Continuing the family history research of Dr. Ezra Clayton Saylor (1881*1954)

Ezra Clayton Saylor was born near Meyersdale, Somerset County, PA, 18 June  1881. His parents were Henry William and Ellen (Glotfelty) Saylor. He graduated from the Baltimore school of Dental Surgery in 1905. On 6 June 1906 he married Mary Edith Glessner, a fourth cousin.

His interest in Somerset County history may have been inspired by the history surrounding the family names of Berkey, Livengood, Folk, Walker, Miller, Beachly and Meyers in
their combined tree 
[viewing the .pdf tree requires Adobe Acrobat].

Whatever drove his inspiration, his accomplishments are unique. His documentation of more than 40,000 tombstone inscriptions and 600 family bibles - some published, some unpublished, all preserved - are invaluable to ongoing research.


To view a long list of his work, click here >> His Work

He also created a form that he mailed to Saylor family members. Hundreds were completed and returned to him. His intention was to publish a family history. In a February 8, 1951 hand-written letter to Ralph Saylor, Dr Saylor wrote:

That printing was not completed prior to his death in 1954. After his death these forms, along with his other work, were stored by his family and later donated to the Berlin Area Historical Society.

The task of getting the family record "as full as possible" is never finished. We have the advantage of the computer with internet access to census records and e-mail and web sites like this one to aid our research. It is humbling to consider the vast amount of information Dr. Saylor acquired without these tools. With a little luck, I'll have Dr. Saylor's data organized and in book form before I "kick off". A number of books are in electronic format within my Family Tree Maker database. As I make daily additions to the database, the books are updated. I just don't know when to quit.
Please help "get the family records up to the present" by completing an >> Update