James Oliver Jelks Taylor was born in Hawkinsville, Georgia on April 15, 1893. He attended Hawkinsville High School and upon graduation entered Emory University. Taylor served first as assistant pastor of a Methodist Church in Fitzgerald, Georgia in 1915 and then as Pastor in Arabi, Georgia from 1916 through 1918. During this period, he married Emma Myers and in 1918 Taylor, his wife and two sons left for Korea as missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In Korea, they settled in Choon Chun. It is not clear from the collection exactly how long they spent in Korea, but by 1922 he and his family had moved to Vladivostok in Siberia. In 1923, amid a worsening political situation, Taylor wrote that "all consular bodies have been ordered to leave Vladivostok unless their respective nations recognize Soviet Russia." His letters reveal a committment to his mission work and his intention to remain in Russia. Yet by the end of 1923, he had returned to Georgia as Pastor of the Methodist Church in Waverly Hall. Taylor served several other churches in Georgia after his return included churches in Buena Vista, McRae, Dublin, Waycross, Savannah, Fitzgerald, and Waynesboro. He died in 1952 at the age of 59. A short vita, written in 1945, accompanies the collection.
From the description of James Oliver Jelks Taylor papers, 1918-1923. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122400817
