Guide to the Bernard M. Taylor Papers

Bernard M. Taylor was born October 14, 1906, in Tallapoosa, Georgia. He completed his high school education in West Philadelphia and graduated from Lafayette College in 1928. Taylor entered Union Theological Seminary in New York and completed his studies there in 1931. In that same year he married Anne Justice, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, who was also at Union Seminary.

Mr. Taylor was ordained on September 30th, 1931 and was immediately installed as pastor of the Olive Church, Clarion Presbytery, in Oliveburg, Pennsylvania. In 1936, Taylor accepted a call by Christ Church in Alpine, Tennessee. The work in Alpine focused on the Dale Hollow Larger Parish, an interdenominational project designed to minister to the spiritual needs of the rural communities spread out several hundred square miles where the Dale Hollow Lake was later created. The Taylors also helped the community deal with other problems associated with rural life including proper education, vocational training, electrification, and transportation. Bernard Taylor served as Stated Clerk of Cumberland Mountain Presbytery, Synod of the Mid-South, from 1942 to 1951.

The Taylors took a leave of absence in 1946 and returned to New York City where both earned Master's Degrees in Christian Education from the Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. They returned to Alpine the following year and served there until 1952 when they were called by Old Rehoboth Church (Maryland). Taylor served as pastor of that congregation and as the Stated Supply for the Gunby Church in Stockton, Maryland for five years. In 1957, Taylor received a call from the Georgetown and Coolspring Presbyterian Churches, and served as the Moderator of New Castle Presbytery for one year. Bernard Taylor was installed as Associate Pastor of the First and Central Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware in 1962 and remained there until his retirement in 1976. Taylor died in 2003.