Eugene Taylor
b. 29 May 1916/b. 29 March 1916 (adopted birthdate), Terre Haute, IN, to Cecil Taylor and Dora (Kintz) Taylor
d. 27 May 1986, Niles, Cook County, IL

m. 4 September 1935, Kane County, IL
Margaret F. Gates
b. 26 June 1917, Aurora, IL, to William and Cora (Stroyan) Gates
d. 12 April 1981, DeKalb, IL

Children with Margaret Gates:

• Gerald Duane Peterson (1936–1958), m. Eloise Wiltse, Dekalb, IL
• Edwin Eugene Peterson (1938–1992), m1. Betty Ann Bjelland, Minot, ND; m2. Peggy (Margaret) Wendling, Galena, IL

Eugene and his two older brothers Ernest and Raymond were placed in the Glenn Home on 6 July 1918. Their mother Dora divorced Cecil and could not care for the boys. Dora remarried to get the boys back but was only able to get Ernest and Raymond. Eugene Taylor was placed in Andrew (George) and Anna (Ford) McMasters’ care on 25 July 1918 and officially became adopted on 16 October 1918, Paul Eugene McMasters and lived in Rockville, Indiana.

Andrew McMasters died on 16 July 1927. Anna married Frank Peterson on 27 January 1928 and moved with Paul to Frank’s residence in DeKalb, Illinois. Sometime afterward Paul’s name was legally changed to Paul Eugene Peterson. Eugene Taylor Paul worked as a machinist and painter in the DeKalb area until the early 1960s. In 1958 he lost his son Gerald in a freak accident. It was a death he never came to grips with. Paul and Margaret separated (they never legally divorced) sometime in the early 1960s and Paul moved to Hanover, Illinois, with Hazel Mertes, where he managed a housing complex called Craig Manor. After a few years he left Hanover and took a job as a school custodian in Schiller Park, Illinois. Paul retired in 1980 (approximately) and remained in Schiller Park until his death.

Submitted by:
Jeff Peterson
Burlington, ND
jdpete@srt.com