Clarence Hopson Taylor -- Pharmacist

 

Clarence Hopson Taylor was born on August 1, 1890, the only child of Dr. John Cullen Taylor and Emma Lee Hopson Taylor.  Dr. John Taylor was a prominent physician who practiced medicine in Canton, Kentucky and was a great grandson of Cullen Thomas.  Emma Lee was a housewife.

Clarence grew up in Canton and was educated in the Trigg County schools. At the age of 14, he moved from Canton to Cadiz where he began working in his father’s drug store.  He also worked as a pharmacist at a drug store in Hopkinsville.  He went on to study pharmacy at the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

After graduation, he moved to Nashville where he worked as a pharmacist. During World War I, he enlisted in a Vanderbilt unit and ended up serving overseas as a U. S. Army pharmacist.

In 1926, he opened his own drug store known as the Vanderbilt Pharmacy in the college area of Nashville.  The drug store was advertised as a drive-in pharmacy and the only one of its kind in the United States at that time.  Clarence owned and operated the Vanderbilt Pharmacy up until the time of his death.

On October 23, 1930, Clarence married Virginia Jackson White at the home of the bride’s parents in Cadiz, Kentucky.  The wedding was a big social event of the year with over 250 guests in attendance.  Virginia was born on May 28, 1910 in Cadiz, the daughter of Ben Terry and Virginia Bell Jackson White.  Ben was a native of Trigg County and was a prominent hardware merchant in Cadiz. Virginia Bell was a native of Lyon County, Kentucky.

Clarence and Virginia were the parents of two sons, Charles White Taylor who was born in 1933 in Nashville and married Alice Archer Prewitt and Clarence Hopson Taylor, Jr. who was born in 1934 and married Mary McGee Davenport.  Mary McGee was the daughter of Rodolph Blevins Davenport, Jr., the founder of the Krystal Hamburger chain. Clarence, Jr. and Mary were subsequently divorced.

Clarence died on December 11, 1944 at the age of 54, at his home in Nashville.  His body was brought back to Kentucky where he was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz.  After Clarence’s death, Virginia married Maurice Graham Scott.  Virginia died on October 5, 1953 at the age of 43, in Frankfort, Kentucky.  She was buried in the East End Cemetery. 

Ad for the opening of the Vanderbilt Pharmacy in 1926

LINEAGE: (Clarence Hopson Taylor was the son of John Cullen and Emma Lee Hopson Taylor and the grandson of Custer and Mary Elizabeth Vinson Taylor.  Mary was the second child of Thomas Allison and Emeline Thomas Vinson.  Emeline was the fifth child of Cullen and Elizabeth Futrell Thomas.  Cullen was the first child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)