LARGE NUMBER AT FUNERAL OF PIONEER
Many Mourn at Bier of William Riley Taylor at Loa Tabernacle
  Loa, Utah, April 3 — One of the largest funerals ever witnessed in Wayne County was held in the stake tabernacle at Loa last week, when relatives and friends met to pay the last earthly respects to Wm. Riley Taylor, one of earth's noblemen. The tabernacle was beautifully decorated for the occasion. The sweet singing rendered by the stake choir and the duet by Reta Mathis and Wm. Ivie were a source of comfort to the mourners. President Joseph Eckersley, John P. Stewart, Moroni Lazenby and Elders William H. Morrell and Elijah H. Maxfield spoke in praise of the faithful life and labors of the departed and gave words of counsel and comfort to the bereaved. Elder Geo. W. Okerlund presided at the services and was one of the speakers.
  Wm. Riley Taylor, the son of Allen Taylor and Sarah L. Allred, was born at Caldwell county, Missouri, February 12, 1839, at the time of the move from Far West. During his childhood days he passed through all the incidents of life in Nauvoo, and when the saints were driven from Nauvoo, at the age of ten years, he drove two yoke of oxen across the plains to the Utah, arriving in Utah in 1849.
  The family first settled in Salt Lake valley and young Taylor helped to build the first toll road in Mill Creek canyon. He later moved to Kaysville, and on September 27, 1857, he married Margaret J. Ellison, who has ever been a devoted wife, affectionate mother and an earnest church worker.
  At the request of President Young they moved to Dixie in 1862, and helped to settle Harrisburg and were among the early settlers of Harmony, where they lived until 1881.
  They were among the first settlers of Fremont valley, at that time in Piute County, but now in Wayne County. For more than thirty years Mr. Taylor worked hard to build up the settlements of Loa and Fremont. He has ever borne a faithful testimony to the truth of the great latter-day work, and never seemed so happy as when he was relating the scenes through which the church passed in the early days. He was promoted in the several orders of priesthood, and held the office of high priest.
  During his last sickness, he was visited by all his living children, some of them coming a long distance, and seven of his sons administered to him and blessed him in his old age. He admonished all his children, in his last hours, to be faithful to the gospel and sustain the men whom God called to lead His people. He died at a good, ripe age crowned with the glory of a well spent life, and went to sleep without suffering, and his last words were words of admonition, testimony and praise. Four sons preceded him to the spirit world, and he leaves to mourn his loss a widow, eight sons and two daughters, 68 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. He will be remembered by the people of Wayne county as a doer of things, and his name will be held in everlasting remembrance by his numerous posterity and his many friends.
The Richfield Reaper | Richfield, Utah | April 4, 1912