Collection Caused Trouble For Husband And Wife
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Bud Phillips/Bristol Herald Courier
Published: April 12, 2008
Joe D. Taylor and his wife Jessica Rogan Taylor, had a lovely and unique home that still stands at 416 Pennsylvania Ave. in Bristol Tennessee.
But, as well built and furnished as it was, Jessica was never comfortable or happy there. I will tell you why, but first I must go back a bit.
Joe D. Taylor began collecting Indian relics on the family farm near Blountville when he was in his mid-teens. This hobby soon became an all-assuming obsession with him, in which he indulged for most of his life (1861-1941).
His scope of search soon included many points near and far – some very far – wherever he might hear rumors of such finds. To say he was successful is putting it mildly. In time, his collection grew to be what many thought was the largest and best in the United States.
The unique tower on his home was built to house the most prized artifacts in the collection. Its fame was so great that it caught the attention of the Smithsonian Institute. The institute offered him $20,000 for it, a staggering sum in those days. He refused the offer.
In his young manhood, he married his childhood sweetheart, Miss Jessie Rogan, from a prominent East Tennessee family. Though she loved him dearly, she certainly had no love for his collection.
She often claimed that the ever-growing collection was crowding them out of house and home. She said that their only guest bed was covered by what she called “those horrid Indian things.”
But she had another and greater reason to resent those horrid Indian things. From childhood, she had been very fond of Old Dad Ensor, father or grandfather of the early Bristol pioneers, David and Dr. John J. Ensor.
This old man, who was so well-versed in Indian lore, had firmly convinced her that Indian spirits often lingered around the relics, and might at any moment manifest themselves in a most fearsome manner. Thus, Mrs. Taylor could never be at ease in her otherwise tranquil home.
All this came to a head in early 1912. When digging the foundation trench for a new business house in downtown Bristol, workmen found an Indian burial ground.
From it, Joe D. Taylor was able to assemble a complete skeleton. He wired the bones together and hung the skeleton on the back of a door that led from his carriage house into a back storage room. His wife knew nothing of this for she seldom ever went into that gloomy back room.
But one day she did. It was a cloudy, dark day, making the room even more gloomy. When she opened that door, she suddenly found herself almost nose to nose with a grinning hollow-eyed skeleton.
She left that building in long leaps and screaming every breath, she fled across Pennsylvania Avenue to the John Alf Brewer place and there fainted on the front porch.
Mrs. Brewer ran next door where, luckily she found Dr. M.M. Pierson at home. After Dr. Pierson revived Mrs. Taylor, he went over to investigate the “ghost.” Though he found the skeleton to be real, Mrs. Taylor would never return home until Mr. Taylor removed every piece of his collection to a building at 105 6th St.
Jessie Taylor later confided to a friend that she was truly enjoying her beautiful home since Joe had moved every piece of that "infernal" collection.
Alas, her enjoyment was not for long. She died within a few months. Taylor then moved over to live with his prized collection, spending his last days there.
The old home still stands, proudly lifting its unique tower to the sky. It is now the home of my good friend Vincent Kinsler.
BUD PHILLIPS is a local historian and author. He can be reached at (276) 466-6435.
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