James Taylor Jr (1899–1970)

James Taylor Jr. (J.T.Jr.) was a senior leader in the church before his father died and he subsequently came into increased responsibility in the church. He was born in 1899 in Manhattan, New York, and was the fifth child of James and Estelle Taylor (née Garrett). His mother died in childbirth in 1901 when he was just two years old.

J.T.Jr.’s education was comprised of eight years at elementary schools and four years at Manual Training High School in Brooklyn. At the age of eighteen he was awarded his high school diploma along with the New York State Regents Diploma, having passed the State examinations with higher scores in all the required major subjects which included Comprehensive English, Mathematics, Science, Global history, United States History and another language – German. He also appreciated music and loved to harmonize when singing.

Upon graduating school he was employed as a salesman for Amory Brown & Co., a cotton dry goods firm. In 1920 he started a cotton and linen textile business with his father’s guidance; this developed into Taylor Linen Company after his father entered into partnership with him, and the business prospered even during the depression of the 1930s. He was known to both suppliers and customers as a man of honesty and integrity, and those within the Church community could testify to his kindness and generosity, both with his time and with his money.

In December 1921 J.T.Jr. married Consuelo Johnson of Minneapolis. They had six children, two of whom died at birth. Consuelo died of an intestinal illness in 1950 and the following year he married Eveline Irene Stevens of Plainfield and they had one daughter.

J.T.Jr. travelled world-wide and served within the PBCC for over thirty years. Some of his gospel preachings are available in tract form. In the last year of his life he travelled more than eighty thousand miles, ministering in almost fifty cities in four continents. Physically exhausted, he died in October 1970 at the age of seventy-one.