Samuel Penfield Taylor
Forty-niner, Timber Tycoon, Freemason

James S. Dierke, 32°
255 Westgate Drive
San Francisco, California 94127
jdierke@muse.sfusd.k12.ca.us

In the history of California Freemasonry, there are many examples of individuals who "Worked upon the Level and acted on the Square." Buried in a lonely site on a brow of a hill above Paper Mill Creek in Western Marin County, lies one of the most notable in the Nineteenth Century, Bro. Samuel Penfield Taylor. Member #87 of Oriental Lodge No. 144, he came with the forty-niners to California in 1850 and died on January 22, 1886.

Eventually a great financial and social success, he began working in the gold fields of the Sierra foothills and in the streets of San Francisco. In 1856, he served as a member of the famous San Francisco Committee of Vigilance, and for many years, he was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. A man who had the vision and initiative to put a plan into action, he supported his wife’s efforts to end the importation of Chinese slave girls and implemented many business enterprises. Why was it then that this man of industry, wealth and civic action is to be found in a lonely grave in Western Marin County?

Born in Sauerties, New York, on October 9, 1827, Samuel Penfield Taylor was the grandson of George Taylor who signed the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania. In 1848, he caught the "gold fever" then sweeping the East Coast. He joined with friends, purchased a schooner, and left Boston Harbor in early 1849. After a ten-month voyage, the ship and crew arrived in San Francisco Bay. The crew and passengers left the next day for the gold country, leaving Samuel P. Taylor to sell the ship.
 

Restoring Brother Samuel Penfield Taylor’s memorial marker (below) was a Masonic family affair. All Brethren are members of Oriental Lodge No. 144 and the Valley of San Francisco. The three uncles and three nephews pictured are: John D. Dierke, 32°; James S. Dierke, 32°, P.M. and author of this article; David F. Dierke; Joshua S. Ayres; Jed Dierke Ayres; and Brant Allan Dierke, 32°. In the front row are Megan Ayres, wife of Jed, and Jonna Dierke, daughter of John and sister of Brant. (Photo by Michael Mustacchi, 32°)

An entrepreneur at heart, he saw there was money in cooking and selling meals. He went into a bacon-and-egg stand on the beach and made enough money from this enterprise to go into the lumber business. Taking some time off in 1853, he went to Hawkins’ Bar in Tuolumne County and made $5,691.99 in gold, working the streams in the foothills. Using this profit, he expanded his lumber interests. While looking for trees for his lumberyard, Samuel Taylor rode into Western Marin County. As he explored the area, he came to a stop west of present-day Lagunitas. This spot, he decided would make an excellent location for a paper mill. There was abundant fresh water and raw materials, so he purchased 200 acres of land from the local landowner and set up a paper mill. Soon, he made this site his home and, eventually, an industrial complex, a farm center, and a recreational paradise.

Going from West to East in search of industrial goods to start his paper mill, he met and married Miss Sarah Washington Irving, daughter of the distinguished writer and poet, Washington Irving. Mrs. Irving gave up her position as a schoolteacher in Fall River, Massachusetts, returned to San Francisco with Bro. Taylor, and shared with him the creation of his dream. Mrs. Taylor also had dreams of her own. They included raising a large family (together they had seven boys and one girl) and taking an active role in running her husband’s business. They called the paper mill the Pioneer Paper Mill Company, as it was indeed the first paper mill built in the western United States. In order to get raw materials into the mill and paper out to the city, he had to construct roads and purchase a schooner to take paper and supplies to and from San Francisco. With his spirit of determination, Samuel Taylor started to build his life, his family, and his fortune.

In time, the mill area then became known as Taylorville. Residents, most Taylor employees, ran the mill and other enterprises, hauled goods on ox carts, and tended to the many dairy cows that Taylor imported from New Jersey. As the mill grew and steam power was introduced, cordwood was needed to keep the steam engines going 24 hours a day.

When the North Pacific Coast Railroad arrived at western Marin, Taylorville was an important stop. Taylor built the Azalea Hotel for visitors to stop and spend a few days away from city life. He allowed people to come and camp during the summer months, swim, fish, hunt, and enjoy themselves. Between 1855 and 1893, the Pioneer Paper Mill expanded and produced a vast line of products, including flat-bottomed bags, (a first in the industry) which an employee of the mill perfected, candy bags, hat bags, ballot and book paper, and manila wrapping. Samuel Taylor’s exhibits at the state fair were perennial prize winners.

As his paper mill grew, Samuel Taylor became involved in several environmental projects far ahead of his time. In order to produce quality paper, he collected rags and old paper, recycling them at his mill into new paper products. His employees collected rags and old paper from San Francisco and other cities. In order to help the salmon and steelhead around his millpond dam on Paper Mill Creek, he created the first fish ladder on the West Coast and introduced oyster farming to western Marin County.

He also found time to serve as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He took his civic duties seriously, helped build schools, improve streets, and create a better city. Mrs. Taylor, supported by her husband, worked with other women to stop the smuggling of Chinese slave girls into San Francisco and helped start the Chinatown Presbyterian Mission. In one five-year period, she boarded every ship coming in from the Far East, arranging with each ship’s captain to release the girls into her care. She then took them to the San Francisco Mission.

As to Masonry, every Tuesday night Bro. Taylor attended Oriental Lodge No.144 and took part in the business of Masonry. From the letters and speeches that have survived, it is evident his Brethren held Bro. Taylor in high regard. Lodge records show that four of his sons also became Master Masons. On January 22, 1886, at the age of 58, Brother Samuel P. Taylor died in his home in San Francisco. The members of Oriental Lodge held a Masonic Funeral for him within their Lodge Room. His body was then taken across the bay by ferry and then by rail to Taylorville where, at the brow of a hill across from his paper mill, he, a fine example of a just and upright man, was buried in the Taylor family plot.

Today there is no paper mill. It burned down in 1916. Taylorville is gone and so are the railroad, the hotel, the dairy, and the dam that supplied water to the mill. Mrs. Taylor lost the mill and the land around it in the economic panic of 1893, and the subsequent owners lost the property to the State of California in 1945 for non-payment of taxes. The state then created Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Thousands of visitors enjoy the park yearly. They walk, ride horses and bikes, swim, and enjoy the wonders of nature in this beautiful environment. The view from Brother Taylor’s hillside has changed a great deal in the last 100 years. Gone are the tangible things of his dreams; however, his vision of a public recreation area remains intact.

Brother Samuel Penfield Taylor "walked upon the Level and acted upon the Square." With pride in their heritage, the members of Oriental Lodge No.144 joined with the Masonic Grand Lodge of California to restore the headstone of this important California pioneer. This new Masonic Memorial placed by the Grand Lodge of California, with its explanation of the life of Samuel P. Taylor, is complemented by a bench on which to sit, rest, and reflect while enjoying the view from the brow of the hill. The lasting legacy Bro. Taylor left to future generations of Americans is the sharing of the beautiful environment he called home.

Memorial marker photo by Frank Ellinger, 3°, Oriental Lodge