Joe Taylor

 

Joe Taylor, grandfather to Lee and Butch, was among the last of the old-time red pipestone carvers who lived in Pipestone, Minnesota. He was well known in the area for his work and wide acquaintance among visitors to his quarry.

 

Joe was a Mdewankton Sioux born in 1860 at Prior Lake, Minnesota, and he attended the St. Paul's boys' school in Yankton as a boy. Later, he served the Episocopal church doing missionary work among Native Americans. He was ordained as an Episcopal minister in 1885 and traveled around South Dakota and Minnesota preaching.

 

"He went out to Wounded Knee in 1890 to help with Ghost Dance religion out there," his grandson Myron (Butch) said. "He was one of four ministers in the church at Wounded Knee."

 

Several years later, Joe became a famous pipemaker and figure at the pipestone quarries. He passed away in 1937. The quarry Joe worked in is still at the Pipestone National Monument today and is named after his memory.