Grant W. Taylor (1921-2007): A Culbert Family Historian

Today marks the 100^th birth anniversary of Grant William Taylor, the great-grandson of John Culbert and Mary Ward.

Born 27 August 1921 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ontario, Canada, Grant was the only child of Hector Taylor (1881-1958) and Ina Luella Kent (1885-1972). Grant’s mother Ina was the daughter of John Culbert and Mary Ward’s youngest child, Mary Ann (Culbert) Kent (1856-1932).

Grant Taylor's parents, Hector Taylor and Ina (Kent) Taylor on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary on 1 January 1958.

Some of you may be familiar with Grant’s book, "A History of the John Culbert-Mary Ward Family and Their Descendants 1828-1995, v.1." Further on in this blog post, I’ll write more about this book.

MORE ABOUT GRANT W. TAYLOR:

Grant grew up in Exeter, Ontario, north of Lucan. He attended S.S. No. 7 Usborne in Usborne Township, Huron County for one year (there were only about a dozen pupils) and completed his elementary and secondary school education in Exeter.

The first school that Grant attended was S.S. #7 Usborne in Usborne Township, Ontario. Grant's father, Hector Taylor also attended this school and is pictured in the group photo.

Grant Taylor (centre) with two of his Culbert cousins in 1929 at the annual Taylor Family Reunion at Springbank Park in London, Ontario. The blonde boy on the left is Grant's cousin, Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert (born 1920) and the boy on right is Mel's brother, Ivan Hector Culbert (born 1918). Ivan Hector Culbert was probably named after Grant's father, Hector Taylor. Hector Taylor was the brother of Mel and Ivan's mother, Effie (Taylor) Culbert.

In 1939, Grant enrolled in the 4-year Honours Chemistry program at the University of Western Ontario in London. He left at the end of his third year to join the army on 10 July 1942.

Source: Exeter Times-Advocate, 16 Jul 1942, page 8.

Following training at Brockville, Petawawa and Kingston, he proceeded overseas on the Queen Elizabeth ship in July 1943 as an artillery reinforcement officer. He trained in England for a year, proceeded to France in July 1944, was taken on strength of the 13^th Canadian Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery of the 3^rd Canadian Division on 18 August 1944, and served with this regiment throughout the rest of the European campaign – through France, Belgium, Holland and into Germany. Grant then volunteered for service in the Pacific Theatre of Operations and was struck off strength the regiment on 11 June 1945. After some time in England, he returned to Canada on the Nieu Amsterdam ship and disembarked at Halifax on 26 July 1945.

Grant said there was another factor besides patriotism in his decision to volunteer for the Pacific Force. It was his desire to get back to Canada as soon as possible to see a pretty, dark-haired Nova Scotia girl by the name of Jean Elizabeth Walker (1925-2007) whom he had met before going overseas. Grant took part of his disembarkation leave in Nova Scotia and he and Jean were married on 4 August 1945 at the home of her parents, Charles David Walker and Mamie Drucilla Reeves of Windsor, Nova Scotia where Mr. Walker was manager of McKenzie’s Creamery and Dairy.

Source: Exeter Times-Advocate, 2 Aug 1945, page 1.

After a short honeymoon at a small seaside hotel, Grant and Jean went to Exeter, Ontario to spend the rest of his leave with his parents. Before the leave was over, Japan surrendered. Although he still had to report to Petawawa, his chances for early release from the army appeared good, so Jean remained in Exeter. The good luck that had accompanied Grant from the time of his enlistment continued. After about two weeks at Camp Petawawa an order was published which read something like this: “All service personnel who discontinued their education to join the Armed Forces and who have proof of readmission to a recognized school, university or college, may obtain an immediate discharge.” Grant had such a letter from the registrar at Western. He was demobilized on the 18^th of September, he and Jean found accommodation in London and he started classes on the first day of the fall term.

Grant graduated the following spring of 1946 with a B.Sc. in Honours Chemistry. He obtained a job as an analytical chemist with Polymer Corporation, the Crown corporation formed during the war to produce synthetic rubber for the wartime needs of the British Empire, and he and Jean moved to Sarnia, Ontario.

Grant Taylor with his wife, Jean Elizabeth Walker and their son, David Kent Taylor. Photo taken in 1958 in Exeter, Ontario at the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of Grant's parents.

Grant and Jean lived in Sarnia for the next 25 years during which Grant held various technical and business positions with Polymer. He then left Polymer, took a position as Industrial Development Officer with the Chemicals Branch of the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce, and he and Jean moved to Ottawa. In September 1977, Grant resigned from the Public Service, he and Jean returned to Sarnia and he rejoined his old company (by then renamed Polysar Inc.) under a management contract as Director, Corporate Relations. Three years later he decided not to renew his contract but to retire early. In the spring of 1981, Grant and Jean moved to Nova Scotia and built a retirement home in the university town of Wolfville in the Annapolis Valley.

One of Grant’s major activities for many years was service in the militia. At the time of his militia retirement in October 1963, he was Commanding Officer of the 7^th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery. Always interested in education, Grant served four years on the Sarnia Board of Education, including serving as chairman in 1967, and two years on the Lambton County Board of Education. A professional member of the Chemical Institute of Canada for 30 years, he is a past chairman of the Analytical Chemistry Division and a past member of the National Council. He represented Polymer Corp. in the Petroleum Section of the American Society for Testing Materials and in the American Society for Statistical Quality Control. Grant was a former member of the Society of Chemical Industry and while in Ottawa was head of the Canadian delegation to the International Rubber Study Group. He was a Past President of the Rotary Club of Wolfville and served four years on the Planning Advisory Committee of the Town of Wolfville. His hobbies besides family history were gardening, reading and walking.

Grant’s wife, Jean died 21 June 2007. Grant died soon after on 4 October 2007 in Kentville, Nova Scotia.

GRANT’S FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH:

I owe a debt of gratitude to Grant W. Taylor for paving the way for me to become a Culbert family historian. Without Grant’s book, "A History of the John Culbert-Mary Ward Family and Their Descendants 1828-1995, v.1," my family history research would have been much more difficult. In fact, much of what I've written in this post about Grant is taken directly from his book.

Note: The surname Dempsey should be Dempster.

Volume 1 contains information on the following branches of the John Culbert-Mary Ward Family:

Branch 5 – The Rebecca Culbert-William Whiteford Branch

Branch 6 – The Thomas “Tom” Culbert – Letitia Dempster Branch

Branch 7 – The Joseph “Joe” Culbert – Elizabeth Dempster Branch

Branch 8 – The Richard Culbert – Jane Fairhall Branch

Branch 9 – The Mary Ann Culbert – William “Will” Kent Branch.

Grant intended to publish a second volume, covering Branches 1-4. However, he was getting on in age and his energy was waning so the second volume was never published. Had a second volume been published, these are the branches it would have covered:

Branch 1 – The Elizabeth “Eliza” Culbert – Richard Dagg Branch

Branch 2 – The Susan Culbert – Philip Crawley Branch

Branch 3 – The Henry Culbert – Margaret Wall Branch

Branch 4 – The William Culbert – Ann de Coursey Branch.

Since taking over the role of Culbert family historian, I’ve done my best to research the first four branches of the Culbert family as well as continue researching branches 5-9. The first four branches of the family were John and Mary’s oldest children.

Grant’s book, published in 1995 is now out-of-print. At the time of its publication, many descendants of John Culbert and Mary Ward purchased copies. You might be one of the lucky ones who owns a copy. If so, you’ll notice that for branches 6 and 7, Grant listed the names of Thomas and Joseph Culbert's wives as Dempsey when it should say Dempster. That’s because Grant had great difficulty finding information about these branches of the family, and someone must have given him the incorrect spelling for those names. Keep in mind that Grant did all his research without the benefit of the Internet or such websites as Ancestry.ca. Grant hand-wrote letters to as many relatives as possible, and often drove many miles to interview them about our various ancestors and family members.

The next images show a letter written by Grant W. Taylor to Gladys Culbert, the widow of his cousin, Cliff Culbert of Lucan, Ontario, describing the publication of his book…

NOTE to the descendants of Effie Pearl Taylor & Myron Manford Culbert: Grant’s father, Hector Taylor was the brother of Effie Pearl Taylor who married Myron Manford Culbert, the grandson of John Culbert and Mary Ward. Those of you who are descendants of Myron Culbert & Effie Taylor should know that Grant Taylor wrote a three-volume family history of the Taylor family. For more details, you can visit my Taylor Family Roots blog to read this tribute to Grant. 

I've included two family trees for Grant W. Taylor; one tree to show how he's descended from John Culbert and Mary Ward of Ireland, and the other tree to show how he's descended from John Taylor and Mary Clark of England. 

FAMILY TREE FOR GRANT W. TAYLOR: (Culbert side)

Ancestors:

John Culbert & Mary Ward (great-grandparents)

Mary Ann Culbert & William Kent (grandparents)

Ina Luella Kent & Hector Taylor (parents)

Grant William Taylor

Descendants (Children):

David Kent Taylor

FAMILY TREE FOR GRANT W. TAYLOR: (Taylor side)

Ancestors:

John Taylor & Mary Clark (2x great-grandparents)

John Taylor & Mary Jane Mason (great-grandparents)

William Taylor & Mary Elizabeth Bennett (grandparents)

Hector Taylor & Ina Luella Kent (parents)

Grant William Taylor

Descendants (Children):

David Kent Taylor