Brief Life History of Francis Lenn
Francis Lenn Taylor (December 28, 1897 – November 20, 1968) was an American art dealer and the father of actress Elizabeth Taylor. He was born in Springfield, Illinois, the son of Elizabeth Mary (née Rosemond; 1869–1937) and Francis Marion Taylor (1860–1946). The family later moved to Arkansas City, Kansas. Francis began dealing in art in New York City for a wealthy uncle by marriage, Stephen Howard Young (22 May 1878 - 24 June 1972), later, a friend of Dwight Eisenhower after World War II. Taylor married stage actress Sara Sothern (whose real name was Sara Viola Warmbrodt and who was also from Arkansas City) in 1926 in New York. They were the parents of Howard Taylor (1929-2020) and of Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011). Within a few years of his marriage, Taylor was transferred to Young's art gallery in London, England, where he and Sara lived for several years, and where their children were born. In April 1939, five months before the outbreak of World War II in Europe, they returned to the United States. Taylor later ran an art gallery at The Beverly Hills Hotel in California. He died at age 70 in Los Angeles, California. He is interred beside his widow in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles.
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Family Time Line
Sources (35)
- Francis L Taylor, "United States Census, 1940"
- Francis L Taylor, "California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994"
- Francis L. Taylor, "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940"
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Parents and Siblings
World Events (8)
1898 · War with the Spanish
After the explosion of the USS Maine in the Havana Harbor in Cuba, the United States engaged the Spanish in war. The war was fought on two fronts, one in Cuba, which helped gain their independence, and in the Philippines, which helped the US gain another territory for a time.
1913 · The Woolworth Building Opens as the Tallest Building in the World
At 792 feet above Broadway, the Woolworth Building became the tallest building in the world and held the record for 17 years. The Woolworth Building was overshadowed by the Chrysler Building at 1,046 feet in 1930 and the Empire State Building at 1,454 feet in 1931. Retailer and mogul Frank W. Woolworth commissioned the Woolworth Building in 1910 with the intent of his namesake building to be the tallest in the world. The 13 million dollar project was financed in cash by Woolworth which allowed him freedoms in the design and construction of the ornate, gothic building. An opening ceremony was held on April 24, 1913 at which President Woodrow Wilson pressed a button from the White House and lit the historic building in New York City.
1916 · The First woman elected into the US Congress
Jeannette Pickering Rankin became the first woman to hold a federal office position in the House of Representatives, and remains the only woman elected to Congress by Montana.
Name Meaning
English, Scottish, and Irish: occupational name for a tailor, from Anglo-Norman French, Middle English taillour ‘tailor’ (Old French tailleor, tailleur; Late Latin taliator, from taliare ‘to cut’). The surname is extremely common in Britain and Ireland. In North America, it has absorbed equivalents from other languages, many of which are also common among Ashkenazic Jews, for example German Schneider and Hungarian Szabo . It is also very common among African Americans.
In some cases also an Americanized form of French Terrien ‘owner of a farmland’ or of its altered forms, such as Therrien and Terrian .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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