Continuing the family history reaearch of
Dr. Ezra Clayton Saylor
(1881 - 1954)

Dr. Ezra Clayton Saylor

Ezra Clayton Saylor was born near Meyersdale, Somerset County, PA, 18 June 1881. His parents were Henry William and Ellen (Glotfelty) Saylor. He graduated from the Baltimore school of Dental Surgery in 1905. On 6 June 1906 he married Mary Edith Glessner, a fourth cousin.

Ezra And Mary His interest in Somerset County history may have been inspired by the history surrounding the family names of Berkey, Livengood, Folk, Walker, Miller, Beachly and Meyers in their combined tree 
[viewing the .pdf tree requires Adobe Acrobat]
.

Whatever drove his inspiration, his accomplishments are unique. His documentation of more than 40,000 tombstone inscriptions and 600 family bibles - some published, some unpublished, all preserved - are invaluable to ongoing research.

To view a long list of his work, click here >> His Work

 

He also created a form that he mailed to Saylor family members. Hundreds of "blanks" were completed and returned to him. His intention was to publish a family history.

In a February 8, 1951 hand-written letter to Ralph Saylor, Dr. Saylor wrote:

"I am not working very much due to the fact that I can’t take it so well can’t stand anymore for 14 – 16 hours a day however my sister is all right and I can write even if people can’t read half of it and I am trying to get the family records up to the present time with a view to having it printed. I would very much like to get my record as full as possible before I kick off."

That printing was not completed prior to his death in 1954. After his death the completed blanks, along with his other work, were stored by his family and later donated to the Berlin Area Historical Society.

The task of getting the family record "as full as possible" is never finished. We have the advantage of the computer with internet access to census records and e-mail and web sites like this one to aid our research. It is humbling to consider the vast amount of information Dr. Saylor acquired without these tools. With a little luck, I'll have Dr. Saylor's data organized and in book form before I "kick off". A number of books are in electronic format within my Family Tree Maker database. As I make daily additions to the database, the books are updated. I just don't know when to quit.
Please help "get the family records up to the present" by completing an >> Update



Ezra Clayton Saylor
He also created a form that he mailed to Saylor family members. Hundreds were completed and returned to him. His intention was to publish a family history. In a February 8, 1951 hand-written letter to Ralph Saylor, Dr Saylor wrote:

"I am not working very much due to the fact that I can’t take it so well can’t stand anymore for 14 – 16 hours a day however my sister is all right and I can write even if people can’t read half of it and I am trying to get the family records up to the present time with a view to having it printed. I would very much like to get my record as full as possible before I kick off."

That printing was not completed prior to his death in 1954. After his death these forms, along with his other work, were stored by his family and later donated to the Berlin Area Historical Society.

The task of getting the family record "as full as possible" is never finished. We have the advantage of the computer with internet access to census records and e-mail and web sites like this one to aid our research. It is humbling to consider the vast amount of information Dr. Saylor acquired without these tools. With a little luck, I'll have Dr. Saylor's data organized and in book form before I "kick off". A number of books are in electronic format within my Family Tree Maker database. As I make daily additions to the database, the books are updated. I just don't know when to quit.
Please help "get the family records up to the present" by completing an >>T Update

A great Find!


During November 2009, I received an email from Jane Gilbert telling me about a baptism certificate for Ezra Clayton Saylor displayed on a windowsill at Beans in the Belfry in Brunswick, MD. It took me until May 2013 to make the trip to Brunswick - I must do better.

The certificate appears genuine. While the church is not named, the Pastor signing the certificate was Pastor of the Amity Reformed Church in Meyersdale, Summit Twp., Somerset County, PA from 1881- 1888 per the following.

Click picture to enlarge
The 1941 Edition of Pastors and People of Somerset Classis, The Reformed Church in the United States, published by the Berlin Publishing Company, Berlin, Pennsylvania, page 394-395, “John M. Schick was born at Richmond, Va., Nov. 8, 1848. In 1863 he moved to Pittsburgh, Pa., where under Rev. J. H. Wagner he began his preparation for the ministry. He entered Westmoreland College, Mt. Pleasant, Pa., and later went to Mercersburg College and the Theological Seminary. He was licensed by Allegheny Classis in 1876 and the same year ordained by Mercersburg Classis as pastor of the Orbisonia Mission. He also served charges at Meyersdale, Pa., 1881-88, Shenango, Pa., Tiffin, O., and Grace Church, Washington, D.C., under whose pastorate a fine new church was built. President Theodore Roosevelt was a worshipper at Grace during the eight years he was in office.

Dr. Schick served on General Synod’s hymnal committee and was secretary and treasurer of the Board of Ministerial Relief. He was stated clerk of Pittsburgh Synod from 1884 to 1894. He died July 12, 1913, his death resulting from injuries received when he was run down by an automobile.”