Ron Jones' Family History in Kern County 

(Grandparents Cecil and Lola Taylor on left)

My Great-Great Grandfather Henry Taylor homesteaded in Hunts Siding that later became the McFarland area just north of Bakersfield on May 21, 1891.  The Taylors came to California by train from Elysian, Minnesota in LeSeur County located 60 miles south of Minneapolis.  When the Taylors arrived in McFarland, my Great Grandfather Cecil Taylor was five years old.  I was fortunate enough to know my Grandpa Taylor and my Grandma Lola Taylor.  We spent a lot of time with them until they died when I was about 12 years old.  They were good hard-working people with values and respect.

My Grandfather Cecil Taylor married Lola Heard on December 7, 1907.  Grandpa Taylor continued to farm with his father and leased his own land for farming as well.  In the 1930s, Cecil and Lola purchased about two acres of land 1.5 miles south of Famosa on Highway 99.  Grandpa Taylor built a three-bedroom house, a cafe, and a service station with a garage.  My Grandparents called this the Lighthouse Cafe and Station.  It was called the "Lighthouse" because in those days beacons were installed every few miles along Highway 99 so pilots could fly at night as there were no instruments available for night flying.  My grandparents raised seven children at this Famosa/Highway 99 site near McFarland while running the cafe, garage, and farming and ranching operations.  Grandpa Taylor's Father Henry died in 1927 leaving only Grandpa Cecil Taylor to carry on the family farming operations as Cecil's brothers had taken other interests.

Grandpa and Grandma Taylor remained at the Lighthouse Cafe and Garage until 1957 when they retired to Morro Bay, California along the central coast.  They continued to lease out the cafe and station for several years even though they had to relocate the buildings twice to make room for Highway 99 being widened.  The third time Highway 99 was widened, there was no more room to move the cafe back because the family home was in the way.  At that point, the cafe was sold and moved into McFarland where it still stands today.  The garage and station were torn down.  They continued to use the family home when they visited the San Joaquin Valley until the home burned down from an accidental fire in the early 1970s.  The only objects remaining from the original Lighthouse Cafe and Garage site are the Eucalyptus trees along the current Highway 99 that were planted by Grandpa Cecil Taylor when he first built the family home.  The trees serve as a living monument to my rich family history in Kern County; they stand tall and proud and to me represent years of my family's hard work in our community.

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(Last Updated 9-28-03)

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