DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — Emzy Taylor, Williamson County, and the making of a town. Taylor was born in 1841, an Arkansas native who came up learning the trade behind the counter of his father's mercantile store right there in Georgetown. Now, a young man clerking dry goods might not seem like the stuff of legend — but patience.
The Civil War had other plans for Emzy Taylor. He rose to captain and served in the Red River campaign, and somewhere in the middle of all that, while on furlough in 1864, he married Margaret Corinna Henderson. Whatever else that war took from men, it did not take that moment.
When the war was over, Taylor came back to Georgetown, stepped behind the counter again — only this time he took over the family business entire. And then the real work began. If Georgetown needed something built, Emzy Taylor seems to have been the man leaning over the table saying, let's get this done.
The first college — Taylor was there. A national bank — Taylor was there. A regional railroad line threading this part of Texas together — Taylor was there for that too.
A water utility service, because a growing town needs more than ambition to keep the lights on and the fires down — Taylor again. Speaking of fires. Of everything he put his hand to, Taylor took special pride in one particular role: he formed the city's volunteer fire department and served as its chief.
There's something in that, isn't there — a man who spent years building things making sure there was always someone ready when things burned. Emzy Taylor died in 1895, the same year Texas was marking a hundred and fifty years of statehood. He had filled those years full.
What the marker says
(1841-1895) Arkansas native Emzy Taylor clerked in his father's mercantile store in Georgetown before serving as a Confederate captain in the Red River campaign of the Civil War. He married Margaret Corinna Henderson in 1864 while on furlough. After the war he returned to Georgetown and took over the family business. At the forefront of Georgetown's early development, Taylor led efforts to establish the first college, national bank, regional railroad line, and water utility service. He took special pride in his formation and service as chief of the city's volunteer fire department. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995