1 10 17 https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/files/original/525adeba5f171d24bea1d502982bed3c.pdf 9a313c7f3f6fdfee04a667c744d5a1d0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor Writings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Description An account of the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895–1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846–1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Her father, Walter Kitching, was an early resident who opened a general store in 1897 following a long career as a merchant along Florida’s coast. Josephine married John E. Taylor (1892–1972), who had worked for her father prior to their marriage. John later became a banker and businessman, establishing an insurance and real estate firm in 1957. The company, later known as Taylor-Ashley Insurance and Real Estate, continues to operate as a family business on Colorado Avenue in Stuart as of 2025. This collection includes typewritten short histories authored by Josephine Taylor, as well as handwritten notes that may have served as drafts or source material for her completed writings. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mr. and Mrs. Walter Kitching by Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor, 1972 Subject The topic of the resource Kitching family Ashley family Taylor, Sarah Josephine Kitching, 1895-1987 Taylor, John E., 1892-1972 Kitching, Walter, 1846-1932 Description An account of the resource A memoir focusing chiefly on the lives of Walter Kitching (1846-1932) and John E. Taylor (1892-1972), and Josephine Kitching Taylor. Details John E. Taylor's career, including his time as mayor, bank president, builder, and realtor; the lives of Josephine and John's children; and activities of Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor, including the local organizations she was part of: P.E.O. Sisterhood Chapter P (erroneously noted as PEG), Stuart Woman's Club, and the Ladies Bible Class. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Gift of Stuart Heritage Museum. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 1970s Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Stuart Heritage Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <b>In Copyright - Rights-holder(s) Unlocatable or Unidentifiable </b> The Martin County Library System believes this Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. However, for this Item, either (a) no rights-holder(s) have been identified or (b) one or more rights-holder(s) have been identified but none have been located. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For more information, visit <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 10 p. Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2024.048 SHM 1990.14.04 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/files/original/dd99fec1f4aeeb750a0b8ff25b0fab7c.pdf 7dd27fca27f1b63e42d7a47aec8e60f8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor Writings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Description An account of the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895–1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846–1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Her father, Walter Kitching, was an early resident who opened a general store in 1897 following a long career as a merchant along Florida’s coast. Josephine married John E. Taylor (1892–1972), who had worked for her father prior to their marriage. John later became a banker and businessman, establishing an insurance and real estate firm in 1957. The company, later known as Taylor-Ashley Insurance and Real Estate, continues to operate as a family business on Colorado Avenue in Stuart as of 2025. This collection includes typewritten short histories authored by Josephine Taylor, as well as handwritten notes that may have served as drafts or source material for her completed writings. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Family history Walter and Emma Kitching and Josephine Kitching Taylor by Josephine Kitching Taylor Subject The topic of the resource Taylor, Sarah Josephine Kitching, 1895-1987 Frontier and pioneer life Kitching family Michael family Ashley family Autobiographies Description An account of the resource Copy of handwritten notes of Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) on Stuart history and the activities of her father, Walter Kitching; her own experiences; and genealogical information about the Kitching family, the Michael family, the Taylor family, and the Ashley family. These notes may have been chiefly written in the 1970s, with later additions made in the 1980s. Index of topics. (SKT refers to Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor) PDF page: 002-004 - Joseph and Sarah Kitching genealogy 005 - Walter Kitching 007 - 1883 came to Florida 008 - purchased and homesteaded land 010 - ran a "floating store" 017 - performed marriages 021 - met his wife Emma Michael 023 - SKT born 024 - William and Willis Bessey early settler of Stuart area, but there was an earlier settler in the Palm City area named Mullihan, whose son was named Leroy S. Mullihan 026 - Michael family- mother Emma's older brothers John and Stephen lived in Wabasso and Orchid. Stephen's son Alfred B. ran Walter's boats 029 - Memories of SKT's childhood 041 - Mother Emma Michael 043 - SKT describes attending Guilford College in N.C. 044 - Mother Emma Michael 045 - Broster Kitching background detailed 046 - Mangoes, cocoanuts, pineapples in Stuart area 048 - Kitching home built, first home with running water, bathroom, and a windmill 051 - Walter Kitching's family in England 053 - Kitching home described. Eliza and Tom Gardner [Gorden in 1910 census] staffed. 059 - Describes pioneer life including eating mostly canned goods 061 - Railroad came in 1894, details Walter Kitching selling the boat, Alfred B. Michael captained under new owner 062 - Walter Kitching opened store about 1896, then large store in 1897 063 - "Soap Bubble Club" detailed (this was a Larkin Soap Company promotion, with Avon or Tupperware style sales) 064 - Seminole shoppers 070 - Billy Bowlegs III (1862-1965) 071 - Lumber for house hauled from north of Stuart, called "Wa-Wa" (Wild Goose) at that time, name later changed to Gosling 072 - Hobe Sound settlers, including Snyder the catsup man [this must refer to the Snider house on Jupiter Island. Snider Catsup was a popular product] 073 - SKT took music lessons with Mamie Hancock 075 - SKT schooling. Went to Stuart School, but Professor James R. Pomeroy was so rough with the students it made her nervous so she went to WPB for one year (1908), then returned to attend Stuart High School in 1909. Attended Guilford College for 3 years, starting in 1910 077 - SKT came home from college for xmas, met John Edwin Taylor. Married on shared birthday March 10th, 1914. 080 - SKT describes dress, trousseau, flowers 082 - SKT and husband snuck out from wedding to honeymoon at Gilbert's Bar. 085 - Description of their first house, later second story added. 089 - SKT's children and their spouses outlined 090 - Emma Elizabeth Taylor and her children's histories. Emma married in SKT's wedding dress 091 - Record of Emma's daughters' marriages and children. Notes that they wore SKT's wedding dress 092 - John Edwin Taylor III's family 096 - F.E.C. plan to cross river at Sewall's Point and Walter Kitching's efforts to convince them to come to Stuart instead 101 - Story of name change from Potsdam to Stuart 1895 104 - Picnics 108 - Walter Kitching's second store built, later bought by SKT's husband. Sold in 1922 to Raulerson General Merchandise 111 - The first small railroad station, across from now Stuart Feed Store, was moved to Salerno. [Notes that new railroad station built in 1916 or 1918, but it was 1913] 112 - Walter Kitching owned an orange grove in PSL 115 - Details husband John E. Taylor's involvement with the establishment of new county. He was elected first state rep in 13 Oct 1925 and built El Bit-Lor in 1925. 116 - SKT's family moved to Little Rock during depression 1931-1937 where husband became a bank examiner. Returned to Stuart and opened real estate and insurance business 4 Nov 1937. 118 - Historical information on Celestial Railroad 121 - Danforth Hotel, Grover Cleveland 132 - Seminole Bank, Bank of Stuart 135 - Sylvanus Kitching family 136 - Our Pets 143 - List of great-grandchildren 147 - Methodist Church involvement 154 - Emma and Dick Ashley histories 159 - P.E.O. sisterhood history and involvement 165 - Garden Club 168 - Other organizations, including Lively Arts Society, HSMC, Animal Rescue League, Woman's Aglow Fellowship, Stuart Woman's Club 170 - Hobbies and collections of SKT 171 - Clippings, programs, mailings 189 - Vacations 193 - Note from SKT written in 1982 195 - Notes on her children and grandchildren 197 - First United Methodist Church programs and copies of clippings 206 - Photo of Women's Club Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1970s Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <b>Copyright Undetermined</b> The copyright and related rights status of this Item has been reviewed by the Martin County Library System, but we have been unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the Item. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For more information, visit <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 206 pages Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2025.022 JP-2025-022-kitching_history https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/files/original/638592f1f388422a77d45a7fb032743b.pdf 770fc830daca730e91c2024a55046247 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor Writings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Description An account of the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895–1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846–1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Her father, Walter Kitching, was an early resident who opened a general store in 1897 following a long career as a merchant along Florida’s coast. Josephine married John E. Taylor (1892–1972), who had worked for her father prior to their marriage. John later became a banker and businessman, establishing an insurance and real estate firm in 1957. The company, later known as Taylor-Ashley Insurance and Real Estate, continues to operate as a family business on Colorado Avenue in Stuart as of 2025. This collection includes typewritten short histories authored by Josephine Taylor, as well as handwritten notes that may have served as drafts or source material for her completed writings. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document It was in the closing hour of a Florida conference in 1892 that appointments were being read; there was a tenseness, a feeling of excitement, and all else that goes with that unique scene in Methodism when the ministers receive; their appointments to their fields of service for the coming year. A young preacher was in that gathering who was just closing his first two years as a member of the Florida Conference, and when he received his appointment it proved a disappointment, for he was assigned to Indian River, and having heard something of the nature of the work ahead of him he realized that his hopes of a little home-nest would not be carried out; he realized that he was going to a work of hardship and misery. Then, looking around him, he was the leading pastor of the conference, the pastor of the First Church of Jacksonville, with his hands before his face and tears trickling through his fingers on receiving his appointment, and the young minister thought: “When a leading pastor has just received such a disappointment, surely I, who am just a young boy starting out can bear a little disappointment also.” We arrived at Brantley on Indian River about nine o’clock on a very dark night, and the lights of the ship lit up the dark shadows and disclosed some dozen or more negroes, on the wharf, and as we stepped off the boat they chattered and shuffled back and forth. The young preacher asked them if they knew Mr____. They said yes, and that he was playing cards with his neighbors next door. When the young preacher reached the house he was furnished with a little cot in the attic. The next morning he inquired if there was a boarding house, or some place to spend Sunday; he was informed there was no boarding house. He then inquired if there were any Methodists who could entertain the preacher, but was informed there were none. “Well where am I to stay?” was the inquiry. “Stay here,” was the reply, “you can stay with the cook, as I am going off on the steamer.” Well, that Sunday morning we went out to the church building, the only church building within 90 miles up and down this coast,—a little box-like house, no doors or windows, no pews; the congregation had a little board about six inches wide running around the building which was their pew and that was all, and there we held our first service. We decided to make provision for a boarding house and a place to stay at the next place, and wrote ahead for them. When we arrived at Sebastian the wind was blowing, and we hoped they would have our room prepared, but we were informed that someone had said we would not be there until the next Saturday night, and although we said we had written we would be there at that time they insisted they had not expected us until the next Saturday. We were finally put in a loft over a store about 48×70 ft., lit by dim ship lanterns, and as I looked around I could see about a dozen cots occupied by strangers; the wind blew against the window-panes and howled around the building all that night. The next morning we set out and walked up the beach. It was hard to find any sign of a residence, only here and there a shack. After breakfast we inquired how many inhabitants were living there, and were informed there were about 75. Back in the woods, about three-quarters of a mile, over a little-traveled footpath, we found a little house, which seemed to me the prettiest place I had ever seen. The door on the front porch was open, and the linen was white and everything inside was neat and clean. I thought: “If I can stay here I am sure going to stay”. A lady came to the door with smiling face. “Is that you, Brother Blackburn” she asked, and her voice sounded like sweetest music to my ears. You will never know what it means to be called “Brother” until you have been far away from home among strangers. Not until then will you know what it means to have someone take you by the hand and call you brother. In that little community we found four church members, one man and three women. We got the use of an old mule stable, without any floor, which we used for a short time, until someone bought the ground on which it stood and turned us out of doors. We then got the use of another old building, until an infidel lecturer came to town and we had to give that up. We then received the use of a merchant’s parlor, but it was a pretty hard thing to hold service there. There were crowds of people walking in and out of the store and noisy crews out on the street. They were building the F E C railroad, and the railroad gangs were hanging around, and Indians and negroes.” The condition was unbearable, and one night we said: “We’ve just got to have a church, but how are we going to get the money to start it?” “I’ll give $10.00″ said our hostess. “I’ll write home and get another $10.00 from across the seas.” I said. “And I’ll add $15.00 in work,” said her husband. Well, we wrote to everyone we knew that we thought would be interested, and in about thirty days we had $140.00 to erect a little frame building. The first Sunday we held services we had a roof on one side, and the floor boards loosely laid down, the pulpit made of a piece of two by four lumber and a piece of weather boarding, and although it was unsightly and unfinished I suppose we were as proud as any folks ever were in a new building. I remember an interesting incident of the service: when I opened the doors of the church and inquired if anyone desired to come forward two young ladies came. I repeated the invitation and looked over the crowd and a young man got up and said “Do you mean me”. “Yes, if you want to,” I replied. “Well, I guess I’ll wait till next time,” was the answer. We went on to our next appointment at Fort Pierce, which in those days was named Edgar town. I was met at the wharf by a good Baptist and he took me to the home of the saloon keeper of the community. I remember one Sunday evening as we were singing with his wife and daughter the saloon keeper came into the room and took hold of a hymnal and asked us to sing “The Ninety and Nine”. He realized that he was outside the fold, and yet he had a warm appreciation of God’s servant and opened his home to him. A mishap in a wedding resulted in a church being organized at Stuart. It happened in this way: I was invited to go down to Stuart to officiate at a wedding, but we found on our arrival that the license had been secured in the wrong county. The couple lived in Dade county and the license had been secured in Brevard county. With the slow mode of transportation in those days it would have taken a week to secure another license, so the wedding was postponed for thirty days. They weren’t in such a hurry in those days. We took the occasion, however, to hold a service, which was the first on Saint Lucie river. A Sunday School was then organized, and later a Church organized and a church building erected. The 1895 Church of Stuart - historic building in Downtown Stuart, Martin County, Florida; art studio and gallery on the Treasure Coast. Supporting our local artists and the community's heritage. On the Lake Worth Division of the circuit, Rev. M. F. Dukes was pastor, and we united in our quarterly conferences. On our first quarterly conference we took an interesting trip going by boat and train and boat from Jupiter to Juno on a load of lumber, and paid 75c for a seat on a load of lumber,—a little over ten cents a mile for a seat. After a stormy journey on a little boat down the lake we held the quarterly conference the next day with nine men present in the congregation and a collection taken of nine silver dollars. The service was held in a school house near the site where the Royal Poinciana stands today. It was only a few months after this that a tragedy took, place in the home of Rev. Dukes. I received a message that the bride had died, and before I could arrive there on a steam-boat I found the poor woman had been laid away under the palmettoes on the beach, with no burial service. There was no minister of the gospel to speak a word of comfort to that bereaved man, no song, no prayer,—he laid her away in the sands there on the sea-shore. Just as he was about to leave a young Presbyterian ministerial student came along and pronounced the benediction. Those were trying times,-trying to preach and build up the Kingdom of God back in 1893. It was in 1898 here in Miami that we got the most thrills and throbs. Being sent here to organize a church we did not receive a very cordial welcome. The Presbyterian minister Dr. Faris, advised against our coming in, and said it was no use to try to organize, and Doctor J. M. Jackson talked to me for half an hour and said there was no opening for our church at that time. One minister, I won’t mention of what denomination he was, shook his fist in my face and said “I’ll fight you to the end”. This was not a very promising prospect for a young preacher trying to start a new enterprise. It was three months before we organized with 15 members and –enjoyed the hospitality of the Presbyterian tabernacle on Miami Ave. We then rented a building on Miami Ave. There were people living upstairs of the room in which we held services, and sometimes the children would play and drag their toys across the floor and make all kinds of noise while we held services, but our little organization of 15 members looked for brighter days. A few weeks after our organization we erected a modest little parsonage on the lot where Trinity now stands. It was built by a plumber, a tinner and a preacher. The roof was so steep “it would split a rain-drop” it was said. Shortly after we moved in the government sent down 8,000 soldiers during the Spanish-American war, who camped round our little building. They were Louisiana boys, and some of them were called “New Orleans Wharf rats”, and made conditions such that a visiting brother said it was “like living in hell”. After the soldiers left we thought perhaps the prospects of holding services successfully would become brighter, and then the yellow fever broke out. We were shut in by the quarantine. I don’t know whether any of you have ever experienced such a thing; day after day we were shut in from the outside world. I remember one pathetic incident when all the mourners rode bicycles except the immediate family, as it was thought carriages covered germs; the hearse was a little funny furniture wagon. However, shortly after this the Church Extension board came to our assistance with a thousand dollars, which enabled us to put up a shell of a church. One day I stepped into the building and I saw one of the workmen coming out from behind the nail kegs. It was the noon hour, and that workman had been spending his lunch period in prayer for our building. I sometimes wonder if the prosperity that has come to Trinity, and the beautiful spirit of that first church that has mothered eight other organizations around about Miami was hot born in that workman’s prayer behind those nail kegs that day. The contractor and foreman on the building, who was not a very religious man, but who had read a book on the wonderful answers to prayer, said at a time of financial despondency; and when there was a prospect of shutting down the works, “Why don’t you ask God for the money, as it is His enterprise?” Where we had 15 members in Miami in those days to begin with we now have 7,000, and whereas we had 16 members on Indian River and about 12 on Lake Worth we now have over 6,000 in all that territory, and the one church at Sebastian has increased to about 30 churches on Indian River and Lake Worth. It is almost impossible to realize the transformation from the smoke-screened services (when we had to burn smoke-smudge for the mosquitoes) in those little shacks, to those beautiful buildings -Trinity, Holleman Park, Hollywood, Fort Pierce and Miami Beach, as well as others. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Golden anniversary of the Woman's Society of the Methodist Church by Josephine Kitching Taylor, c. 1954 Subject The topic of the resource Churches Methodist churches First United Methodist Church (Stuart, Fla.) Description An account of the resource Handwritten outline of the history of the Woman's Society of the Methodist Church from 1904 to 1950. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1954 1950s Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Box B-4-2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <b>No Copyright - In the United States:</b> The Martin County Library System believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. For more information, visit <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 5 pages Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context JP-2025-035-b42-002 2025.035 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Churches https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/files/original/b6224e61cd4cc05ba0f43bcc7bd52a11.pdf 3ade3737c9a82813297c80ca0f642f64 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor Writings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Description An account of the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895–1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846–1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Her father, Walter Kitching, was an early resident who opened a general store in 1897 following a long career as a merchant along Florida’s coast. Josephine married John E. Taylor (1892–1972), who had worked for her father prior to their marriage. John later became a banker and businessman, establishing an insurance and real estate firm in 1957. The company, later known as Taylor-Ashley Insurance and Real Estate, continues to operate as a family business on Colorado Avenue in Stuart as of 2025. This collection includes typewritten short histories authored by Josephine Taylor, as well as handwritten notes that may have served as drafts or source material for her completed writings. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document It was in the closing hour of a Florida conference in 1892 that appointments were being read; there was a tenseness, a feeling of excitement, and all else that goes with that unique scene in Methodism when the ministers receive; their appointments to their fields of service for the coming year. A young preacher was in that gathering who was just closing his first two years as a member of the Florida Conference, and when he received his appointment it proved a disappointment, for he was assigned to Indian River, and having heard something of the nature of the work ahead of him he realized that his hopes of a little home-nest would not be carried out; he realized that he was going to a work of hardship and misery. Then, looking around him, he was the leading pastor of the conference, the pastor of the First Church of Jacksonville, with his hands before his face and tears trickling through his fingers on receiving his appointment, and the young minister thought: “When a leading pastor has just received such a disappointment, surely I, who am just a young boy starting out can bear a little disappointment also.” We arrived at Brantley on Indian River about nine o’clock on a very dark night, and the lights of the ship lit up the dark shadows and disclosed some dozen or more negroes, on the wharf, and as we stepped off the boat they chattered and shuffled back and forth. The young preacher asked them if they knew Mr____. They said yes, and that he was playing cards with his neighbors next door. When the young preacher reached the house he was furnished with a little cot in the attic. The next morning he inquired if there was a boarding house, or some place to spend Sunday; he was informed there was no boarding house. He then inquired if there were any Methodists who could entertain the preacher, but was informed there were none. “Well where am I to stay?” was the inquiry. “Stay here,” was the reply, “you can stay with the cook, as I am going off on the steamer.” Well, that Sunday morning we went out to the church building, the only church building within 90 miles up and down this coast,—a little box-like house, no doors or windows, no pews; the congregation had a little board about six inches wide running around the building which was their pew and that was all, and there we held our first service. We decided to make provision for a boarding house and a place to stay at the next place, and wrote ahead for them. When we arrived at Sebastian the wind was blowing, and we hoped they would have our room prepared, but we were informed that someone had said we would not be there until the next Saturday night, and although we said we had written we would be there at that time they insisted they had not expected us until the next Saturday. We were finally put in a loft over a store about 48×70 ft., lit by dim ship lanterns, and as I looked around I could see about a dozen cots occupied by strangers; the wind blew against the window-panes and howled around the building all that night. The next morning we set out and walked up the beach. It was hard to find any sign of a residence, only here and there a shack. After breakfast we inquired how many inhabitants were living there, and were informed there were about 75. Back in the woods, about three-quarters of a mile, over a little-traveled footpath, we found a little house, which seemed to me the prettiest place I had ever seen. The door on the front porch was open, and the linen was white and everything inside was neat and clean. I thought: “If I can stay here I am sure going to stay”. A lady came to the door with smiling face. “Is that you, Brother Blackburn” she asked, and her voice sounded like sweetest music to my ears. You will never know what it means to be called “Brother” until you have been far away from home among strangers. Not until then will you know what it means to have someone take you by the hand and call you brother. In that little community we found four church members, one man and three women. We got the use of an old mule stable, without any floor, which we used for a short time, until someone bought the ground on which it stood and turned us out of doors. We then got the use of another old building, until an infidel lecturer came to town and we had to give that up. We then received the use of a merchant’s parlor, but it was a pretty hard thing to hold service there. There were crowds of people walking in and out of the store and noisy crews out on the street. They were building the F E C railroad, and the railroad gangs were hanging around, and Indians and negroes.” The condition was unbearable, and one night we said: “We’ve just got to have a church, but how are we going to get the money to start it?” “I’ll give $10.00″ said our hostess. “I’ll write home and get another $10.00 from across the seas.” I said. “And I’ll add $15.00 in work,” said her husband. Well, we wrote to everyone we knew that we thought would be interested, and in about thirty days we had $140.00 to erect a little frame building. The first Sunday we held services we had a roof on one side, and the floor boards loosely laid down, the pulpit made of a piece of two by four lumber and a piece of weather boarding, and although it was unsightly and unfinished I suppose we were as proud as any folks ever were in a new building. I remember an interesting incident of the service: when I opened the doors of the church and inquired if anyone desired to come forward two young ladies came. I repeated the invitation and looked over the crowd and a young man got up and said “Do you mean me”. “Yes, if you want to,” I replied. “Well, I guess I’ll wait till next time,” was the answer. We went on to our next appointment at Fort Pierce, which in those days was named Edgar town. I was met at the wharf by a good Baptist and he took me to the home of the saloon keeper of the community. I remember one Sunday evening as we were singing with his wife and daughter the saloon keeper came into the room and took hold of a hymnal and asked us to sing “The Ninety and Nine”. He realized that he was outside the fold, and yet he had a warm appreciation of God’s servant and opened his home to him. A mishap in a wedding resulted in a church being organized at Stuart. It happened in this way: I was invited to go down to Stuart to officiate at a wedding, but we found on our arrival that the license had been secured in the wrong county. The couple lived in Dade county and the license had been secured in Brevard county. With the slow mode of transportation in those days it would have taken a week to secure another license, so the wedding was postponed for thirty days. They weren’t in such a hurry in those days. We took the occasion, however, to hold a service, which was the first on Saint Lucie river. A Sunday School was then organized, and later a Church organized and a church building erected. The 1895 Church of Stuart - historic building in Downtown Stuart, Martin County, Florida; art studio and gallery on the Treasure Coast. Supporting our local artists and the community's heritage. On the Lake Worth Division of the circuit, Rev. M. F. Dukes was pastor, and we united in our quarterly conferences. On our first quarterly conference we took an interesting trip going by boat and train and boat from Jupiter to Juno on a load of lumber, and paid 75c for a seat on a load of lumber,—a little over ten cents a mile for a seat. After a stormy journey on a little boat down the lake we held the quarterly conference the next day with nine men present in the congregation and a collection taken of nine silver dollars. The service was held in a school house near the site where the Royal Poinciana stands today. It was only a few months after this that a tragedy took, place in the home of Rev. Dukes. I received a message that the bride had died, and before I could arrive there on a steam-boat I found the poor woman had been laid away under the palmettoes on the beach, with no burial service. There was no minister of the gospel to speak a word of comfort to that bereaved man, no song, no prayer,—he laid her away in the sands there on the sea-shore. Just as he was about to leave a young Presbyterian ministerial student came along and pronounced the benediction. Those were trying times,-trying to preach and build up the Kingdom of God back in 1893. It was in 1898 here in Miami that we got the most thrills and throbs. Being sent here to organize a church we did not receive a very cordial welcome. The Presbyterian minister Dr. Faris, advised against our coming in, and said it was no use to try to organize, and Doctor J. M. Jackson talked to me for half an hour and said there was no opening for our church at that time. One minister, I won’t mention of what denomination he was, shook his fist in my face and said “I’ll fight you to the end”. This was not a very promising prospect for a young preacher trying to start a new enterprise. It was three months before we organized with 15 members and –enjoyed the hospitality of the Presbyterian tabernacle on Miami Ave. We then rented a building on Miami Ave. There were people living upstairs of the room in which we held services, and sometimes the children would play and drag their toys across the floor and make all kinds of noise while we held services, but our little organization of 15 members looked for brighter days. A few weeks after our organization we erected a modest little parsonage on the lot where Trinity now stands. It was built by a plumber, a tinner and a preacher. The roof was so steep “it would split a rain-drop” it was said. Shortly after we moved in the government sent down 8,000 soldiers during the Spanish-American war, who camped round our little building. They were Louisiana boys, and some of them were called “New Orleans Wharf rats”, and made conditions such that a visiting brother said it was “like living in hell”. After the soldiers left we thought perhaps the prospects of holding services successfully would become brighter, and then the yellow fever broke out. We were shut in by the quarantine. I don’t know whether any of you have ever experienced such a thing; day after day we were shut in from the outside world. I remember one pathetic incident when all the mourners rode bicycles except the immediate family, as it was thought carriages covered germs; the hearse was a little funny furniture wagon. However, shortly after this the Church Extension board came to our assistance with a thousand dollars, which enabled us to put up a shell of a church. One day I stepped into the building and I saw one of the workmen coming out from behind the nail kegs. It was the noon hour, and that workman had been spending his lunch period in prayer for our building. I sometimes wonder if the prosperity that has come to Trinity, and the beautiful spirit of that first church that has mothered eight other organizations around about Miami was hot born in that workman’s prayer behind those nail kegs that day. The contractor and foreman on the building, who was not a very religious man, but who had read a book on the wonderful answers to prayer, said at a time of financial despondency; and when there was a prospect of shutting down the works, “Why don’t you ask God for the money, as it is His enterprise?” Where we had 15 members in Miami in those days to begin with we now have 7,000, and whereas we had 16 members on Indian River and about 12 on Lake Worth we now have over 6,000 in all that territory, and the one church at Sebastian has increased to about 30 churches on Indian River and Lake Worth. It is almost impossible to realize the transformation from the smoke-screened services (when we had to burn smoke-smudge for the mosquitoes) in those little shacks, to those beautiful buildings -Trinity, Holleman Park, Hollywood, Fort Pierce and Miami Beach, as well as others. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource History of the First United Methodist Church in Stuart, Florida by Josephine Kitching Taylor, c. 1974 Subject The topic of the resource Churches Methodist churches First United Methodist Church (Stuart, Fla.) Description An account of the resource Typed history of the Methodist Church. Pages 1-4 up to 1969, pages 5 & 6 are draft pages concerning 1968-1974. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1954 1950s Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Box B-4-2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <b>No Copyright - In the United States:</b> The Martin County Library System believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. For more information, visit <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 6 pages Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context JP-2025-035-b42-003 2025.035 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Churches https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/files/original/1a3d090f8d054b3a785a1073b81125b5.pdf 1e4d78d2b9d39c6d9cc933084cf6fa5c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor Writings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Description An account of the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895–1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846–1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Her father, Walter Kitching, was an early resident who opened a general store in 1897 following a long career as a merchant along Florida’s coast. Josephine married John E. Taylor (1892–1972), who had worked for her father prior to their marriage. John later became a banker and businessman, establishing an insurance and real estate firm in 1957. The company, later known as Taylor-Ashley Insurance and Real Estate, continues to operate as a family business on Colorado Avenue in Stuart as of 2025. This collection includes typewritten short histories authored by Josephine Taylor, as well as handwritten notes that may have served as drafts or source material for her completed writings. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document It was in the closing hour of a Florida conference in 1892 that appointments were being read; there was a tenseness, a feeling of excitement, and all else that goes with that unique scene in Methodism when the ministers receive; their appointments to their fields of service for the coming year. A young preacher was in that gathering who was just closing his first two years as a member of the Florida Conference, and when he received his appointment it proved a disappointment, for he was assigned to Indian River, and having heard something of the nature of the work ahead of him he realized that his hopes of a little home-nest would not be carried out; he realized that he was going to a work of hardship and misery. Then, looking around him, he was the leading pastor of the conference, the pastor of the First Church of Jacksonville, with his hands before his face and tears trickling through his fingers on receiving his appointment, and the young minister thought: “When a leading pastor has just received such a disappointment, surely I, who am just a young boy starting out can bear a little disappointment also.” We arrived at Brantley on Indian River about nine o’clock on a very dark night, and the lights of the ship lit up the dark shadows and disclosed some dozen or more negroes, on the wharf, and as we stepped off the boat they chattered and shuffled back and forth. The young preacher asked them if they knew Mr____. They said yes, and that he was playing cards with his neighbors next door. When the young preacher reached the house he was furnished with a little cot in the attic. The next morning he inquired if there was a boarding house, or some place to spend Sunday; he was informed there was no boarding house. He then inquired if there were any Methodists who could entertain the preacher, but was informed there were none. “Well where am I to stay?” was the inquiry. “Stay here,” was the reply, “you can stay with the cook, as I am going off on the steamer.” Well, that Sunday morning we went out to the church building, the only church building within 90 miles up and down this coast,—a little box-like house, no doors or windows, no pews; the congregation had a little board about six inches wide running around the building which was their pew and that was all, and there we held our first service. We decided to make provision for a boarding house and a place to stay at the next place, and wrote ahead for them. When we arrived at Sebastian the wind was blowing, and we hoped they would have our room prepared, but we were informed that someone had said we would not be there until the next Saturday night, and although we said we had written we would be there at that time they insisted they had not expected us until the next Saturday. We were finally put in a loft over a store about 48×70 ft., lit by dim ship lanterns, and as I looked around I could see about a dozen cots occupied by strangers; the wind blew against the window-panes and howled around the building all that night. The next morning we set out and walked up the beach. It was hard to find any sign of a residence, only here and there a shack. After breakfast we inquired how many inhabitants were living there, and were informed there were about 75. Back in the woods, about three-quarters of a mile, over a little-traveled footpath, we found a little house, which seemed to me the prettiest place I had ever seen. The door on the front porch was open, and the linen was white and everything inside was neat and clean. I thought: “If I can stay here I am sure going to stay”. A lady came to the door with smiling face. “Is that you, Brother Blackburn” she asked, and her voice sounded like sweetest music to my ears. You will never know what it means to be called “Brother” until you have been far away from home among strangers. Not until then will you know what it means to have someone take you by the hand and call you brother. In that little community we found four church members, one man and three women. We got the use of an old mule stable, without any floor, which we used for a short time, until someone bought the ground on which it stood and turned us out of doors. We then got the use of another old building, until an infidel lecturer came to town and we had to give that up. We then received the use of a merchant’s parlor, but it was a pretty hard thing to hold service there. There were crowds of people walking in and out of the store and noisy crews out on the street. They were building the F E C railroad, and the railroad gangs were hanging around, and Indians and negroes.” The condition was unbearable, and one night we said: “We’ve just got to have a church, but how are we going to get the money to start it?” “I’ll give $10.00″ said our hostess. “I’ll write home and get another $10.00 from across the seas.” I said. “And I’ll add $15.00 in work,” said her husband. Well, we wrote to everyone we knew that we thought would be interested, and in about thirty days we had $140.00 to erect a little frame building. The first Sunday we held services we had a roof on one side, and the floor boards loosely laid down, the pulpit made of a piece of two by four lumber and a piece of weather boarding, and although it was unsightly and unfinished I suppose we were as proud as any folks ever were in a new building. I remember an interesting incident of the service: when I opened the doors of the church and inquired if anyone desired to come forward two young ladies came. I repeated the invitation and looked over the crowd and a young man got up and said “Do you mean me”. “Yes, if you want to,” I replied. “Well, I guess I’ll wait till next time,” was the answer. We went on to our next appointment at Fort Pierce, which in those days was named Edgar town. I was met at the wharf by a good Baptist and he took me to the home of the saloon keeper of the community. I remember one Sunday evening as we were singing with his wife and daughter the saloon keeper came into the room and took hold of a hymnal and asked us to sing “The Ninety and Nine”. He realized that he was outside the fold, and yet he had a warm appreciation of God’s servant and opened his home to him. A mishap in a wedding resulted in a church being organized at Stuart. It happened in this way: I was invited to go down to Stuart to officiate at a wedding, but we found on our arrival that the license had been secured in the wrong county. The couple lived in Dade county and the license had been secured in Brevard county. With the slow mode of transportation in those days it would have taken a week to secure another license, so the wedding was postponed for thirty days. They weren’t in such a hurry in those days. We took the occasion, however, to hold a service, which was the first on Saint Lucie river. A Sunday School was then organized, and later a Church organized and a church building erected. The 1895 Church of Stuart - historic building in Downtown Stuart, Martin County, Florida; art studio and gallery on the Treasure Coast. Supporting our local artists and the community's heritage. On the Lake Worth Division of the circuit, Rev. M. F. Dukes was pastor, and we united in our quarterly conferences. On our first quarterly conference we took an interesting trip going by boat and train and boat from Jupiter to Juno on a load of lumber, and paid 75c for a seat on a load of lumber,—a little over ten cents a mile for a seat. After a stormy journey on a little boat down the lake we held the quarterly conference the next day with nine men present in the congregation and a collection taken of nine silver dollars. The service was held in a school house near the site where the Royal Poinciana stands today. It was only a few months after this that a tragedy took, place in the home of Rev. Dukes. I received a message that the bride had died, and before I could arrive there on a steam-boat I found the poor woman had been laid away under the palmettoes on the beach, with no burial service. There was no minister of the gospel to speak a word of comfort to that bereaved man, no song, no prayer,—he laid her away in the sands there on the sea-shore. Just as he was about to leave a young Presbyterian ministerial student came along and pronounced the benediction. Those were trying times,-trying to preach and build up the Kingdom of God back in 1893. It was in 1898 here in Miami that we got the most thrills and throbs. Being sent here to organize a church we did not receive a very cordial welcome. The Presbyterian minister Dr. Faris, advised against our coming in, and said it was no use to try to organize, and Doctor J. M. Jackson talked to me for half an hour and said there was no opening for our church at that time. One minister, I won’t mention of what denomination he was, shook his fist in my face and said “I’ll fight you to the end”. This was not a very promising prospect for a young preacher trying to start a new enterprise. It was three months before we organized with 15 members and –enjoyed the hospitality of the Presbyterian tabernacle on Miami Ave. We then rented a building on Miami Ave. There were people living upstairs of the room in which we held services, and sometimes the children would play and drag their toys across the floor and make all kinds of noise while we held services, but our little organization of 15 members looked for brighter days. A few weeks after our organization we erected a modest little parsonage on the lot where Trinity now stands. It was built by a plumber, a tinner and a preacher. The roof was so steep “it would split a rain-drop” it was said. Shortly after we moved in the government sent down 8,000 soldiers during the Spanish-American war, who camped round our little building. They were Louisiana boys, and some of them were called “New Orleans Wharf rats”, and made conditions such that a visiting brother said it was “like living in hell”. After the soldiers left we thought perhaps the prospects of holding services successfully would become brighter, and then the yellow fever broke out. We were shut in by the quarantine. I don’t know whether any of you have ever experienced such a thing; day after day we were shut in from the outside world. I remember one pathetic incident when all the mourners rode bicycles except the immediate family, as it was thought carriages covered germs; the hearse was a little funny furniture wagon. However, shortly after this the Church Extension board came to our assistance with a thousand dollars, which enabled us to put up a shell of a church. One day I stepped into the building and I saw one of the workmen coming out from behind the nail kegs. It was the noon hour, and that workman had been spending his lunch period in prayer for our building. I sometimes wonder if the prosperity that has come to Trinity, and the beautiful spirit of that first church that has mothered eight other organizations around about Miami was hot born in that workman’s prayer behind those nail kegs that day. The contractor and foreman on the building, who was not a very religious man, but who had read a book on the wonderful answers to prayer, said at a time of financial despondency; and when there was a prospect of shutting down the works, “Why don’t you ask God for the money, as it is His enterprise?” Where we had 15 members in Miami in those days to begin with we now have 7,000, and whereas we had 16 members on Indian River and about 12 on Lake Worth we now have over 6,000 in all that territory, and the one church at Sebastian has increased to about 30 churches on Indian River and Lake Worth. It is almost impossible to realize the transformation from the smoke-screened services (when we had to burn smoke-smudge for the mosquitoes) in those little shacks, to those beautiful buildings -Trinity, Holleman Park, Hollywood, Fort Pierce and Miami Beach, as well as others. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Pioneer life and the Taylor family by Josephine Kitching Taylor, c. 1974 Subject The topic of the resource Churches Methodist churches First United Methodist Church (Stuart, Fla.) Taylor family Description An account of the resource Handwritten notes review life in early Stuart, including Methodist church events, ice cream socials, funerals, and the Christian Endeavor Society. Also includes a memoir of her meeting and marrying John E. Taylor, and records of her children and extended family. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1954 1950s Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Box B-4-2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <b>No Copyright - In the United States:</b> The Martin County Library System believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. For more information, visit <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 37 pages Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context JP-2025-035-b42-004 2025.035 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Churches https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/files/original/00f0c40ed87772204fcd7f9fad1b274b.pdf 5aad530c28ea100d5d24e507488f1166 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor Writings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Description An account of the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895–1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846–1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Her father, Walter Kitching, was an early resident who opened a general store in 1897 following a long career as a merchant along Florida’s coast. Josephine married John E. Taylor (1892–1972), who had worked for her father prior to their marriage. John later became a banker and businessman, establishing an insurance and real estate firm in 1957. The company, later known as Taylor-Ashley Insurance and Real Estate, continues to operate as a family business on Colorado Avenue in Stuart as of 2025. This collection includes typewritten short histories authored by Josephine Taylor, as well as handwritten notes that may have served as drafts or source material for her completed writings. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document It was in the closing hour of a Florida conference in 1892 that appointments were being read; there was a tenseness, a feeling of excitement, and all else that goes with that unique scene in Methodism when the ministers receive; their appointments to their fields of service for the coming year. A young preacher was in that gathering who was just closing his first two years as a member of the Florida Conference, and when he received his appointment it proved a disappointment, for he was assigned to Indian River, and having heard something of the nature of the work ahead of him he realized that his hopes of a little home-nest would not be carried out; he realized that he was going to a work of hardship and misery. Then, looking around him, he was the leading pastor of the conference, the pastor of the First Church of Jacksonville, with his hands before his face and tears trickling through his fingers on receiving his appointment, and the young minister thought: “When a leading pastor has just received such a disappointment, surely I, who am just a young boy starting out can bear a little disappointment also.” We arrived at Brantley on Indian River about nine o’clock on a very dark night, and the lights of the ship lit up the dark shadows and disclosed some dozen or more negroes, on the wharf, and as we stepped off the boat they chattered and shuffled back and forth. The young preacher asked them if they knew Mr____. They said yes, and that he was playing cards with his neighbors next door. When the young preacher reached the house he was furnished with a little cot in the attic. The next morning he inquired if there was a boarding house, or some place to spend Sunday; he was informed there was no boarding house. He then inquired if there were any Methodists who could entertain the preacher, but was informed there were none. “Well where am I to stay?” was the inquiry. “Stay here,” was the reply, “you can stay with the cook, as I am going off on the steamer.” Well, that Sunday morning we went out to the church building, the only church building within 90 miles up and down this coast,—a little box-like house, no doors or windows, no pews; the congregation had a little board about six inches wide running around the building which was their pew and that was all, and there we held our first service. We decided to make provision for a boarding house and a place to stay at the next place, and wrote ahead for them. When we arrived at Sebastian the wind was blowing, and we hoped they would have our room prepared, but we were informed that someone had said we would not be there until the next Saturday night, and although we said we had written we would be there at that time they insisted they had not expected us until the next Saturday. We were finally put in a loft over a store about 48×70 ft., lit by dim ship lanterns, and as I looked around I could see about a dozen cots occupied by strangers; the wind blew against the window-panes and howled around the building all that night. The next morning we set out and walked up the beach. It was hard to find any sign of a residence, only here and there a shack. After breakfast we inquired how many inhabitants were living there, and were informed there were about 75. Back in the woods, about three-quarters of a mile, over a little-traveled footpath, we found a little house, which seemed to me the prettiest place I had ever seen. The door on the front porch was open, and the linen was white and everything inside was neat and clean. I thought: “If I can stay here I am sure going to stay”. A lady came to the door with smiling face. “Is that you, Brother Blackburn” she asked, and her voice sounded like sweetest music to my ears. You will never know what it means to be called “Brother” until you have been far away from home among strangers. Not until then will you know what it means to have someone take you by the hand and call you brother. In that little community we found four church members, one man and three women. We got the use of an old mule stable, without any floor, which we used for a short time, until someone bought the ground on which it stood and turned us out of doors. We then got the use of another old building, until an infidel lecturer came to town and we had to give that up. We then received the use of a merchant’s parlor, but it was a pretty hard thing to hold service there. There were crowds of people walking in and out of the store and noisy crews out on the street. They were building the F E C railroad, and the railroad gangs were hanging around, and Indians and negroes.” The condition was unbearable, and one night we said: “We’ve just got to have a church, but how are we going to get the money to start it?” “I’ll give $10.00″ said our hostess. “I’ll write home and get another $10.00 from across the seas.” I said. “And I’ll add $15.00 in work,” said her husband. Well, we wrote to everyone we knew that we thought would be interested, and in about thirty days we had $140.00 to erect a little frame building. The first Sunday we held services we had a roof on one side, and the floor boards loosely laid down, the pulpit made of a piece of two by four lumber and a piece of weather boarding, and although it was unsightly and unfinished I suppose we were as proud as any folks ever were in a new building. I remember an interesting incident of the service: when I opened the doors of the church and inquired if anyone desired to come forward two young ladies came. I repeated the invitation and looked over the crowd and a young man got up and said “Do you mean me”. “Yes, if you want to,” I replied. “Well, I guess I’ll wait till next time,” was the answer. We went on to our next appointment at Fort Pierce, which in those days was named Edgar town. I was met at the wharf by a good Baptist and he took me to the home of the saloon keeper of the community. I remember one Sunday evening as we were singing with his wife and daughter the saloon keeper came into the room and took hold of a hymnal and asked us to sing “The Ninety and Nine”. He realized that he was outside the fold, and yet he had a warm appreciation of God’s servant and opened his home to him. A mishap in a wedding resulted in a church being organized at Stuart. It happened in this way: I was invited to go down to Stuart to officiate at a wedding, but we found on our arrival that the license had been secured in the wrong county. The couple lived in Dade county and the license had been secured in Brevard county. With the slow mode of transportation in those days it would have taken a week to secure another license, so the wedding was postponed for thirty days. They weren’t in such a hurry in those days. We took the occasion, however, to hold a service, which was the first on Saint Lucie river. A Sunday School was then organized, and later a Church organized and a church building erected. The 1895 Church of Stuart - historic building in Downtown Stuart, Martin County, Florida; art studio and gallery on the Treasure Coast. Supporting our local artists and the community's heritage. On the Lake Worth Division of the circuit, Rev. M. F. Dukes was pastor, and we united in our quarterly conferences. On our first quarterly conference we took an interesting trip going by boat and train and boat from Jupiter to Juno on a load of lumber, and paid 75c for a seat on a load of lumber,—a little over ten cents a mile for a seat. After a stormy journey on a little boat down the lake we held the quarterly conference the next day with nine men present in the congregation and a collection taken of nine silver dollars. The service was held in a school house near the site where the Royal Poinciana stands today. It was only a few months after this that a tragedy took, place in the home of Rev. Dukes. I received a message that the bride had died, and before I could arrive there on a steam-boat I found the poor woman had been laid away under the palmettoes on the beach, with no burial service. There was no minister of the gospel to speak a word of comfort to that bereaved man, no song, no prayer,—he laid her away in the sands there on the sea-shore. Just as he was about to leave a young Presbyterian ministerial student came along and pronounced the benediction. Those were trying times,-trying to preach and build up the Kingdom of God back in 1893. It was in 1898 here in Miami that we got the most thrills and throbs. Being sent here to organize a church we did not receive a very cordial welcome. The Presbyterian minister Dr. Faris, advised against our coming in, and said it was no use to try to organize, and Doctor J. M. Jackson talked to me for half an hour and said there was no opening for our church at that time. One minister, I won’t mention of what denomination he was, shook his fist in my face and said “I’ll fight you to the end”. This was not a very promising prospect for a young preacher trying to start a new enterprise. It was three months before we organized with 15 members and –enjoyed the hospitality of the Presbyterian tabernacle on Miami Ave. We then rented a building on Miami Ave. There were people living upstairs of the room in which we held services, and sometimes the children would play and drag their toys across the floor and make all kinds of noise while we held services, but our little organization of 15 members looked for brighter days. A few weeks after our organization we erected a modest little parsonage on the lot where Trinity now stands. It was built by a plumber, a tinner and a preacher. The roof was so steep “it would split a rain-drop” it was said. Shortly after we moved in the government sent down 8,000 soldiers during the Spanish-American war, who camped round our little building. They were Louisiana boys, and some of them were called “New Orleans Wharf rats”, and made conditions such that a visiting brother said it was “like living in hell”. After the soldiers left we thought perhaps the prospects of holding services successfully would become brighter, and then the yellow fever broke out. We were shut in by the quarantine. I don’t know whether any of you have ever experienced such a thing; day after day we were shut in from the outside world. I remember one pathetic incident when all the mourners rode bicycles except the immediate family, as it was thought carriages covered germs; the hearse was a little funny furniture wagon. However, shortly after this the Church Extension board came to our assistance with a thousand dollars, which enabled us to put up a shell of a church. One day I stepped into the building and I saw one of the workmen coming out from behind the nail kegs. It was the noon hour, and that workman had been spending his lunch period in prayer for our building. I sometimes wonder if the prosperity that has come to Trinity, and the beautiful spirit of that first church that has mothered eight other organizations around about Miami was hot born in that workman’s prayer behind those nail kegs that day. The contractor and foreman on the building, who was not a very religious man, but who had read a book on the wonderful answers to prayer, said at a time of financial despondency; and when there was a prospect of shutting down the works, “Why don’t you ask God for the money, as it is His enterprise?” Where we had 15 members in Miami in those days to begin with we now have 7,000, and whereas we had 16 members on Indian River and about 12 on Lake Worth we now have over 6,000 in all that territory, and the one church at Sebastian has increased to about 30 churches on Indian River and Lake Worth. It is almost impossible to realize the transformation from the smoke-screened services (when we had to burn smoke-smudge for the mosquitoes) in those little shacks, to those beautiful buildings -Trinity, Holleman Park, Hollywood, Fort Pierce and Miami Beach, as well as others. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Methodist Church history by Josephine Kitching Taylor, c. 1974 Subject The topic of the resource Churches Methodist churches First United Methodist Church (Stuart, Fla.) Taylor family Description An account of the resource Handwritten notes chiefly detailing the history of the Methodist Church. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1975 1970s Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Box B-4-2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <b>No Copyright - In the United States:</b> The Martin County Library System believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. For more information, visit <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 11 pages Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context JP-2025-035-b42-005 2025.035 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Churches https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/files/original/8f30ef3eaf099f2ecd5bfe84d08d1248.pdf ab0aaacabe1d77ecbad5f2020e95e243 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor Writings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Description An account of the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895–1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846–1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Her father, Walter Kitching, was an early resident who opened a general store in 1897 following a long career as a merchant along Florida’s coast. Josephine married John E. Taylor (1892–1972), who had worked for her father prior to their marriage. John later became a banker and businessman, establishing an insurance and real estate firm in 1957. The company, later known as Taylor-Ashley Insurance and Real Estate, continues to operate as a family business on Colorado Avenue in Stuart as of 2025. This collection includes typewritten short histories authored by Josephine Taylor, as well as handwritten notes that may have served as drafts or source material for her completed writings. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document It was in the closing hour of a Florida conference in 1892 that appointments were being read; there was a tenseness, a feeling of excitement, and all else that goes with that unique scene in Methodism when the ministers receive; their appointments to their fields of service for the coming year. A young preacher was in that gathering who was just closing his first two years as a member of the Florida Conference, and when he received his appointment it proved a disappointment, for he was assigned to Indian River, and having heard something of the nature of the work ahead of him he realized that his hopes of a little home-nest would not be carried out; he realized that he was going to a work of hardship and misery. Then, looking around him, he was the leading pastor of the conference, the pastor of the First Church of Jacksonville, with his hands before his face and tears trickling through his fingers on receiving his appointment, and the young minister thought: “When a leading pastor has just received such a disappointment, surely I, who am just a young boy starting out can bear a little disappointment also.” We arrived at Brantley on Indian River about nine o’clock on a very dark night, and the lights of the ship lit up the dark shadows and disclosed some dozen or more negroes, on the wharf, and as we stepped off the boat they chattered and shuffled back and forth. The young preacher asked them if they knew Mr____. They said yes, and that he was playing cards with his neighbors next door. When the young preacher reached the house he was furnished with a little cot in the attic. The next morning he inquired if there was a boarding house, or some place to spend Sunday; he was informed there was no boarding house. He then inquired if there were any Methodists who could entertain the preacher, but was informed there were none. “Well where am I to stay?” was the inquiry. “Stay here,” was the reply, “you can stay with the cook, as I am going off on the steamer.” Well, that Sunday morning we went out to the church building, the only church building within 90 miles up and down this coast,—a little box-like house, no doors or windows, no pews; the congregation had a little board about six inches wide running around the building which was their pew and that was all, and there we held our first service. We decided to make provision for a boarding house and a place to stay at the next place, and wrote ahead for them. When we arrived at Sebastian the wind was blowing, and we hoped they would have our room prepared, but we were informed that someone had said we would not be there until the next Saturday night, and although we said we had written we would be there at that time they insisted they had not expected us until the next Saturday. We were finally put in a loft over a store about 48×70 ft., lit by dim ship lanterns, and as I looked around I could see about a dozen cots occupied by strangers; the wind blew against the window-panes and howled around the building all that night. The next morning we set out and walked up the beach. It was hard to find any sign of a residence, only here and there a shack. After breakfast we inquired how many inhabitants were living there, and were informed there were about 75. Back in the woods, about three-quarters of a mile, over a little-traveled footpath, we found a little house, which seemed to me the prettiest place I had ever seen. The door on the front porch was open, and the linen was white and everything inside was neat and clean. I thought: “If I can stay here I am sure going to stay”. A lady came to the door with smiling face. “Is that you, Brother Blackburn” she asked, and her voice sounded like sweetest music to my ears. You will never know what it means to be called “Brother” until you have been far away from home among strangers. Not until then will you know what it means to have someone take you by the hand and call you brother. In that little community we found four church members, one man and three women. We got the use of an old mule stable, without any floor, which we used for a short time, until someone bought the ground on which it stood and turned us out of doors. We then got the use of another old building, until an infidel lecturer came to town and we had to give that up. We then received the use of a merchant’s parlor, but it was a pretty hard thing to hold service there. There were crowds of people walking in and out of the store and noisy crews out on the street. They were building the F E C railroad, and the railroad gangs were hanging around, and Indians and negroes.” The condition was unbearable, and one night we said: “We’ve just got to have a church, but how are we going to get the money to start it?” “I’ll give $10.00″ said our hostess. “I’ll write home and get another $10.00 from across the seas.” I said. “And I’ll add $15.00 in work,” said her husband. Well, we wrote to everyone we knew that we thought would be interested, and in about thirty days we had $140.00 to erect a little frame building. The first Sunday we held services we had a roof on one side, and the floor boards loosely laid down, the pulpit made of a piece of two by four lumber and a piece of weather boarding, and although it was unsightly and unfinished I suppose we were as proud as any folks ever were in a new building. I remember an interesting incident of the service: when I opened the doors of the church and inquired if anyone desired to come forward two young ladies came. I repeated the invitation and looked over the crowd and a young man got up and said “Do you mean me”. “Yes, if you want to,” I replied. “Well, I guess I’ll wait till next time,” was the answer. We went on to our next appointment at Fort Pierce, which in those days was named Edgar town. I was met at the wharf by a good Baptist and he took me to the home of the saloon keeper of the community. I remember one Sunday evening as we were singing with his wife and daughter the saloon keeper came into the room and took hold of a hymnal and asked us to sing “The Ninety and Nine”. He realized that he was outside the fold, and yet he had a warm appreciation of God’s servant and opened his home to him. A mishap in a wedding resulted in a church being organized at Stuart. It happened in this way: I was invited to go down to Stuart to officiate at a wedding, but we found on our arrival that the license had been secured in the wrong county. The couple lived in Dade county and the license had been secured in Brevard county. With the slow mode of transportation in those days it would have taken a week to secure another license, so the wedding was postponed for thirty days. They weren’t in such a hurry in those days. We took the occasion, however, to hold a service, which was the first on Saint Lucie river. A Sunday School was then organized, and later a Church organized and a church building erected. The 1895 Church of Stuart - historic building in Downtown Stuart, Martin County, Florida; art studio and gallery on the Treasure Coast. Supporting our local artists and the community's heritage. On the Lake Worth Division of the circuit, Rev. M. F. Dukes was pastor, and we united in our quarterly conferences. On our first quarterly conference we took an interesting trip going by boat and train and boat from Jupiter to Juno on a load of lumber, and paid 75c for a seat on a load of lumber,—a little over ten cents a mile for a seat. After a stormy journey on a little boat down the lake we held the quarterly conference the next day with nine men present in the congregation and a collection taken of nine silver dollars. The service was held in a school house near the site where the Royal Poinciana stands today. It was only a few months after this that a tragedy took, place in the home of Rev. Dukes. I received a message that the bride had died, and before I could arrive there on a steam-boat I found the poor woman had been laid away under the palmettoes on the beach, with no burial service. There was no minister of the gospel to speak a word of comfort to that bereaved man, no song, no prayer,—he laid her away in the sands there on the sea-shore. Just as he was about to leave a young Presbyterian ministerial student came along and pronounced the benediction. Those were trying times,-trying to preach and build up the Kingdom of God back in 1893. It was in 1898 here in Miami that we got the most thrills and throbs. Being sent here to organize a church we did not receive a very cordial welcome. The Presbyterian minister Dr. Faris, advised against our coming in, and said it was no use to try to organize, and Doctor J. M. Jackson talked to me for half an hour and said there was no opening for our church at that time. One minister, I won’t mention of what denomination he was, shook his fist in my face and said “I’ll fight you to the end”. This was not a very promising prospect for a young preacher trying to start a new enterprise. It was three months before we organized with 15 members and –enjoyed the hospitality of the Presbyterian tabernacle on Miami Ave. We then rented a building on Miami Ave. There were people living upstairs of the room in which we held services, and sometimes the children would play and drag their toys across the floor and make all kinds of noise while we held services, but our little organization of 15 members looked for brighter days. A few weeks after our organization we erected a modest little parsonage on the lot where Trinity now stands. It was built by a plumber, a tinner and a preacher. The roof was so steep “it would split a rain-drop” it was said. Shortly after we moved in the government sent down 8,000 soldiers during the Spanish-American war, who camped round our little building. They were Louisiana boys, and some of them were called “New Orleans Wharf rats”, and made conditions such that a visiting brother said it was “like living in hell”. After the soldiers left we thought perhaps the prospects of holding services successfully would become brighter, and then the yellow fever broke out. We were shut in by the quarantine. I don’t know whether any of you have ever experienced such a thing; day after day we were shut in from the outside world. I remember one pathetic incident when all the mourners rode bicycles except the immediate family, as it was thought carriages covered germs; the hearse was a little funny furniture wagon. However, shortly after this the Church Extension board came to our assistance with a thousand dollars, which enabled us to put up a shell of a church. One day I stepped into the building and I saw one of the workmen coming out from behind the nail kegs. It was the noon hour, and that workman had been spending his lunch period in prayer for our building. I sometimes wonder if the prosperity that has come to Trinity, and the beautiful spirit of that first church that has mothered eight other organizations around about Miami was hot born in that workman’s prayer behind those nail kegs that day. The contractor and foreman on the building, who was not a very religious man, but who had read a book on the wonderful answers to prayer, said at a time of financial despondency; and when there was a prospect of shutting down the works, “Why don’t you ask God for the money, as it is His enterprise?” Where we had 15 members in Miami in those days to begin with we now have 7,000, and whereas we had 16 members on Indian River and about 12 on Lake Worth we now have over 6,000 in all that territory, and the one church at Sebastian has increased to about 30 churches on Indian River and Lake Worth. It is almost impossible to realize the transformation from the smoke-screened services (when we had to burn smoke-smudge for the mosquitoes) in those little shacks, to those beautiful buildings -Trinity, Holleman Park, Hollywood, Fort Pierce and Miami Beach, as well as others. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John E. Taylor to 1929 by Josephine Kitching Taylor, c. 1974 Subject The topic of the resource Taylor family Taylor, John E., 1892-1972 Description An account of the resource Handwritten notes detailing the early life of her husband, John E. Taylor, to 1929. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource c. 1975 1970s Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Box B-4-2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <b>No Copyright - In the United States:</b> The Martin County Library System believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. For more information, visit <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 4 pages Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context JP-2025-035-b42-006 2025.035 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Churches https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/files/original/53b68d07d85634af79e324a026c3eb9b.pdf 9db31efa6442f912fbda00f4bbeac8cc Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor Writings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Description An account of the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895–1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846–1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Her father, Walter Kitching, was an early resident who opened a general store in 1897 following a long career as a merchant along Florida’s coast. Josephine married John E. Taylor (1892–1972), who had worked for her father prior to their marriage. John later became a banker and businessman, establishing an insurance and real estate firm in 1957. The company, later known as Taylor-Ashley Insurance and Real Estate, continues to operate as a family business on Colorado Avenue in Stuart as of 2025. This collection includes typewritten short histories authored by Josephine Taylor, as well as handwritten notes that may have served as drafts or source material for her completed writings. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document It was in the closing hour of a Florida conference in 1892 that appointments were being read; there was a tenseness, a feeling of excitement, and all else that goes with that unique scene in Methodism when the ministers receive; their appointments to their fields of service for the coming year. A young preacher was in that gathering who was just closing his first two years as a member of the Florida Conference, and when he received his appointment it proved a disappointment, for he was assigned to Indian River, and having heard something of the nature of the work ahead of him he realized that his hopes of a little home-nest would not be carried out; he realized that he was going to a work of hardship and misery. Then, looking around him, he was the leading pastor of the conference, the pastor of the First Church of Jacksonville, with his hands before his face and tears trickling through his fingers on receiving his appointment, and the young minister thought: “When a leading pastor has just received such a disappointment, surely I, who am just a young boy starting out can bear a little disappointment also.” We arrived at Brantley on Indian River about nine o’clock on a very dark night, and the lights of the ship lit up the dark shadows and disclosed some dozen or more negroes, on the wharf, and as we stepped off the boat they chattered and shuffled back and forth. The young preacher asked them if they knew Mr____. They said yes, and that he was playing cards with his neighbors next door. When the young preacher reached the house he was furnished with a little cot in the attic. The next morning he inquired if there was a boarding house, or some place to spend Sunday; he was informed there was no boarding house. He then inquired if there were any Methodists who could entertain the preacher, but was informed there were none. “Well where am I to stay?” was the inquiry. “Stay here,” was the reply, “you can stay with the cook, as I am going off on the steamer.” Well, that Sunday morning we went out to the church building, the only church building within 90 miles up and down this coast,—a little box-like house, no doors or windows, no pews; the congregation had a little board about six inches wide running around the building which was their pew and that was all, and there we held our first service. We decided to make provision for a boarding house and a place to stay at the next place, and wrote ahead for them. When we arrived at Sebastian the wind was blowing, and we hoped they would have our room prepared, but we were informed that someone had said we would not be there until the next Saturday night, and although we said we had written we would be there at that time they insisted they had not expected us until the next Saturday. We were finally put in a loft over a store about 48×70 ft., lit by dim ship lanterns, and as I looked around I could see about a dozen cots occupied by strangers; the wind blew against the window-panes and howled around the building all that night. The next morning we set out and walked up the beach. It was hard to find any sign of a residence, only here and there a shack. After breakfast we inquired how many inhabitants were living there, and were informed there were about 75. Back in the woods, about three-quarters of a mile, over a little-traveled footpath, we found a little house, which seemed to me the prettiest place I had ever seen. The door on the front porch was open, and the linen was white and everything inside was neat and clean. I thought: “If I can stay here I am sure going to stay”. A lady came to the door with smiling face. “Is that you, Brother Blackburn” she asked, and her voice sounded like sweetest music to my ears. You will never know what it means to be called “Brother” until you have been far away from home among strangers. Not until then will you know what it means to have someone take you by the hand and call you brother. In that little community we found four church members, one man and three women. We got the use of an old mule stable, without any floor, which we used for a short time, until someone bought the ground on which it stood and turned us out of doors. We then got the use of another old building, until an infidel lecturer came to town and we had to give that up. We then received the use of a merchant’s parlor, but it was a pretty hard thing to hold service there. There were crowds of people walking in and out of the store and noisy crews out on the street. They were building the F E C railroad, and the railroad gangs were hanging around, and Indians and negroes.” The condition was unbearable, and one night we said: “We’ve just got to have a church, but how are we going to get the money to start it?” “I’ll give $10.00″ said our hostess. “I’ll write home and get another $10.00 from across the seas.” I said. “And I’ll add $15.00 in work,” said her husband. Well, we wrote to everyone we knew that we thought would be interested, and in about thirty days we had $140.00 to erect a little frame building. The first Sunday we held services we had a roof on one side, and the floor boards loosely laid down, the pulpit made of a piece of two by four lumber and a piece of weather boarding, and although it was unsightly and unfinished I suppose we were as proud as any folks ever were in a new building. I remember an interesting incident of the service: when I opened the doors of the church and inquired if anyone desired to come forward two young ladies came. I repeated the invitation and looked over the crowd and a young man got up and said “Do you mean me”. “Yes, if you want to,” I replied. “Well, I guess I’ll wait till next time,” was the answer. We went on to our next appointment at Fort Pierce, which in those days was named Edgar town. I was met at the wharf by a good Baptist and he took me to the home of the saloon keeper of the community. I remember one Sunday evening as we were singing with his wife and daughter the saloon keeper came into the room and took hold of a hymnal and asked us to sing “The Ninety and Nine”. He realized that he was outside the fold, and yet he had a warm appreciation of God’s servant and opened his home to him. A mishap in a wedding resulted in a church being organized at Stuart. It happened in this way: I was invited to go down to Stuart to officiate at a wedding, but we found on our arrival that the license had been secured in the wrong county. The couple lived in Dade county and the license had been secured in Brevard county. With the slow mode of transportation in those days it would have taken a week to secure another license, so the wedding was postponed for thirty days. They weren’t in such a hurry in those days. We took the occasion, however, to hold a service, which was the first on Saint Lucie river. A Sunday School was then organized, and later a Church organized and a church building erected. The 1895 Church of Stuart - historic building in Downtown Stuart, Martin County, Florida; art studio and gallery on the Treasure Coast. Supporting our local artists and the community's heritage. On the Lake Worth Division of the circuit, Rev. M. F. Dukes was pastor, and we united in our quarterly conferences. On our first quarterly conference we took an interesting trip going by boat and train and boat from Jupiter to Juno on a load of lumber, and paid 75c for a seat on a load of lumber,—a little over ten cents a mile for a seat. After a stormy journey on a little boat down the lake we held the quarterly conference the next day with nine men present in the congregation and a collection taken of nine silver dollars. The service was held in a school house near the site where the Royal Poinciana stands today. It was only a few months after this that a tragedy took, place in the home of Rev. Dukes. I received a message that the bride had died, and before I could arrive there on a steam-boat I found the poor woman had been laid away under the palmettoes on the beach, with no burial service. There was no minister of the gospel to speak a word of comfort to that bereaved man, no song, no prayer,—he laid her away in the sands there on the sea-shore. Just as he was about to leave a young Presbyterian ministerial student came along and pronounced the benediction. Those were trying times,-trying to preach and build up the Kingdom of God back in 1893. It was in 1898 here in Miami that we got the most thrills and throbs. Being sent here to organize a church we did not receive a very cordial welcome. The Presbyterian minister Dr. Faris, advised against our coming in, and said it was no use to try to organize, and Doctor J. M. Jackson talked to me for half an hour and said there was no opening for our church at that time. One minister, I won’t mention of what denomination he was, shook his fist in my face and said “I’ll fight you to the end”. This was not a very promising prospect for a young preacher trying to start a new enterprise. It was three months before we organized with 15 members and –enjoyed the hospitality of the Presbyterian tabernacle on Miami Ave. We then rented a building on Miami Ave. There were people living upstairs of the room in which we held services, and sometimes the children would play and drag their toys across the floor and make all kinds of noise while we held services, but our little organization of 15 members looked for brighter days. A few weeks after our organization we erected a modest little parsonage on the lot where Trinity now stands. It was built by a plumber, a tinner and a preacher. The roof was so steep “it would split a rain-drop” it was said. Shortly after we moved in the government sent down 8,000 soldiers during the Spanish-American war, who camped round our little building. They were Louisiana boys, and some of them were called “New Orleans Wharf rats”, and made conditions such that a visiting brother said it was “like living in hell”. After the soldiers left we thought perhaps the prospects of holding services successfully would become brighter, and then the yellow fever broke out. We were shut in by the quarantine. I don’t know whether any of you have ever experienced such a thing; day after day we were shut in from the outside world. I remember one pathetic incident when all the mourners rode bicycles except the immediate family, as it was thought carriages covered germs; the hearse was a little funny furniture wagon. However, shortly after this the Church Extension board came to our assistance with a thousand dollars, which enabled us to put up a shell of a church. One day I stepped into the building and I saw one of the workmen coming out from behind the nail kegs. It was the noon hour, and that workman had been spending his lunch period in prayer for our building. I sometimes wonder if the prosperity that has come to Trinity, and the beautiful spirit of that first church that has mothered eight other organizations around about Miami was hot born in that workman’s prayer behind those nail kegs that day. The contractor and foreman on the building, who was not a very religious man, but who had read a book on the wonderful answers to prayer, said at a time of financial despondency; and when there was a prospect of shutting down the works, “Why don’t you ask God for the money, as it is His enterprise?” Where we had 15 members in Miami in those days to begin with we now have 7,000, and whereas we had 16 members on Indian River and about 12 on Lake Worth we now have over 6,000 in all that territory, and the one church at Sebastian has increased to about 30 churches on Indian River and Lake Worth. It is almost impossible to realize the transformation from the smoke-screened services (when we had to burn smoke-smudge for the mosquitoes) in those little shacks, to those beautiful buildings -Trinity, Holleman Park, Hollywood, Fort Pierce and Miami Beach, as well as others. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Family record of John Edwin Taylor and Josephine Kitching Taylor Subject The topic of the resource Taylor family Taylor, John E., 1892-1972 Taylor, Sarah Josephine Kitching, 1895-1987 Family trees Registers of births, etc. Description An account of the resource Preprinted family record book, with room for births, deaths, and other information. Completed for John and Josephine Taylor and their children. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1955-1980 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Box B-4-2 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <b>No Copyright - In the United States:</b> The Martin County Library System believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. For more information, visit <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 35 pages Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context JP-2025-035-b42-007 2025.035 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/files/original/ad3c412835cfc307332b565462779274.pdf 51b0235c87327e2ac8db96602eae7fbb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor Writings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Description An account of the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895–1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846–1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Her father, Walter Kitching, was an early resident who opened a general store in 1897 following a long career as a merchant along Florida’s coast. Josephine married John E. Taylor (1892–1972), who had worked for her father prior to their marriage. John later became a banker and businessman, establishing an insurance and real estate firm in 1957. The company, later known as Taylor-Ashley Insurance and Real Estate, continues to operate as a family business on Colorado Avenue in Stuart as of 2025. This collection includes typewritten short histories authored by Josephine Taylor, as well as handwritten notes that may have served as drafts or source material for her completed writings. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor's Recipe Book, c. 1965 Subject The topic of the resource Taylor, Sarah Josephine Kitching, 1895-1987 Cookbooks Cooking Description An account of the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846-1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. This book contains both handwritten recipes, many of which indicate from whom she received the recipe, and several clippings. The recipes include chiefly desserts and salads. The cookies, cakes, and pies look delicious while the "salads" reflect food preferences that have changed over time. An index and table of contents has been created, located at the end of the PDF. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-1969 1960s Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Taylor Archive Box A-2-1 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 53 page PDF Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 2025.035 JP-2025-035-a21p-077 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Cooking https://www.martindigitalhistory.org/files/original/d72eca4ee88f73db7b6a39facdee8b01.pdf 336e36a939d0bfabe64de0f80940cc89 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor Writings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart Description An account of the resource Sarah Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895–1987) was a native and early pioneer of Stuart, Florida. Deeply involved in her community, she was a charter member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood chapter, an active participant in the Historical Society of Martin County, and a devoted member of the Methodist Church. A dedicated local historian, Taylor wrote numerous short histories documenting the people and events of early Stuart. The only child of Walter Kitching (1846–1932) and Emma Jane Michael Kitching (1870–1951), Josephine came from one of Stuart’s earliest families. Her father, Walter Kitching, was an early resident who opened a general store in 1897 following a long career as a merchant along Florida’s coast. Josephine married John E. Taylor (1892–1972), who had worked for her father prior to their marriage. John later became a banker and businessman, establishing an insurance and real estate firm in 1957. The company, later known as Taylor-Ashley Insurance and Real Estate, continues to operate as a family business on Colorado Avenue in Stuart as of 2025. This collection includes typewritten short histories authored by Josephine Taylor, as well as handwritten notes that may have served as drafts or source material for her completed writings. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context JP-2025-035-a21p-074 2025.035 Title A name given to the resource Josephine Kitching notes, c. 1965 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Josephine Paradise Taylor Archive Box A-2-1 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-1969 1960s Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 3 page PDF Description An account of the resource Includes notes on: Our Bungalow, Walter Kitching's stores, Grove House, and John Taylor's career as mayor and commissioner. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Josephine Kitching Taylor (1895-1987) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Scan gift of Josephine Paradise and the Taylor-Ashley Agency. Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <b>In Copyright - Rights-holder(s) Unlocatable or Unidentifiable </b> The Martin County Library System believes this Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. However, for this Item, either (a) no rights-holder(s) have been identified or (b) one or more rights-holder(s) have been identified but none have been located. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For more information, visit <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/</a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Florida-Stuart