitors in 
America having come hither from Germany and the name having been spelled 
Koch at that time. The parents of our subject removed from Indiana to 
Iowa in 1853 and they still reside in Clarksville, that state, honored 
pioneers of the commonwealth. Mr. Taylor was numbered among the early 
settlers of Butler county, where he purchased government land, receiving 
a warrantee deed signed by Franklin Pierce, who was then president of 
the United States. He paid the purchase price in gold, which was then 
the currency commonly in use. He continued to be actively identified 
with agricultural pursuits until 1902, when he retired, having now 
attained the venerable age of seventy-two years. He and his wife have 
long been prominent and zealous members of the Christian church, and he 
has also been influential in educational work.  

	Dr. Taylor secured his preliminary education in the district 
schools of his native county and then completed a course in the high 
school at Clarksville. At the age of nineteen he initiated his pedagogic 
career, proving a successful teacher. At the age of twenty-one he went 
to Decorah, Iowa, where he completed a one year's course in the 
institute conducted by Professor John Breckenridge, and he thereafter 
continued to teach for two years in the district schools of his native 
state. In 1881 he entered the Northern Indiana Normal School and 
Business University, at Valparaiso, Indiana, but shortly afterward he 
suffered a serious illness, which compelled him to abandon his studies 
and return home. He then began teaching in the public schools of 
different towns and cities in Iowa, continuing to advance in his 
profession and to receive larger salaries from year to year. In 1889 the 
Doctor came to South Dakota, and for three years was superintendent of 
the public schools of Alexandria. In the fall of 1894 he was 
matriculated in the medical department of the State University of Iowa, 
where he completed the prescribed course and was graduated in the spring 
of 1897, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He initiated the 
practice of his profession in Volga City, Iowa, but shortly afterward 
located in Lamont, and later engaged in practice in Waterloo, that 
state. In May, 1903, Dr. Taylor came to Spencer and here established 
himself in practice, and he has already gained marked prestige in his 
profession and controls a representative supporting patronage, which is 
a due recognition of his ability and genial personality. He is a member 
of the state medical society and is examiner for the Northwestern Mutual 
Life Insurance Company, of Milwaukee; the Northwestern National Life 
Insurance Company, of Minneapolis; and the Bankers' Life Insurance 
Company, of Des Moines, while he also holds a similar position with the 
Modern Woodmen of America, the Mutual Benefit Association, and the 
Central Life Insurance Association of Des Moines, the Ancient Order of 
Pyramids, the C. C. C. and the Modern Brotherhood of America. He is a 
Republican in politics and his religious faith is that of the Christian 
church. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, the 
Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of Pyramids, the Modern 
Brotherhood of America and the Mutual Benefit Association.  

	On the 28th of September, 1898, Dr. Taylor was united in marriage 
to Miss Marie A. Axtell, of Strawberry Point, Iowa, and they are the 
parents of two children, Roba H. and Hester M.