Walter L. Taylor was born in Loudoun County in June 1865; that is, immediately after the Civil War. His parents were Andrew Jackson Taylor and Emily. Between 1877 and 1880, Walter’s father acquired 126 acres along the Middle Turnpike—today’s Route 7—extending from today’s Spring Hill Road to the west past today’s Dulles Toll Road, according to Fairfax County property records. By the spring of 1880, the family was probably living on this property, judging from census information. In 1889, Walter married Katie Rotchford from a nearby family, according to Virginia marriage records. At the time, Walter was working as a deputy treasurer of some sorts. The following year, Katie and Walter had their only child, a son, according to census information. In 1895, Walter’s parents drew from their landholdings to sell Walter a parcel “known as Ash Grove P[ost] O[ffice] and containing two acres and a house on the north side of the Leesburg Pike, according to Fairfax County property records.
Walter most likely was living at this property at the time of his employment at the Clarke School. In late 1898, he was living in the Ash Grove area when he announced his candidacy in the Democratic Party primary for a county position.
At the time of his announcement, he was a public school teacher, presumably at the Clarke School, which we can confirm for the following year. In late 1899, he suffered an injury while playing baseball with his students at Clarke:
Over the course of the first decade of the new century, Walter appears to have encountered hardship after an ambitious start. Perhaps his injury from the baseball beaning forced him into a different line of work; in the 1900 census, he’s listed as a grocer. In 1902 and 1904 he was the buyer and seller in several property transactions in Fairfax County. Among these, one involved a transfer of ownership from his parents of the 48-acre-residue of their property at Ash Grove. Another involved 20 acres to the east of Wolf Trap Run and north of today’s Dulles Toll Road, partially within the bounds of today’s Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. In 1903, Walter bought a property at 901 3rd Street, SW in Washington, DC. By 1904, he was residing at this property, judging from Fairfax County property records. As of the year, Walter was “established in the wood, coal, and feed business in Washington City, according the Fairfax Herald, which also noted that Walter have provided his brother-in-law with a “well-paying position.” As of early 1906, he was the member of several fraternal organizations. For one of these, the Protected Home Circle, a fraternal life insurance company, he served in mid-decade as the president of a local chapter. A write-up in Washington Times in early 1906 described Walter as “one of Southwest Washington’s leading business men.” That same year, he sold one of his Virginia parcels and mortgaged two others. In mid-1906 he apparently brought a co-owner into his business. According to the Washington Post, Walter entered into a short-lived partnership for a wholesale and retail business to sell coal, wood, and feed at the Southwest residence and a nearby coal yard. Within months, he and his partner dissolved their relationship, with Walter assuming all the debts, according to the Evening Star.
The property transactions accelerated in 1907. Walter and wife Katie mortgaged two additional Virginia properties, sold properties in three additional transactions, and were sued by the American National Bank of Washington and the National Bank of Fairfax for separate defaults, with the banks going after their properties. Walter sold the building with his home and store on 3rd Street SW to his former business partner. In late 1907, Walter and an older brother, George, granted Fairfax lawyer Thomas Keith power of attorney to represent them at court to settle with the National Bank of Fairfax on the bank’s terms, judging from county property records. In 1909, Walter filed for bankruptcy in the District and the court discharged his debts. The last of his and Katie’s Fairfax County real estate holdings appears to have been sold in 1909 and the last newspaper reference to a District real estate transaction involving Walter was in 1910, although lawsuits involving his former properties continued until the late 1920s. According to the 1910 census, Walter and his son were working at a feed store, presumably the same store as before, and the family was still living in Southwest DC. But rather than owning the property where he resided, Walter was renting, according to the census.
At some point in the ensuing decade, Walter and Katie relocated to Texas. The last of the references to Walter in DC-area newspapers were in 1912. By 1920, Walter and Katie were boarders in El Paso, according to the census, and Walter was working as a dairyman. That same year, Katie died in Ranger, Texas. Ranger is between Fort Worth and Abilene and was an oil boom town after 1917. Perhaps perceived opportunities from the boom had prompted the couple to move there. By 1930, Walter, a widower, had returned to the education career that he had left at the Clarke School. He was teaching public school in Crawford County, Arkansas and living with his son and the son’s wife. Crawford County is in the Ozarks. Circa 1938, Walter moved to Fayetteville in northwestern Arkansas, according to his death certificate. In 1946, Walter Lee Taylor, retired school teacher, died of a stroke in Fayetteville, according to his death certificate. He is buried in Conley Cemetery in Crawford County, Arkansas, according to findagrave.com.