Bertha Haskell Taylor.

Detail from 1901 group photo. Click to view.

She was the daughter of a Mother Lode miner. And she first saw the light of day in Sonora, that little mining town up in the Mother Lode country.

Her life spanned the long bridge of years which included her childhood in Sonora, then a time when she was a raving young beauty and the belle of many a ball, and then when she was practically the mother of a California mountain village, and so on through the years until a night when, as she said, the cobwebs disappeared from the sky, and the path was clear to slip away from her long, full, rich and useful life.

Her name was Bertha Taylor, and she died Saturday night [August 17, 1957] in the home on Second Street where she had lived, more or less alone, since her beloved helpmett, Jack Taylor, departed 11 years ago.

She was gallant and gay and attractive until the very last. They told many stories about her — how she once got a speeding ticket in Los Angeles for driving her span of blooded horses at too fancy a pace through the old Pueblo. How she was first to greet newcomers to her community and make them feel welcome and among friends, how her hand was ever busy and helpful in every village activity, how she defiantly kept the castle of her proud personality against the assaults of the years.

So, at long last she slipped away to her eternal reward, and many a heart was saddened by her going, and many a soul was strengthened by the example of her life.

Click to enlarge.

She departed this life at 9:55 p.m. Saturday. Her services were held Tuesday afternoon at the Hilburn Chapel. They were conducted by Reader Herbert L. Da vies of the Christian Science church, of which she was a devoted member. Cremation followed at Oakwood Cemetery.

To A.B. Perkins, a friend of many years, the Signal owes thanks for the following obituary:

The death of Mrs. Bertha Taylor last Saturday night has left gaps in many of our local groups.

First, as an "old timer" or almost pioneer of the Newhall area, into which she had come in the Nineties, when her father, John C Haskell, himself a California pioneer, was developing his placer field in Haskell Canyon.

It was probably on one of those visits that she first met George Herbert Bailey, then superintendent of the Newhall Ranch whom she married in 1907. He was a widower with two children, Mrs. Mabel Haskell and Mrs. Nell Golding. His death in 1915 left the then-Mrs. Bailey and an infant son, George Haskell Bailey.

As Mrs. Bailey, she was the assistant in the local postoffice, then located in the "second Southern" Hotel, but moved to the Swall Building as soon as it was completed.

During these years, Mrs. Bailey was very well known to all of the local inhabitants. Her cheerful sunny disposition, coupled with her natural efficiency and helpfulness, made her practically the "first friend" of the newcomers to the little town.

It was about 1911 when she purchased the home at 22323 N. Second St., which she occupied the rest of her life.

In 1923 she married Jack Taylor, who passed in 1946.

Throughout the years, Mrs. Taylor was affiliated with practically every Ladies group that formed, generally as a Charter Member, and always as a working member. She was a Charter, also a Life Member of the Elementary School PTA; a Charter Member and Past President of the Newhall Woman's Club; a Member and Past President of the Newhall Star Club; member of San Fernando Chapter No. 398, O.E.S. for 35 years; Charter Member and Historian of the Newhall-Saugus Republican Women's Club; a Charter Member of the Newhall Christian Science Society.

Probably no local person had a wider or more extensive acquaintance and friendships, being one of those rare persons beloved by practically everyone with whom she came into contact.

She was a native Californian, having been born in Sonora in 1870 [February 22].

She is survived by her son, George Haskell Bailey, and Mrs. Bailey; two grandchildren, Bryan Ward Bailey and Robert Wesley Bailey; two sisters, Miss Helen Haskell of Los Angeles, and Mrs. Harriet McNider of Stockton, Calif.; one brother, resident with her, John C. Haskell, and Mrs. Nell Golding, a step-daughter.

She will be missed from many, many local circles of activity. Her 87 years had been a full and rich life.