David Ward Taylor was born on September 8, 1913, in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico. David was the son of a Scottish man, Moses K. Taylor; and a Mexican-born mother Gregoria Barrera. David was the second eldest son, behind his brother Moses Jr., and ahead of his younger sisters, Gregoria II, Vance, Victoria, Dorothy, and younger brother Nicolas. The Taylor family butcher trade would soon surpass the streets of Pachuca and become an established business in Eugene.
In the early 1900s, as industrialization expanded West through the “Land of Opportunity,” so too was the substantial need for migrant labor. Mexicanos quickly came to play a key role in the agriculture and railroad industries around Oregon and California Valleys. However, laborers of all trades contributed to the socio-economic advancements on the West Coast, such as in Eugene, Oregon. While many Mexicans faced exploitation with insufficient pay, worker’s rights, poor conditions, and working in low-payingindustries such as the railroad and lumber programs centered around Oregon itself. These jobs did not define the entire Mexicano community in Lane County; a few like David, went as far as owning their own business. The events of World War I resulted in once Anglo-dominant occupations, like steel milling and butcher/meat packing, to a dangerous decline due to the lack of migrant labor sentiments of European workers, as well as conscription, putting these businesses at a standstill. The butcher and meatpacking relied heavily on the demand of migrant Mexican laborers around the time the Taylor family migrated to the U.S. During the Depression era, sentiments about Mexican laborers began to shift in further systematic implications, such as Repatriation. Legislative action dissected labor opportunities for Mexican Laborers to hold or advance in Butcher Meatpacking positions, pushing the industry into further decline. In the 1940s, opportunities expanded for Mexicans such as David, in Government enactments of the Bracero Program and Naturalization. A wave of Mexican laborers filled the desperate gaps of the Butcher/Meat Packing industry, holding a dominant presence in the industry through Modern day U.S. society.
This Advertisement from the Panama Herald, 1851. Showcases a Local Butcher Industry looking for new hires after integrating into the Panama Trade Route.
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company, established in 1848, out-chartered any landlocked travel and trade routes in the Americas at this time. By 1860, the Royal British (West Indies) mail route sought to integrate with the success of the Pacific Mail Steamship Route. This cohesion of the Pacific and Royal Mail companies was a likely factor in how Moses K. Taylor decided to immigrate to Pachuca, Mexico from England. Local Butchers in Mexico, likely serviced these ships with food products and therefore relied heavily on the Steamship Companies’ success, according to an article in the Mexican Herald published October 2nd, 1895. A quote from a tab titled “Mexican Cattle” points to significant exploitation of the Pacific Mail S.S. company established among Mexican butchers and their local industries.
“The Mexican butcher has methods peculiarly his own (…). When Europeans first went into this country in considerable numbers, they found great difficulty in getting either steaks or roast. Now however the native butchers supply meat as desired for their European trade and continue to sell strips.”
From the 1910s-1920s, the localization of railroad transportation, and the grueling conflict of the Mexican Revolution, the Panama Route had diminished profits, and the Pacific Mail Ship Company was sold. Local tradesmen could not advertise under and sell products to the Pacific Mail Steamship line; it became increasingly difficult for butchers, like David and his father, to establish steady local consumers. The financial instability caused by the dwindling connections, as well as the local consumer economy crashing from excess migration and casualties likely forced the Taylor family to have no choice but to search for answers in the United States.
The Taylor family migrated into the Maricopa County, Arizona region before the 1930s US Census, in which Moses documented himself and his children as being born in Texas. This decision likely stems from the lack of sentiments of Latinos in the South/Southwest, as well as systematic operations like repatriation, which saw federal action deporting Mexican-born & descended individuals off of U.S. soil. Moses likely chose to fabricate their nationality, in order to Protect his family’s presencein the U.S. during this time. On August 21st, 1935, David Taylor married Thayer Sullins in Phoenix, Arizona. As David began to start his own family, he followed his father’s path by filing his birthplace under Texas in his late son’s Birth certificate.
Taylor Family Census, 1930, displays the First U.S. Census the Taylor family would be documented.
On June 30th, 1941, David Taylor filed his petition of naturalization under the circuit court of Lane County, Oregon. The naturalization acceptance was a significant event for the Taylor Family, who as kids had been protecting their identity since migration and were now U.S. citizens. In the span of his naturalization to 1950 David Ward Taylor became a co-owner of Custom Packing House. He went on to hire his brother’s wife, Flora Taylor. David also passed his old place of residence at 100 Brickley Rd. to his Brother Moses Jr. As David himself moved down the street to 145 Brickley Rd. Eugene. The established family business not only brought new beginnings for David and his wife but to other members, like Moses Jr. and Flora Taylor, who went on to stay in Eugene until passing in Salem, Oregon.
In the 1940s, Mexican laborers migrated to Lane County, to fill many occupations. Many Mexicans outside of Eugene, in communities like Westfir and Irving, had almost exclusively railroad workers of Mexican descent. While in Eugene Itself, the 1940s brought a growing diversity of roles in occupation coinciding with the growth of Mexican migration to Eugene itself. Members of Eugene such as Jose Trejo Guzman; an electrician; and Esiquio Narro Villareal, a veneer grader, and Spanish instructor; like David Ward Taylor, came to Eugene to strive away from the occupational trend of Mexican migrants filling locally in the railroad Industry, and established their own businesses and trades, further serving the community for decades to come.
Picture Taken in 2025 of Custom Meat Co. Formerly known as Custom Packing House, was in business until 2016. The building still stands on 2355 W 7th Place. Eugene, Oregon.
Around 1955, David Taylor left Oregon to franchise his packing house in Turlock County, California. As listed in his obituary, he would go on to live in Turlock County until passing in 1978, as a butcher store owner, and active member of Butcher’s Union 127. While David spent the late end of his life out of Eugene, his family’s legacy still stands. The company continued to operate until 2016, under the name Custom Meat Company. For the Taylor Family trade, generations of devotion to their craft, persevering 2,790 miles from Pachuca, Mexico, to feeding the families of Eugene since the 1940s.
The Headstone of David W. Taylor, and His Wife Thayer Sullins, In Turlock Memorial Park, Stanislaus County, California
The Obituary of David Ward Taylor the Modesto Bee: Modesto California
David Ward Taylor Naturalization Records:
Ancestry.com. Oregon, U.S., County Court Naturalization Records, 1840-1982. Lehi, UT, USA:Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2023.
David Ward Taylor 1930’s Census:
Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.
Mexicano’s in Oregon: Their Stories, Their Lives: By Gonzalez-Berry, Erlinda, and Marcela Mendoza.
Gonzales-Berry, Erlinda, and Marcela Mendoza. Mexicanos in Oregon: Their Stories, Their Lives. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press, 2010.
Isthmus of Panama: History of the Panama railroad and of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company
OTIS, Fessenden Nott. Isthmus of Panama: History of the Panama railroad and of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. S.l.: SALZWASSER-VERLAG, 2022. https://archive.org/details/isthmusofpanamah00otisrich/page/148/mode/2up
Panama Herald: July 10th, 1851:
Panama Herald (Panama, Panama), July 10, 1851: 3. Readex: Latin American Newspapers. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.uoregon.idm.oclc.org/apps/readex/doc?p=WHNPLAN1&docref=image/v2%3A146259F82B31F6A2%40WHNPLAN1-12C840576D556478%402397314-12C8405782276C10%402-12C8405782276C10%40.
Mexican Herald: October 2, 1895: Excerpt “Mexican Cattle”
Mexican Herald (Mexico City, Mexico) I, no. 32, October 2, 1895: 6. Readex: Latin American Newspapers. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=WHNPLAN1&docref=image/v2%3A1246B4296D2EBE54%40WHNPLAN1-1260791B87AB5548%402413469-1260791BB93026E8%405-1260791BB93026E8%40.
David Ward Taylor Marriage Certificate:
Ancestry.com. Arizona, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1865-1972 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
David Warren Taylor (Son) Birth Certificate 1936:
Ancestry.com. Arizona, U.S., Birth Certificates, 1880-1935 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Arizona Department of Health Services. Arizona Birth Records.
David Ward Taylor’s 1950 Census:
Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2022. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. 1913-1/1/1972. Population Schedules for the 1950 Census, 1950 – 1950. Washington, DC: National Archives at Washington, DC.
Moses Jr. & Flora Taylor’s (Brother/Sister-in-Law) 1950 Census:
Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2022. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. 1913-1/1/1972. Population Schedules for the 1950
Moses Jr & Flora Taylor 50th Wedding Anniversary excerpt:
Ancestry.com. Oregon, U.S., Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2022.
Jose Trejo Guzman’s Marriage Certificate:
Ancestry.com. Oregon, U.S., State Marriages, 1906-1971 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018. Oregon State Archives. Oregon, Marriage Records, 1906-1910, 1946-1971. Salem, Oregon.
Esiquio Narro Villareal’s Naturalization Record:
Ancestry.com. Oregon, U.S., County Court Naturalization Records, 1840-1982 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2023.Oregon State Archives. Oregon, Naturalization Records, 1840-1982. Salem, Oregon.
David Ward Taylor Obituary Excerpt:
Ancestry.com. U.S., Newspapers.com™ Obituary Index, 1800s-current [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2019.
