Grace Taylor was the older of John Cook Taylor and Sarah Ramsey’s two daughters. She was born 27 August 1886 in Mt. Vernon in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, and lived there most of her life.
Gracie was five years old when her mother died in 1892. Her father remarried two and a half years later, but that marriage did not last long. He remarried again in 1900, when Gracie was thirteen years old and the bride, Emma Jane Owens, was seventeen.
Gracie never married nor had children. She was once engaged to a man who lived in Wildie in Rockcastle County. But she got upset about something and broke the engagement.
When Gracie was twenty-three years old, she had malaria. By 23 July 1909, she was improving after having been very sick.
On 17 August 1917, Gracie, her sister Emma, and their cousin Lena were involved in an accident on Dixie Highway near Mt. Vernon. They were returning from a funeral when a car scared the horse pulling their buggy. All three were thrown under the buggy, and the horse dragged it a short distance. The buggy was torn to pieces, but Gracie, Emma, and Lena were not seriously hurt and the horse only had scratches.
Gracie worked in Dr. Pennington’s office and also at the bus station in Mt. Vernon. From March 1937 to September 1941, she lived with her sister Emma in Loyall, Kentucky, to keep house and care for Emma’s children while Emma worked as postmaster.
Other than the time with Emma’s family, Gracie lived with John and Emma Jane until John died in 1953. Gracie and Emma Jane continued living together for the rest of Gracie’s life.
Gracie died of pneumonia on 25 September 1961 at the Rockcastle County Baptist Hospital in Mt. Vernon. Reverend Gene Kearns officiated her funeral on 27 September at First Christian Church. She was buried in Elmwood Cemetery next to her father.