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TAYLOR FAMILY PAPERS

[The Taylor family information below, submitted by Donald R. Taylor, was sent to him in a letter dated Sept. 19, 1974 by Mrs. Wilhelmina Beard (Mrs. George R. Beard) of Hardinsburg, Kentucky. The information was originally from Mrs. Beard's great-great aunt, Jenny Taylor McHenry. Jenny Taylor McHenry was the youngest child of James Taylor (b. April 1, 1790) and Sally Morris].

EDMUND TAYLOR, son of Thomas Taylor senior died December 25, 1760 in the 46 year of his age.
BENJAMIN TAYLOR, son of Edward Taylor was born August 12, 1719.
ESTHER - August 15, 1727
JOHN - March 3, 1730
BRIDGET, October 1, 1732
THOMAS - March 21, 1738

The children of THOMAS TAYLOR were:
    LEMUEL, born February 1767
    LOVEY, February 3, 1769
    EDWARD, October 15, 1771
    WILLIAM, February 23, 1774
    JESSE, October 23, 1776
    MARIAM, July 20, 1779
    NANCY, November 1782
    ELIZABETH, December 19, 1785
    JAMES, April 1, 1790

[Excerpts from a letter from Daniel Lynn Bolin, director of the Special Collections Division of the Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, Kentucky, to Donald R. Taylor, Aug. 5, 1974]:

Perhaps the best introduction to James Taylor is his memoir, written by Rev. Taylor and his daughter, Jennie McHenry:

"Memoir of Revd. James Taylor"

It is a declaration and promise of the inspired volume that the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. For the purpose of perpetuating the memory of a Christian of long standing, a good man. whose labors for the good of his fellow men were incessant and more than ordinarily successful, we send you for publication a brief biography of the subject of this memoir. He was born on the 1st day of April 1790 in the County of Currituck, state of North Carolina. At that early day school houses and teachers were scarce, and consequently his education was limited, but he was in early life led by a pious and intelligent mother to search the scriptures and to seek by prayer that true wisdom which cometh from above. He often in public and private referred to the impressions made upon his mind by the teaching of his mother with the most unbounded gratitude. Thus taught & led, he became very early in life a sincere inquirer after truth. He attended the ministry of the M. E. Church and became seriously concerned for the salvation of his soul. Being young, diffident & timid, he sought no counsel, but burdened by his sense of sin he sought salvation from sin more earnestly, The good minister in charge of the meeting observed him and privately sought the timid boy, explained to him the way of salvation, & encouraged him to persevere. Often has he alluded with a grateful heart to the fidelity of this minister as another agency in leading him to Christ. He did persevere, and soon enjoyed the happy consciousness of 'peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.' In 1809 he moved to Clark County, Ky., and in December 1811 married Miss Sally Morris, who survives to mourn a companion with whom she has borne the trials & discharged the duties of life for more than half a century. He moved to this (Breckenridge) County in 1816 and to Hardinsburg in 1828, where he lived until his death on the ____ day of _____.

Fully imbued with the spirit of the Gospel, he felt, 'that he did not live to or for himself' and earnestly sought the good of others. On the 29th of August 1823 he was licensed by Revd. John James to exercise his gifts as an exhorter. On the 23rd day of July 1825 he was licensed by the Salt River District Conference to preach the Gospel. He was ordained deacon in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Russelville, Ky. by Bishop Souls on the 17th day of October 1830, and elder by Bishop Morris at Louisville on the 17th day of September 1843. These licenses & certificates have been carefully preserved, and the names of John James, Marcus Lindsey, William Adams, Bishops Soule & Morris will excite grateful recollections of those fathers in the church (all of whom with the exception of Bishop Morris he survived), of the faithful ministry associated with them, and of the harmonious & prosperous condition of the church under their ministrations.

It will be seen that the subject of this memoir was connected with the church in au official relation for more than 40 years. This was not merely a nominal relation. As a local preacher he was dependent on his labor for his support. He was diligent in business, a very industrious & laborious man. Yet he was as diligent in his office as an exhorter and preacher. He had his regular appointments in aid of the itinerant ministry. He planted & organized churches where no one else had labored and occupied & built up some societies that had been left out of the regular work. His meal for the good cause carried him wherever there was a prospect for doing good. whether in this or adjoining counties. As a preacher he was plain, practical, earnest and persuasive and was no doubt instrumental in leading hundreds to the knowledge of the truth. Altho there were defects in his style, owing to a want of thorough education, yet he had such purity of life, such intense longing for the salvation of the people, such sympathy with his audience that he was a most successful preacher, and as a gentleman remarked, who had heard one of his glowing heartfelt sermons, 'he was above criticism.' But he taught in private & from house to house, wherever he had an opportunity of going good. He had 'a heart for pity,' and was a messenger of peace & consolation to the sick, to those appointed to die; and to the bereaved, 'weeping with them that wept.' During his eventful life great changes have occurred in his beloved church. A great division occurred! he in common with all good men regretted it. While it remained an open question, he opposed it, as being pregnant with mischief to his church and country. When it was established by the authorities of the South, he acquiesced for peace sake, bur mourned over it. And when by the late terrible war the cause or occasion of the division seemed to be swept out of the way, he was anxious for a reunion of the great Methodist family and for the removal of all barriers to Christian fellowship between brethren of the same family, wherever residing. His heart was too large to be confined within state lines or boundaries. He had obtained a certificate from the Preacher in charge of the church South at this place with a view of joining a society established here by the M. E. Church, and in a live feast, the last one he ever attended, told the brethren, that he was with them & wished to be regarded as one of them. For the last few months of his life he was very feeble but yet struggled to attend to his business, and it may be said 'he ceased at once to work and to live.' His death was sudden. His familiar face was upon our streets visiting his friends and relations the day preceding his death. At night up to 11 o'clock he was hospitably & cheerfully entertaining au acquaintance, and at ----o'clock he was not, for God had taken him.

Thus lived & died Father Taylor, He has gone in and out before us, a leader in every religious enterprise for about 40 years. We sorrow as those having hope. Many who were garnered into the fold of Christ by his labors & prayers had gone before him into rest, and others are following his example and teachings and will follow after him. & all of them will be stars in his crown of rejoicing in that day.

[Bolin continues]:
The memoir, like the original journal, is in the possession of Wilhelmina Eskridge Beard.... James Taylor came to Breckinridge County in 1816 and settled at Mount Zion (near the present town of Kingswood), He moved to Hardinsburg in 1828 and there organized the Hardinsburg M. E. Church, the first Protestant church in that town. He served as a pastor of the Hardinsburg M. E. Circuit during the illness of the a appointed pastor, Rev. Joseph D. Barnett, in 1857. Locally, he ran a mill near Hardinsburg. When the M. E. (northern) congregation was organized at Hardinsburg in the 1860's, he supported it. After his death its church was named the Taylor Chapel M. E. Church in recognition of his work. He died 23 March 1867 and was buried in the old Hardinsburg Cemetery. His wife, Sarah Morris Taylor, was born 18 December 1794 and died 21 May 1883. Their children were: Deidamia, born 1 Nov 1812 died 20 May 1879; Elizabeth Morris (married Elijah Robertson Eskridge), born 6 Jan 1815 died 28 ,Mar 1873; Godfrey White, born 4 June 1518 died 7 Feb 1860; Mariam White, born 1 June 1823 died 11 Aug 1844; James William born 29 Jan l829 died 12 Feb 1895; Martha Jane, born 4 Oct 1832 died Nov 1914. The youngest child, Jennie Taylor, as she was called, married Henry Davis McHenry of Hartford. Under the pen name "Rosine" she wrote two volumes of poetry. The town of Rosine in Ohio County was named for her and celebrated its centennial earlier this year.

© 2003 Marty Holland