Taylor, John B.

John B. Taylor was born on a farm in Nebraska in 1889, and his family moved to Missoula, Montana, in 1904. He married Catherine Hauck in 1926 and together they raised three children, Elsie, Dora, and Ellen. He died in Missoula in 1975 at the age of 84. In his acknowledgments for his memoir, John Taylor thanked A. B. Guthrie and Harold G. Merriam for their encouragement and counsel. A. B. Guthrie was in the same graduating class (1923) at the University of Montana (then Montana State University) as Taylor’s wife, and she may have introduced them. The book editor, John C. Frohlicher, graduated in 1926 and may also have known Guthrie, as both were involved with The Frontier, the university’s literary magazine, under the guidance of Harold G. Merriam. A reknown creative writing professor, Merriam was influential in turning Missoula into a hub of literary talent.