James Taylor

The first act that James Taylor did to affect the Foster family was in 1883 when he married a lady named Ellen Drucilla Davis. The marriage lasted eight and a half years, ending in divorce on 23 Apr 1892. This marriage would have been historically insignificant to the Foster’s except that they had a daughter named Lola born in 1886. Lola grew up and married Fred View Foster and had 11 children.

James wasn’t finished with the Foster family, though. On 20 Feb 1895, he married Della M. Foster, The daughter of James M. Foster and Sarah C.. There is an odd relationship going on here. Sarah C. was the lady who married “Louis” View. Her daughter, Anna, was the son of James M. and her but Anna’s son retained the Foster surname (her spouse, if any, is unknown) and his name was Fred View Foster, his middle name coming from his step grandfather.

So James Taylor was the father-in-law of Fred View Foster, as well as his uncle, by marriage.

James and Della had six children. On 18 Jun 1913 in Webb City in Jasper County, James Taylor met an untimely and tragic end. He was suffocated when he fell into a drying vat at a powder mill.

Della remarried, three more times, and relocated her family to Kansas City, Kansas.

There are several more items to be researched on this family line, including:

• • What happened to Ellen Drucilla Davis after the divorce. I ran across a post on Ancestry that an Ellen Drucilla Davis married an Alexander Piper and relocated to Washington state, but I have found no corroboration that this is the Ellen Drucilla Davis that we are talking about.

  • Who were the other men that Della married? I have their names, Duke Coulter, George Pate & Alonzo Bigham, but not much more information. I doubt if she had any children by any of them.

  • What was Sarah C,’s maiden name?

  • Who was Louis View?

  • Who were all of the descendants from this line. I’m still tracking them down. I haven’t located a “live” one, yet. This family married into a couple of different Foster lines.

If anyone would like a gedcom of this line when I’m finished, let me know and I’ll forward what I have. If anyone has anything to add, I’d love to see it!