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)
Report this entry
More from the same community-collection
Saint Patrick Pastor Msgr. G. W. Caffery
Saint Patrick Cathedral El Paso Texas Pastor Msgr. G. W. Caffery ...
Saint Patrick's Cathedral Elementary School - 1952
Saint Patrick's Cathedral School - 1952 Back Row: Sister Mary ...
Saint Patricks Cathedral - El Paso, Texas, 1996
Casket of Navy Veteran - Felix A. Antone Jr. carried by family ...
Cathedral High School for Boys - 1925
Framed original full page ad announcing opening of Cathedral ...
St. Patrick's Cathedral Deacon - 1984
Deacon Ken Flynn baptizes M.J. Ross in July 1984 St. Patrick's ...
Cathedral High School Cheerleaders - 1940's
Cathedral High School Cheerleaders - 1940's Photo taken in El ...
Christian Brothers History - 1965
History of the Christian Brothers - science class, and from left ...
