Rev. Joseph W. Tays - El Paso, Texas
Reverendo Joseph W. Tays - El Paso, Tejas

Rev. Joseph W. Tays - El Paso, Texas

Reverend Joseph Tays, an Episcopal missionary who founded El Paso's first Protestant church, arrived in El Paso in 1870, a widower with two boys. C. L. Sonnichsen records the story that a month after he began his mission in El Paso, Tays sent word to Austin that he was "doing his best." Tays was learning Spanish and at least one saloon keeper had closed his doors and found another vocation because of him. He not only preached and taught, he worked in real estate and served the county as surveyor. Tays laid the cornerstone of the first St. Clement's Episcopal Church on Christmas day in 1881. Local Historian and Author Leon Metz writes that after having conducted the funeral of a smallpox victim, Tays contracted the dreaded disease himself and died after a week's suffering. Late in the evening of November 21, two men from the city wrapped Parson Tay's body in a sheet and delivered it quickly to Concordia. He was buried without ceremony in the middle of the night during a violent rain storm. The man who had helped so many in early El Paso was buried with only two grave diggers present. (per http://www.epcounty.com/history/concordia.htm)

Area: Central / El Paso High

Source: El Paso County Historical Society

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

Centennial Graduation - El Paso High School - 2016

Centennial Graduation - El Paso High School - 2016

Centennial Graduation - El Paso High School - 2016

Football field after the ceremony - class of 2016.

Centennial Graduation - El Paso High School - 2016

Photograph of flowers on the football field during the ceremony.

Centennial Graduation - El Paso High School - 2016

Photograph of flowers on the football field during the ceremony.

Centennial Graduation - El Paso High School - 2016

Alexander Appelzoller and Danya Muro after the ceremony for the ...

Centennial Graduation - El Paso High School - 2016

Alexander Appelzoller and Danya Muro after the ceremony for the ...

Centennial Graduation - EPHS - 2016

Photograph: Danya Muro standing next to flowers arranged in the ...

Centennial Graduation - El Paso High School - 2016

Danya Muro standing next to flowers arranged in the number 100 ...

Centennial Graduation - El Paso High School - 2016

Alexander Appelzoller and Danya Muro after the ceremony for the ...

El Paso High School Vs. Austin High school

El Paso high school attempts to break a Guinness world record of ...

El Paso High School Vs. Austin High school

El Paso high school attempts to break a Guinness world record of ...

El Paso High School Vs. Austin High School

El Paso High School attempts to break a Guinness world record of ...

Cathedral High School Alumni Association - 2016

Cathedral High School El Paso Texas Alumni Association - 2016 - ...

hiking the Franklin Mountains

Took my girlfriend and my dog Serenity Midnight, up a hike ...

St. Patrick Cathedral - 1920

The architectural plans for St. Patrick, designed to seat 720 ...

Saint Patrick Cathedral - 1920

Located downtown, the Cathedral is a work of art and it is an El ...

Bishop Armando Xavier Ochoa - 1996

Bishop Armando Xavier Ochoa was born in Oxnard, California, in ...

Raymundo Joseph Peña - 1980

Raymundo Joseph Peña (born 19 February 1934) is an American ...

Bishop Patrick Flores - 1978

Archbishop Patrick Fernández Flores in 1978 - Bishop Patrick ...

Bishop S. M. Metzger - 1940

S. M. Metzger became bishop in 1940, he found it necessary to ...

Bishop Anthony J. Schuler - 1915

SCHULER, ANTHONY J. (1869–1944). Anthony J. Schuler, bishop of ...

Bishop Seitz - 2013

On May 6, 2013, Pope Francis appointed Seitz the 6th Bishop of ...

EPHS Class of 1986 at El Paso High Centennial

EPHS Class of 1986 at the El Paso High Centennial football game ...

home.search_collection