Senator Lewis Leroy Taylor View All Years

MR. PRESIDENT Your committee appointed to draft resolutions commemorative of the life, character and public services of Honorable Lewis L. Taylor, beg leave to submit the following report:

LEWIS L. TAYLOR.

WHEREAS, On the 27th day of December, 1915, Lewis L. Taylor, a former member of the state senate of Iowa, during the thirty-first, thirty-second, thirty-third and thirty-fourth General Assemblies, departed this life at the city of Centerville, Iowa, his home, and,

WHEREAS, His record as a man, a legislator, a public official and a citizen, has been of the highest character, and

WHEREAS, It is fitting that we should recognize in some fitting manner, the passing of this distinguished citizen. Therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of Iowa, That in the death of Lewis L. Taylor, the state of Iowa has suffered a distinct loss.

Lewis L. Taylor was born in Hart County Kentucky, in 1838. In 1849, the family came to Appanoose County, Iowa, where he lived until his death. He grew to manhood on his father's farm, becoming a school teacher and teaching thirty terms of school. He was married to Miss Marion Siler, May 26th, 1864. To this union two children were born: Henrietta and John B., the daughter dying when thirty-four years old, and the wife March 30th, 1906. He leaves surviving him, his son, John B. Taylor, now President of the Commercial State Savings Bank, at Centerville, Iowa.

In 1879, Senator Taylor was elected Clerk of the District Court and held the position four terms, moving from his country home into the city of Centerville, where he resided until his death.

At the end of his services as Clerk of the District Court, he became book-keeper and teller in the First National Bank at Centerville, Iowa. In 1903, he was elected to the state senate and was re-elected for a second term.

In politics, he was always affiliated with the democratic party, although he numbered among his friends the adherents of all political parties. He enjoyed the confidence, respect and esteem of all who knew him, irrespective of political affiliations. He was a prominent and active member of the Christian Church of Centerville, being interested in all lines of church work. He was honored by positions of trust, state wide in importance. It was a characteristic of Senator Taylor that any responsibility undertaken by him, was performed with unflinching fidelity. His integrity and the confidence with which he was regarded by his fellow citizens, was shown in a marked degree by the fact that he was called upon to act as administrator for a large number of estates and to handle trust funds for many people.

As a legislator, his acts were characterized by a conscientious regard for duty. On all moral questions his voice and vote were always on the side of righteous living. No one who knew him, had any doubt as to his position on all questions involving official or personal rectitude.

Be It Resolved, That the life of Lewis L. Taylor, as a citizen, as a legislator, and in every other walk of life, has been such as to commend his example as an inspiration to those who follow after. His unswerving fidelity to duty, his faithfulness in every public and private trust, and his character as a citizen should inspire all with whom he came in contact, to a higher ideal of life and living, and be it further

Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the records of this senate and engrossed copy thereof be sent to his son, John B. Taylor.

J. M. WILSON.

BYRON W. NEWBERRY.

W. H. ARNEY,

The resolutions were adopted unanimously by a rising vote.