The Taylor Family

(Crest No. 40. Plate 66.)

THE Taylor family is of Norman origin, and came to Ireland in the year 1171. Branches of the family settled in the present Counties of Dublin, Galway, Donegal, Londonderry, and Meath. In the latter county the Taylors became Earls of Bective and Marquises of Headfort.

Thomas Taylor, a botanist and physician, graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1807. He devoted his life to his favorite study, botany, and wrote a number of meritorious works and papers on that subject.

William B. Sarsfield Taylor, artist and author, was born in Ireland in 1781, and on his mother’s side was descended from General Patrick Sarsfield. He wrote several works on art, archaeology, and other subjects, the best known of which are “History of the Fine Arts in Great Britain and Ireland” and “History of the University of Dublin.” His brother, John Sidney Taylor, was a distinguished lawyer and journalist, and largely contributed in his day to the advance of parliamentary reform and other useful and popular measures.

William Cooke Taylor, LL. D., a native of Cork, Ireland, graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1825, with distinguished honors. He was a voluminous writer, producing nearly thirty different works, mostly on biographical and historical subjects. He edited the Dublin “Evening Post” for many years, and contributed to many of the leading periodicals of the day. He died in 1819.

George Taylor, one of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence for the State of Pennsylvania, was born in Ireland in 1716, and sailed to America as a “Redemptioner,” that is, one who had no money to pay his passage out, but took the chance that somebody at the port of arrival would defray the expenses of the passage in consideration of the passenger mortgaging his services for the payment. The proprietor of an iron factory in Durham, Pa., redeemed him, and Taylor gave such satisfaction that he was soon removed from the smelting mill to the position of a clerkship in the office. He afterward married the widow of his employer, and, having acquired wealth and influence, was elected to the Provincial Assembly in 1764, and remained a member of that body until 1769. He was elected a member of the Continental Congress in 1776, and advocated vigorously the cause of the Colonies and signed the Declaration. In the following year he retired from public life. He died in 1781.