Researching Will Taylor

William H. Taylor was born in Iowa on February 12, 1853 to a large mid-western family. In 1872 at the age of 19, his family moved to the Snoqualmie Valley where William took a cooks assistant job at the Newcastle Coal Mine cookhouse, near Issaquah. Later, he relocated to Fall City to help clear land and worked as logger near the mouth of the Skykomish River.

Like most pioneers, he found work wherever he could and later returned to the upper Snoqualmie Valley to work as cabin builder, logger and general laborer for Lucinda Fares and her uncle Jeremiah Borst, known as the "Father of the Snoqualmie Valley".

In 1876, he moved to California to take work as a miner. After receiving a work offer from Borst, he married Molly Beard and they returned north to work on Borst's farm for six years. They built their own home, a popular boarding house and trading post for travelers over the Snoqualmie Pass. As a family, they raised six children, but in the 1890s the Taylors separated. William later remarried valley resident Ella Hyman, who was a widow with one daughter.

From 1888 to 1891, Taylor served as county commissioner and was instrumental in building many of the bridges over the rivers and streams that cut through the Snoqualmie Valley.

On February 16, 1889, with the upcoming railroad boom, Taylor formally platted a town including his farm, upcoming street plans and building lots, giving it the name Snoqualmie. Later that summer competing Seattle land speculators subsequently platted nearby Snoqualmie Falls choosing a similar name. Pressured by demands of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway to avoid confusion, Taylor reluctantly renamed his town Mountain View. However, the United States Post Office Department objected to Mountain View as a town already existed in northern Whatcom County. To conclude the matter Taylor agreed to permanently rename his settlement North Bend after its prime location near the large northward bend of the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River. Taylor was proud of his new, thriving town, but by historical accounts "He never got over having his town name taken away".

Throughout his remaining years Taylor served on the Snoqualmie Valley school board, operated a general store, cleared an abundance of valley land and built many homes. He was also an early conservationist who planted trees to replace those he felled. In 1931, at the age of 76, he helped build a trail up Mount Si, which was dedicated as the William H. Taylor Memorial Trail by his friend the regional historian Edmund Meany. A hard-working man, he lived to the age of 88, long enough to see the settlement he founded grow into a vibrant community. Taylor died on January 9, 1941, and was buried at the foot of Mount Si.

Taylor was born at Wirksworth, Derbyshire the son of Walter Taylor of Fern House and his wife Alice. His father was a manufacturer of artificial fertilizer.

Taylor made his Derbyshire debut during the 1905 season, against Nottinghamshire but made little impression. In the 1906 season, he played a match during a West Indian tour of England, when he took two wickets, one of them being of Lebrun Constantine. Taylor played two games during the 1910 season, probably as a substitute, in which he was able to keep up his consistency between Test cricketer Arnold Warren and pre-war Derbyshire representative Frederick Bracey. Taylor was a right-handed batsman who played 8 innings in 4 matches with a top score of 11 and an average of 7.57. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and took 2 wickets at an average of 28.

On 8 August 1908, Taylor became secretary of Derbyshire County Cricket Club, when he was described in the Derbyshire Cricket Guide as "(An) enthusiastic worker of a firm but courteous disposition who is likely to prove a successful official, combining the advantages of a good business training with an intimate knowledge of cricket and cricketers". He often accompanied the XI to away matches and acted as scorer and substitute. He went on to serve the club for over 51 years, turning down an invitation to act as secretary for Lancashire in 1932. During the First World War he reached the rank of captain before he was badly wounded. He would have been the manager of the MCC side to South Africa in 1927 had Guy Jackson been able to lead it.

In 1953, his History of Derbyshire Cricket was published in Wisden. He retired as secretary on 31 December 1959 after 51 years and 149 days. After his retirement, he was appointed to the Committee, and was Honorary Secretary from 1962 to 1972. It was said of him "Few men have done so much for cricket". MCC elected him as life member, the only county secretary to be elected while still in office.

Taylor died in Breadsall at the age of 91. His brother, Francis Taylor, five years his junior, also played first-class cricket for Derbyshire although they never played in the same match. His two other brothers died in the First World War.