Descendants of William Taylor

This genealogy was inspired by an 1886 letter from Augustus Campenfeldt Taylor [hereafter ACT] telling his family history.[1] It attempts to validate and expand on that information with additional research from primary and secondary sources.

First Generation

1. William¹ Taylor is said to have emigrated from the lowlands of Scotland around the 1690s, married a Miss Van Pelt (given name unknown) in NYC, and eventually settled on a farm in Yorktown, outside Peekskill, Westchester Co.[2] This area was a part of Cortland Manor; however since the Van Cortlands gave priority to settling the parts of their manor near the Hudson River, it is said that few white people were in this area before 1728. In 1734 the manor was divided into parcels to satisfy the various Van Cortland heirs and at that time they began to sell land instead of just lease it. It seems likely, therefore, that William would have arrived between 1734 and 1736 when his son Benjamin was born, however, I have not found any deed in his name.

There is a lot on the Internet about the Van Pelts, a family that began with the immigrant Teunis Jansen Lanen Van Pelt, b ca 1624 in Liege, Belgium, who married Geertruyd Jans Van Lent, b ca 1643 in Utrecht, Netherlands. They had a granddaughter Adriantje Van Pelt who was christened 24 May 1690 and married a Taylor, Charles Taylor by one account.[3] If William were 20 in 1690, he probably would not have married a woman 20 years younger. He could have had a son, Charles who married Adriantje but she would still be too old to be the mother of Absalom Taylor. So apparently some dates given in the family story are incorrect or we are missing a generation or there was another wife or something.

Coleridge A. Hart, a descendant, wrote in 1921 to a Peekskill genealogist, Franklin Couch, that William came to Yorktown sometime prior to 1736 from Salisbury, Litchfield Co, CT.[4] A visit to Salisbury and consultation with the town historian revealed no William Taylor there. Hart was probably confusing him with his son Absalom who moved to Salisbury just before the Revolution. With that in mind, we will continue with the early genealogy as reported by ACT.

William Taylor (or Charles) and (gnu) Van Pelt (or someone else) had (at least) the following children:

Second Generation

2. Benjamin² Taylor (William¹) was born in Yorktown, Westchester Co, NY ca 1736. Benjamin died Sep 1832 in Fishkill, Dutchess Co, NY, at 96 years of age and was buried in the Methodist churchyard adjacent to the farm of his grandson, James Taylor.[5]

Benjamin married Jemima Foster ca 1763 in Verplanck or Verplanck Point [outside Peekskill], Westchester Co, NY. Born 6 Jul 1741, she was the daughter of Ebenezer Foster and Desire Cushman from Attleborough, Bristol Co, MA[6] and a descendant of the Mayflower's Isaac Allerton.

Benjamin F. Taylor entered the Colonial Army in 1753, Co F, 9^th NYV.[7] From here on we’ll let ACT tell the story as he heard it from Benjamin when he was an old man and Augustus was a very young one:

“Their rendezvous was at Fort Orange, Albany, where they awaited supplies and orders. In 1755 the Colonial Governor planned a grand campaign against the French and Indians; one commanded by Gen. Braddock against Fort Duquesne; one commanded by Gen. Johnson against Crown Point; one commanded by Gen. Shirley against Fort Niagara. England was to furnish munitions of war and 6,000 men—the Colonies to raise 10,000 more. All of these campaigns were entire failures. Gen. Shirley with an army of near 2,000, including friendly Indians, advanced in 1755 to the northern Frontier, to Lake Ontario. He went up the Mohawk trail, then the only passable route to this northern lake, striking the lake near its mouth, to proceed hence by water to besiege Fort Niagara, situated near the head of the lake. 6,000 troops were to follow this advance guard. But in consequence of bickerings between Colonial and English officers, they failed to make the connection. The advance guard reached the frontier and built two forts, or more properly called, stockades, both near the mouth of Lake Ontario, one on each side of the Oswego River, one called Ontario and the other Owego. Owing to the desertion of their Indian allies, and severe sickness amongst the Colonial soldiers, the main object of the campaign was abandoned. Gen. Shirley left Col. Mercer in command, returning to Fort Orange, Albany.

“In the above named contingent, were parts of three companies of English soldiers, one commanded by Capt. Augustus Campenfeldt. To this company my grandsire Benjamin Taylor was attached.

“In the spring of 1756, the French, seeing the deleterious and fatal mistakes of the English, profited by their failures. The Marquis de la Calm had just been appointed Governor and General of all the French forces in Canada. He collected together at Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, a force of 5,000 men, mostly Indians, crossed Lake Ontario with 30 pieces of cannon, and besieged Fort Ontario. After a bloody fight Col. Mercer was forced to evacuate the place, retiring across the river to Fort Owego. During the night’s retreat, my grandsire Benjamin Taylor, by his expertness as a swimmer, rendered essential service, saving, with others, the life of his captain who was drowning. This incident undoubtedly made them ever after fast friends.

“Fort Owego was besieged. After a bloody resistance of three days, Col. Mercer being killed, the garrison surrendered to Mont de la Calm as prisoners of war. This was in August 1756.

“At that time grandfather was about 20 years of ago, having served his country in the French and Indian War over three years.

“The prisoners that were not massacred by the Indians arrived safe at Quebec in November. They were conveyed down the River St. Lawrence in bateaux and Indian canoes, arriving at Quebec at the commencement of winter.

“My grandfather at that time was at the zenith of youthful manhood: straight, tall, athletic, brave, and proud of his fine qualities. After reaching Quebec a French officer detailed him as a servant, and ordered him to black his boots. He refused. For this refusal he was imprisoned in a dungeon and fed on bread and water for nearly two months. It so happened that a French soldier for some offense was confined in the same place; he was taken sick and his case reported to the Provost. On leaving for the Court, grandfather told him to tell the Court that an Englishman in the dungeon was sick too, which errand he faithfully performed. My grandfather was ordered into Court. After an examination he told his tale. The Provost ordered him to the Barracks with the other prisoners of war.

“In the spring of 1757 these English prisoners, or a portion of them, were sent to France. The ship in which they were to embark laid in the stream below Quebec. All prisoners were conveyed on board in small boats. A number were massacred at the Embarkadero. Grandfather was the last man to enter a boat. As she shoved off, an Indian made his appearance. Finding his prey too far off, he gave a yell, drew his knife and made a scalping maneuver and picked up a stone, slung it with effect, hitting grandfather in the side. He saved his hair by falling in the boat. His life for a long time was despaired of. He carried the scar in his side, which was an indentation as big as a hen’s egg. This wound troubled him, causing much suffering during a long life.

“He was a prisoner of war in Havre de Grace in France until 1759. He was then exchanged, went to London, supporting himself there by the occupation of barber. One Sunday in crossing London Bridge, he met face to face his old captain, then Col. A. Campenfeldt—a welcome surprise to both parties.

“The Colonel was to depart the next day to Gibraltar. His regiment was already on board ship. He took grandfather to his house in London, kept by two maiden sisters (for he was not married). Grandfather was introduced to them and made welcome and pressed to make their home his as long as he stayed in London. The next morning Col. A. C. presented grandfather with a purse of five guineas and took his departure for Gibraltar. (Grandfather was never at that place.) And that day was the last seen of the noble Colonel by his friends in London. In 1760 his regiment was ordered from Gibraltar to the East Indies, and he died on the passage.

“Grandfather learned and worked at the trade of brick mason for years in London. He has often told me that he worked some two years on the Tower of London.

“He returned to America about the year 1762. Sailed for Boston in a bark which was wrecked off the harbor; reached New York by a coaster; by sail to Peekskill; foots it out to Yorktown, where he was born; calls for entertainment at his father’s home; receives a welcome; after supper makes himself known to the family. After a hearty embrace by all, his father took down the old fiddle from the wall—fiddled, danced and sung, "Benjamin, my son that was dead, is alive again, alive again." Grandfather had been absent and mourned as dead some eight or nine years, having a brother born in his absence, at that time seven years of age. His name was altered to Absalom.”

Though periodically suffering from a wound in his side, Benjamin had general good health and muscular power, and lived to the age of 96.[8] He appears to have been a Presbyterian. In his Journal, the Rev. Silas Constant, Pastor of the Yorktown Presbyterian Church, mentioned in 1792 and 1794, riding to Benjamin Taylor's house and preaching there.[9] In the early 19^th Century, Benjamin moved up to Fishkill in Dutchess County, along with his grandsons James and Augustus.

5 ii. Augustus Campenfeldt Taylor was born in Peekskill, 12 Sep 1770. He went with his father’s family to Franklin, MA but returned to Peekskill at the age of 16. He was married by Rev. Silas Constant, 11 Apr 1792 to Elizabeth Lent at her father's house in Peekskill, Westchester Co, NY.[10] Elizabeth was born 16 Sep 1773 and died 27 Sep 1857 in Peekskill. Augustus and Elizabeth had three children who all died young.[11]

Elizabeth was the daughter of Hercules Lent and Lavinia Lavinchey Van Tassel. Elizabeth's father, Hercules, was b 18 Oct 1737 in Ryck's Patent, Westchester Co, NY, baptized at the Dutch Church, Tarrytown (now Sleepy Hollow), and d 2 Oct 1816. His line of Van Lents goes back to Ryck Abrameson de Rycken, b in Amsterdam in 1637 who came to New Amsterdam with his parents in 1638. Ryck was christened at the Old Dutch Church in New Amsterdam, later moved to and died in Sleepy Hollow, NY. Until the Taylor marriage, the family seems to have been all Dutch, including Hercules' wife, Lavinia Van Tassel. (Note that Van Tassel was the name of the heroine of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow).[12]

The Lent Family was very prominent in the Peekskill area as principals in the Ryck Patent which persisted as a separate precinct of Cortland Town until 1788. When he died in 1816, Elizabeth's father left his farm in Cortland Town to his son John and made bequests to his wife; daughters: Esther, wife of Abraham Montross, Elizabeth, wife of Augustus C. Taylor, Catherine, wife of Richard Ferris[13]; sons: Henry and Richard; and the son of his deceased son, Abraham.[14]

Augustus C. Taylor appears to have been educated and well to do and at the time of his death was said to be one of the best and most thrifty farmers in Westchester Co. In 1801 he mortgaged to Jonathan Ferris, for $1625, two properties: 49 1/2 acres in the town of Cortland on the south side of the road from Peekskill to the Yorktown Meeting House and 16 1/2 acres on the same road. It was paid off by 1804.[15] These may have been part of the old family farm in Yorktown from whence Benjamin left to enter the army. In his will, dated 20 Feb 1815, proved 4 Apr 1815,[16] Augustus bequeathed $300 to his brother, James Taylor, $400 to his nephew William Taylor, son of his deceased brother Justus, $1,400 to his nephew James Taylor, along with all his land lying on the north side of the road leading from Crompond to Peekskill (now downtown Peekskill) except half of the lot adjoining the land of James Divon. He willed all his household goods and all his books and the residue of his estate to his wife Elizabeth. His nephew, James Taylor, was charged with using whatever he needed from his bequest for the support and maintenance of Augustus' father, Benjamin Taylor. His wife Elizabeth was also charged with giving a good and decent support to his father. The executors were Elizabeth, his brother-in-law Henry Lent, and a friend, William Nelson. Apparently there were no living children.[17]

“In 1832, the Methodists in Peekskill had no Sunday school of their own but used the Presbyterian Sunday school. In 1833 the Methodists withdrew under the leadership of Mrs. Augustus Taylor. In March 1834 the school was properly organized with James Taylor as Superintendent and Elizabeth Taylor (afterwards Mrs. Hart) female superintendent.”[18]

In the 1850 census, Elizabeth Taylor, 76, was living alone in a Peekskill boarding house; she seemed to be a well-off widow. In her will she gave $500 each to children of her deceased brothers Henry and John Lent, and to her niece Elizabeth Lent Taylor, wife of Gilbert Hart, with lesser amounts to other Lent relatives. $200 was initially left to maintain the fence around the burying grounds of the Reformed Dutch Church, known as the Old Dutch Church about 4 miles below Peekskill, but it was later revoked.

3. Absalom² Taylor (William¹) was born in Yorktown, Westchester Co, NY ca 1755.

As a teen he moved east to Salisbury, Litchfield Co, CT, perhaps to work in the iron industry, which was very active at that time and subsequently produced many of the cannons for George Washington’s army. On 15 March 1774 he married Sabra Owen, b 26 Dec 1757 in Salisbury, daughter of Leonard Owen and Mary Stannard.[19] Absalom fought in the Revolution. In the early part of the war he marched to Boston and was stationed on the sea coast; later he spent six months in service around West Point. He went to join the Battle of Bennington but got there after it was over. He was in the Battle of Saratoga and continued after Burgoyne’s surrender, guarding and removing the prisoners, and participated in several other actions.[20] In February 1782, the Taylors, Owens and others from Salisbury moved up Milton, Chittenden Co, VT where they were among the first settlers. Absalom lived in West Milton and died 9 January 1805; his gravestone is in the old West Milton cemetery located off Bear Trap Road and John Rowley Road. According to a letter in his pension file, Sabra lived on until May 1841, living with her grand daughter and namesake, Sabra Davis Johnson and her husband John William Johnson in Jericho, Chittenden Co, VT. After Sabra Taylor’s death, the Johnsons moved back to Milton.[21]

His daughter told this story: He was out hunting one winter day. Killed a moose and skinned it and laid down by his campfire. The cold became so intense that he wrapped the green skin around him and went to sleep. On awakening he found himself in a moose prison, with, as he first thought, no chance of escape. The Vermont frost had closed his winding sheet solidly around him. At length he succeeded in getting out a pocketknife and cutting his way out of a moose-skin grave.

Third Generation

4. James³ Taylor (Benjamin², William¹) was born in Peekskill, Westchester Co, NY 1764 and died 23 Jan 1844 in Westford, Chittenden Co, VT, at 79 years of age.

He married Salome Partridge 15 Feb 1786 in Franklin, Franklin Co, MA. Salome was born 8 Sep 1768 in Keene, Cheshire, NH. She was the daughter of Amos Partridge and Meletiah Ellis.[22]

As a boy, James moved with his family to Franklin, MA. At 16 he apprenticed with Thad Adams to learn the blacksmith trade; at 17 he enlisted for three years in the Continental Army.[23] He was at Valley Forge and often talked about how he and his comrades dug up the tails of beef after they had been buried for months, stewed them, and ate them without salt or pepper to sustain life.. After the war he returned to Franklin, to finish his apprenticeship.

After finishing his trade, with a group of friends, he crossed the Alleghenies on foot, having only one horse for packing. At Pittsburgh he came near to losing his life by falling in the night off the wall of old Fort Duquesne. He crossed the Ohio River into Virginia, thence to Kentucky. James was with Capt. Lewis' surveying party one season. They had several skirmishes with the Indians; several of his party died but he was unharmed. The only trophy of his adventures was a razor strop made from the untanned hide of an Indian.

James returned to Franklin, married Miss Partridge with the intention of returning to Kentucky, but was persuaded by friends to settle down in Franklin where he carried on a general blacksmith's business for years, he then returned to Peekskill where he continued blacksmithing and ship smithing, and finally moved to Westford, VT where he remained the rest of his life. During the War of 1812, Captain James Taylor raised a company from his neighborhood, serving from 1 Sep to 8 Dec 1812. In Sep 1814 he volunteered again to fight in the Battle of Plattsburgh, serving for 7 days.[24] [25] His son, Augustus, told this story:[26]

“In 1812 the U.S. declared war against Great Britain. He then raised a company of men and entered the service of his country. Most of his company were Westford, Milton, Essex and Underhill boys. These men enlisted for one year. At the expiration of their term of service he was detailed by the General in command to the recruiting service. In the summer of 1814 he visited New York and Peekskill on this business. Sister Salome accompanied him to Peekskill where Brother James was then located….He returned… about ten days before the battle of Plattsburgh. Volunteers were called for and the Green Mountain Boys nobly responded. On the Sunday morning one week before the battle took place, there was music in the air all along the ridge between Squire Bowman’s and Capt. Taylor’s. The bugles sounded and drums beat "To Arms, To Arms." The road was lined with marching volunteers. They went by the road through the Government Reserve to Milton, thence by water to Plattsburgh. My father was detailed and led the boys onward. After arriving in camp the General detailed him to serve the boys with guns and ammunition. They fell short of cartridge boxes to go all around. Priest Worster of Fairfield, who had raised a company, when it came his turn, filled his capacious pockets (these pockets were in a big silk vest where he carried his Bible and Psalm Book) with double rounds of cartridges, which made the boys cheer heartily. After this service was completed, he was given in charge of a regiment of these Volunteers, who formed the front guard in following the Red Coats on their retreat to Canada. So earnest were these volunteers that when the rear guard was overtaken and hoisted the white flag, it was hard to restrain them. Their cry was "There’s a Red Coat, damn him! Fire!" The day of this battle, Sunday, the 13^th, 1814, is to me ever to be remembered. Although then scarce six years of age, I can remember what happened there as if it were yesterday. A few infirm men with women and children, gathered together on Bold Hill, the dividing line between Westford and Milton, to see the battle go on. Your grandmothers Bowman and Taylor were there with their children. Your mother, father, uncles and aunts, and in fact, the whole neighborhood turned out. The able bodied men were, nearly to a man, gone to battle for their country. I remember one incident that happened on that eventful day: an old hunter by the name of Jack Willis came sauntering up the hill from the Milton side, with his rifle on his shoulder. Old grandfather Partridge asked him if he was not ashamed for not being in the ranks fighting for his country. He excused himself by saying he had been to the embarcadero and could not get a passage over the lake. The old man told him he was a coward. He, however, done us some service for he felled several trees to give all a better view of the battlefield.”

11 i. Lucius⁴ Taylor was born 6 Aug 1786 in Franklin, Norfolk Co, MA.[27] He died at Westford, VT, age 27

16 iv. Salome Taylor was born 23 May 1796 in Franklin. She married Ambrose Barnaby 1818 in Binghampton, Broome, NY.[28] They moved to Michigan [29]

22 viii. William Skiddy Taylor. He m Miss DePew of Peekskill and ultimately settled in Michigan.

6. Justus William³ Taylor (Benjamin², William¹), b 18 May 1771, d 18 Sep 1799.[30] He was a ship captain, owning his own boat that sailed between New York and the West Indies. On one return trip he caught yellow fever, sailed up the Hudson to Peekskill and died at the age of 28. He was buried there first in the Methodist Church Cemetery on South Street, then removed to the Cortlandville Cemetery.[31] He married Rosetta Place of Stamford, CT; they lived in Peekskill and had one son, William. After Justus died she married in Stamford, John R. Skiddy, a well-known ship captain of Stamford, CT and NYC, who adopted William, so his name became Skiddy.[32]

7. (?)³ Taylor (Benjamin², William¹) m1, Mr.Devoe;[33] m2 Mr. Miles (with whom she lived in Weston, NY.) Her given name is not known. By Mr. Devoe, she had:

8. Betsey³ Taylor (Absalom², William¹) birth date unknown, married Moses Davis.

25 i. Sabra⁴ Davis was born 29 Aug 1809 and died 17 Apr 1890. She married J. William Johnson (Aug 1806-20 Feb 1882).

10 Luther Taylor, (Absalom², William¹) b ca 1796, m1 Betsy Davis, sister of Moses Davis, above and had three children. Marital difficulties ensued (she having a child by another man) and he moved before 1820 to Malone, Bangor Township, Franklin Co, NY and m2 Hephzibah --- and had three more children. He was listed in the 1850 Census as a farmer but in Absalom’s pension file was referred to twice as Dr. Luther Taylor. Children: [34]

28 iii Adeline Taylor, b ca 1828, m Francis C. Crooks. In the 1860 Census [35] Hephzibah was living with them indicating that Luther was dead by that time.

12. Benjamin⁴ Foster Taylor (James³, Benjamin², William¹) was born 1793.[36] He grew up in Peekskill, moved to Westford, VT, perhaps 1809/10 and in 1814 married Harriet Barnaby. Harriet, 1793-1848, was the dau of Harlow Barnaby, b 1763, and Susan Edson, and granddaughter of Samuel Barnaby, 1735-1811, and Sylvia Winslow. Samuel, born and died in Freetown, MA, was a member of the Committee of Correspondence 1776-79, a town clerk, and delegate to the first constitutional convention.[37] Benjamin sold property in Westford in 1814[38] and probably left with his new wife soon after for Chenango (later part of Binghamton) in Broome County, NY, where he appeared in the 1820 census. In 1817 he purchased land there with Ebenezer Bowman, father of Thomas Bowman who married Melita Ellis Taylor. In the 1830 census Benjamin was located in Great Bend, Susquehanna County, PA, just over the state line below Binghamton where he had a log tavern by the “Indian Apple Trees” where the bridge crosses the river at Great Bend.[39] Sometime in the 1830s he moved to Ithaca, Tompkins County, NY, some 40 miles northwest of Binghamton. The 1840 census showed him with 18 persons in the household, suggesting that he was again running a tavern or boarding house. Harriet died 16 Dec 1848 by being thrown from a wagon and dragged on the ground during a visit to Seneca Falls. After this Benjamin moved back to Great Bend to live with his daughter and he died there 9 Mar 1865. Benjamin Taylor and Harriet Barnaby had the following children: [40]

29 i. Emroy Taylor 19 Nov 1819-15 May 1897. She married in Ithaca 20 Oct 1840 Joseph Dunn DuBois of Great Bend, Susquehanna, PA in 1840. Joseph, 1812-85, was the son of Abraham DuBois and Julia Bowes and was a descendant of Louis Dubois, one of the first Huguenot settlers of New Paltz, NY between 1668 and 1671. His great grandfather, Abraham DuBois, 1728-92, commanded a company in the Somerset Co, NJ militia during the Revolution.[41] Joseph was born in the family homestead in Great Bend and was historian of that section of the country. He published Blackman’s History of Susquehanna County, was postmaster of Great Bend 1841-1855, and was Burgess of Hallstead Borough in 1876. Children of Emroy Taylor and Joseph DuBois:[42]

i Richard Catlin DuBois b Great Bend 19 Apr 1842, m Ellen S. Richardson, dau of C. F. E. Richardson of Washington, where Richard and Ellen lived. He was a Civil War veteran and later was involved with concluding a treaty of peace with the Apache Indians. 5 children: Charles F, Isobel L, James G, Minerva C, and George B DuBois.

v James Taylor⁶ DuBois, b Great Bend, PA,17 Apr 1851, d NYC 27 May 1920. He m in Aix-la-Chapelle 29 Dec 1883, Emma Pastor, b 3 May 1856, d Wiesbaden, Germany 29 Aug 1939, dau of Henry Pastor and Elise Peltzer of NY and Aix-la-Chapelle. James was a diplomat, author and editor. He graduated from the Ithaca NY Academy, then took a two-year course at Cornell to prepare for a career in journalism. He worked for the Washington Post and then was managing editor of the National Republican when he was appointed U.S. Consular Agent at Aix-la-Chapelle. He served there and in Leipzig until 1885 when he returned to Washington and founded Inventive Age which became a popular technical periodical. He again entered the diplomatic service in 1897, serving as consul general in St. Gall, Switzerland and later at Singapore. From 1911 to 1913 he was consul general in Colombia. On his return to the U.S. he devoted his time to writing and public lectures, was active in Republican politics and wrote several books. Two children: Henry Pastor DuBois, an engineer, and Arthur W. DuBois, who also had a distinguished foreign career and was one of the first members of the CIA as an expert on Middle Eastern and Central European affairs.[43]

vii Frances A. DuBois, b 1856, m 1883 Maurice B. Moore, b 1850, resided in Seneca Co, NY.[44]

ix Abraham DuBois, 1862-1924, m Abbie McKinney, dau of Henry McKinney of Great Bend.

30 ii. William⁵ B. Taylor, b NY ca 1822, d > 1886. Family recollections said he went to California in 1849 after his mother died, to the Merced River area. ACT said in 1886 he was living in San Francisco, married with a family. The 1850 Census for Mariposa County (Merced River area) shows Wm. B. Taylor, 29, born in NY, Justice of the Peace, value of real estate $1,000.[45] The 1880 San Francisco Census lists Wm. B. Taylor, 57, printer, b NY, wife Lucretia 40, b KY, and two children: James A, 20, also a printer, b Oregon; and Jennie E, 18, also b Oregon.[46]

31 iii. James Barnaby Taylor, 1827-5 Nov 1904. About 1850-51 he followed his brother William to California. His daughter later recalled that “he always talked of the Merced River and valley….he told us of the hardships of driving over the trails in those days with great loads of valuable produce drawn by oxen.” He returned to Ithaca about 1858, “a rich man” and became partner in a grocery, Taylor and Heath. On 24 Aug 1859 he married Susan Jane Heath, daughter of Chauncey G. Heath and Susan Cantine. During the 1860s, James was elected a Trustee of the Village of Ithaca and served for several years. He got into financial difficulties and took various jobs: manager of a hall at Cornell University, postal clerk, and captain of the steamboat Frontenac on Cayuga Lake. His obituary said, “Mr. Taylor was an earnest churchman, an old-time Democrat, and an old-time Ithacan who gloried in the development of Ithaca as an intellectual city.” Children: James Barnaby, Henry Sommers, Edmund Heath, Emma Sommers, Lucy Howard, Mary Gilley, and Carleton B.[47]

32iv. Augustus C. Taylor, 1831 – 12 Feb 1887, NYC. He lived in Ithaca as a young man, associated with the book business, and married Jeanette Wilcox, a close friend of Susan Heath who married his brother. She was daughter of Timothy Dwight Wilcox and Margaret A ---. Sometime in the early 1850s he moved to Bloomington, IL and then on to New York City about 1864. He was a “prosperous member” of the book firm of Iveson, Blakeman, Taylor and Co, launchers of the Spencerian pen and system of writing. On 1 Jan 1887 he resigned because of ill health and died the next month at his home, 23 E. 69^th Street.[48] In the late 1870s he built a 28-room “cottage” on the west side of Cayuga Lake, about 25 miles from Ithaca, which was later sold to Henry Westinghouse of Pittsburgh, and since 1951 has been St. Fidelis Friary of the Capuchin Fathers, a Franciscan order. Augustus and Mary Jeannete Wilcox had two sons Dwight Taylor, b ca 1870 and Henry H. Taylor, b ca 1875.[49]

13 Isabella⁴ Taylor (James³, Benjamin², William¹), born in Franklin, Franklin Co, MA, 2 Nov 1792, married David Wilcox, b 1788. Isabella Taylor and David Wilcox had the following children:

14 James⁴ Taylor (James³, Benjamin², William¹) was born 2 Aug 1789 and died 16 Feb 1860. He married first Mercy Brower of Fishkill, Dutchess Co, NY born 16 Dec 1794, died 8 Sep 1828[50]; and married second, Diana Flagler, also of Fishkill, born 6 Aug 1804, died 11 Sep 1895.[51]

James Taylor moved up to Fishkill after 1814 and prior to 1820 when the Census shows him with a boy and a girl age 10-15, a woman 16-26, presumably his wife and an older woman, perhaps his wife’s mother.[52] The children might be his siblings. In 1830 the Census[53]shows him with a male 10-15, one 20-30, and one over 90; plus two females 15-20 and one 20-30. The two older males would be his brother Augustus and his father Benjamin; Augustus reported living under the same roof with his father during the latter’s last three years. By this time James had married Diana and the others could be relatives on one side or the other.

We have only Mercy’s first name on her gravestone, but a look at old deeds suggests she was a Brower. The 1812 will of Garrit Brower[54] left his land to his wife Mary, with three acres going to his son Henry and mentioned his other young children without naming them. In 1829, after both Mary Brower and Mercy Taylor had died, there were a series of land transactions involving James Taylor (now unmarried), Henry Brower, and other heirs.[55] Henry also named a daughter Mercy.[56] James and Mercy had two children; both died young and were buried in the churchyard with their mother.[57]

James was a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Fishkill in 1826.[58] He married Diana in 1830 in the Hopewell Reformed Church;[59] their first child was born in 1831. Diana was the daughter of Zachariah and Catherine Hasbrouck Flagler, a fairly wealthy Fishkill farm family,.[60] In 1833, Diana inherited 244 acres, which she and James sold, to her brother Edward.[61] In 1834, they sold three more parcels in Fishkill, probably investing the proceeds in Peekskill where they were then living.[62] There are deeds up until 1840 citing James Taylor of Fishkill, although he seems to have moved his main base of operations to Peekskill in the early 1830s. He was trustee of Peekskill Village 1836-38.[63]

In 1830 James Taylor appears to have joined Reuben R. Finch in starting a foundry on the east side of Division Street, between Center and Main Streets.[64] In 1840, Mr. Finch and others withdrew their interest and in lieu of cash took the machinery while Taylor took the real estate. The firm later became Taylor and Flagler. The Peekskill Museum gives pride of place to a beautifully detailed Taylor and Flagler stove of 1841. In an 1850 circular Edward Flagler called to the attention of persons going to California his jewelers forge, for melting and assaying gold. The firm ran into financial difficulties in the late 1840s and failed by 1850. On 3 Aug 1848[65] James and Dianna Taylor and Philip and Frances H. Flagler sold to the Taylor’s brother-in-law, Gilbert B. Hart, trustee, for $1, five properties in the center of downtown Peekskill, which he was to sell to pay off creditors, with any balance returning to them. It consisted of lots on Division Street, two on Center Street, one on the corner of Howard Street and the Highland Turnpike, and one on the west side of Highland Turnpike at Paulding Street. On 23 Sep 1852[66] Diana Taylor sold to her brother-in-law, William Skiddy, for $5,000, the last of the above lots which had been conveyed back to her by Gilbert Hart on 3 Mar 1850.

James and Diana are buried along with their daughters in Hillside Cemetery, Peekskill.[67] They had the following children:

35 i. Augusta E. Taylor, b Peekskill 21 Apr 1831, d there 28 Dec 1925. Unmarried

36 ii. Sarah F. Taylor, b Peekskill 24 Oct 1833, d there 18 Feb 1871. Unmarried. She was a teacher[68] and was Secretary of the Soldiers Relief Association of the Town of Cortland during the Civil War.[69]

37 iii. Edward FlaglerTaylor. He moved to Illinois where Augustus C. Taylor said he was elected to Congress from the 18^th District.[70] However, I do not find any mention of him in the official Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress or any place else. Maybe he was elected but never served.

15 Bartholomew Foster⁴ Taylor (James³, Benjamin², William¹) was born 10 Aug 1795 in Franklin, Franklin Co, MA. He died 16 Feb 1860 in Essex, Chittenden Co, VT. He was probably named for his mother's brother who had that name. He married Clarissa (Clara) Bliss in Essex, Chittenden Co, VT. She was born there 28 Apr 1795 and died there 18 Oct 1881. Both are buried there in the Common Ground Cemetery. They had two sons and two daughters. Two of their children were:

38 i. Lucius⁵ Taylor, b ca 1819, m Clarissa ---, and had 7 children: Milford, Clarence, Charlotte, Fred, Jesse, Hattie and Anna. In 1860 he was a day laborer, living in Essex, Chittenden Co, VT; in 1870 he was still there, a farmer. By 1880 he had moved to Oakland, CA, where he was a clerk for P. P.; his son Clarence F. 31, was working in a railroad shop, Fred, 29 was a brakeman; and his son Jessie, 26, was an engineer.[71]

39 ii. Juliet E. Taylor. b in Essex in 1838, d there 26 May 1862. On 15 Apr 1861 she married Albert A. Bliss of Essex.

17 Amos Partridge⁴ Taylor (James³, Benjamin², William¹) was born in Peekskill, Westchester Co, NY 8 Sep 1800. He married Ida V. Lynch Nov 1829, and they moved to Raisinville, Monroe Co. MI. Amos was a farmer and a deacon in the Methodist church. Ida Lynch died 11 Nov 1837 in Raisinville. Amos and Ida had the following child:

On 14 Nov 1840, Amos married Mary S. Thompson (11 May 1817-6 Sep 1889) and they had the following children:

41 ii. Lorison James Taylor was born 30 Jun 1842. He married Martha Wood 22 Feb 1865. She was born 24 Jun 1843.[72] He served three years in the 2^nd Michigan Infantry, then as Captain of the 11^th Michigan Volunteer Infantry until the close of the Civil War. He received three wounds and fought in many battles, among them Knoxville and Fair Oaks.[73]

43 iv. Lucius John Taylor was born 1845. During the Civil War, Lucius at age 18 enlisted in the Michigan 18th Infantry; he died of disease in Decatur, AL on 4 Aug 1864.

Amos died in Raisinville 3 May 1851. A couple of years later, Mary married Harmon Allen who had earlier been a resident of and successful politician in Chittenden Co, VT. Amos, Ida and Lucius John are all buried in the London Township Cemetery in Milan, MI.

18. Melita Ellis⁴ Taylor (James³, Benjamin², William¹) was born in Peekskill, Westchester Co, NY 4 Aug 1802. She married Thomas Bowman ca 1827. Thomas was born 2 Jun 1803 in Clarendon, VT, the son of Ebenezer Bowman and Hannah Hammond. He moved with his family to Westford, VT where he lived and died. He represented Westford in the 1820 Legislature. A section of the Brookside Cemetery, Westford, VT contains several gravestones of the family including: Thomas Bowman, b June 2, 1803, d Oct 18, 1865 and Melita E. Taylor, his wife, b Aug 4, 1802, d Aug 16, 1864. Also Mersey Sophia Bowman, wife of Lyman D. Parker, b Aug 1, 1829, d Apr 1, 1856. Melita Ellis Taylor and Thomas Bowman had the following children:

44 i. Mercy Sophia⁵ Bowman was born in Westford, Chittenden Co, VT b 1829 and d 1856 at 26 years of age.

45 ii. Ebenezer Bowman was born in Westford, Chittenden Co, VT 13 Jan 1831. Ebenezer died 5 Apr 1897 in Chelsea, Suffolk Co, MA, at 66 years of age. His son, Rev. John Elliot Bowman was a genealogist interested in the Taylor family.

46 iii. Thomas Elliot Bowman was born Sep 1834. Thomas died May 1896 Topeka, Shawnee Co, KS, at 61 years of age. He married Mary Emma Burleson. Mary, born 1835 - died 1864 at 29 years of age, was the daughter of Caleb Nicholas Burleson and Diana Stevens. After her death he moved down to Boston where, on 1 Oct 1865, he married Eliza Wilson, dau of John G. and Elizabeth G Wilson.[74] He was a partner (with his brother John Augustus) in Seavey, Foster and Bowman, manufacturers of sewing silk and all kinds of twisted silk.[75] Due to ill health, he later moved to Topeka, Kansas where he was successful in the real estate and mortgage business. T.E. Bowman was the recipient of the long letter from Augustus Campenfeldt Taylor about the Taylor family. His daughter, Marion, married Fred Oliver Popenoe and was Oliver Popenoe's grandmother.

47 iv. John Augustus Bowman was born in Westford, Chittenden Co, VT 2 Jun 1837. John died 8 Feb 1908 in Sharon, Norfolk Co, MA, at 70 years of age. He married Sarah Clapp.

48 v. Salome Elizabeth Bowman was born in Westford, Chittenden Co, VT 17 Jun 1839. She married William B. Lund.

19. Alpha W.⁴ Taylor (James³, Benjamin², William¹), b in Peekskill, ca 1805, married Orange Lawrence, b ca 1800. They lived in Westford, Chittenden, VT, near her sister Melita.. They had the following children, all born in VT:[76]

20. Augustus C.⁴ Taylor (James³, Benjamin², William¹) was born at Westford, ca 1810. As a teenager he lived with his brother James in Fishkill, Dutchess Co. He married Rachel Vanwyck Hoagland May 1833 in Fishkill. She was b ca 1815. In 1835, he sold to Henry Brower (James Taylor’s former brother-in-law), 3 acres in Fishkill that he had bought in 1823 (when he was perhaps 14) and the next day bought a lot next to the Episcopal Church in Fishkill, I assume for his business, which appeared to involve trade between New York City and Fishkill.[77] In 1846 his business failed, and Augustus, “apprehensive he is able to pay all his debts in full” transferred to assignees in trust all his real estate and his stock in trade in and about his house, his farm, at the dock at New Hamburgh, and in New York City.[78] Having been wiped out, he moved to California in 1849 where he began again in business as a merchant in San Francisco and was much more successful. The 1860 Census[79] showed him with real estate worth $40,000 and personal property worth $12,000. The San Francisco Directory of 1889/90 listed him as a capitalist at 659 Harrison. Augustus died in San Francisco, 3 Sep 1890.[80] He and Rachel had 7 sons and 3 daughters, some of whom were:

57iii. James B. Taylor, b ca 1839 in NY. In 1880 he was a farmer, living with 6 men in Redwood City, CA, vicinity of Menlo Park.

59v. Gilbert H Taylor, b ca 1846 in NY. In 1900 and 1910 he was living in Chico, CA as hardware salesman/accountant with wife Eda W., b ca 1870 and son Cary P. Taylor, 10 Dec 1884 – 8 Jun 1972.[81]

60vi Francis Augustus Taylor, b ca 1848 in NY. In 1910 he was living with his sister Mary in Berkeley, Oakland Township, CA, occupation: home telephone solicitor. He apparently never married.[82]

61vii Richard Vallejo Taylor, b ca 1853 in CA. He married in the Sandwich Islands Catherine McKenney 13 Mar 1876 – 15 Jan 1941, dau of Andrew Jackson McKenney and Louisa Grace Richards. Children: Grace Elizabeth, b 26 Nov 1892; James A, b Apr 1894, reportedly died in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906; Albert Richard, b 6 Feb 1899. Richard Vallejo may have also died in the earthquake because Catherine remarried about 1907. She died in the Utah State Insane Asylum.[83]

62viii Mary L. Taylor, b ca 1857 in CA, was living with her brother Francis in 1910.

21 Elizabeth Lent⁴ Taylor (James³, Benjamin², William¹) birth date unknown, died 1884. On 6 Oct 1841, she married Gilbert Bloomer Hart, b 30 May 1815, d 1 Dec 1867. He was the son of James Hart and Ann Elizabeth Roake; his grandmother Mary Coleridge was a cousin of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was engaged in the lumber business at Peekskill’s lower dock until his early death and was active in civic affairs, serving as school and village trustee and town supervisor. He was one of the founders and trustees of the Peekskill Savings Bank and the Peekskill Military Academy. He was a prohibitionist, an officer in the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and for 28 years was Superintendent of its Sunday school. Elizabeth became as locally influential as her husband, a prominent leader in church and secular affairs in Peekskill and for her last 25 years president of the Village Dorcas Society.[84]

63 i. James⁵ Augustus Hart, b ca 1850. He was a physician who moved to Colorado Springs, El Paso Co, CO and died after 1920.[85]

64 ii. Coleridge A. Hart. ca 1852-1924 is buried in Peekskill Hillside Cemetery. He was a well-known New York City lawyer who ran for Supreme Court Judge in 1896 and U. S. Senator in 1922 on the Prohibition Party ticket.[86]

23. William ⁴ Skiddy (Justus³, Benjamin², William¹) b ca 1792 in Peekskill, Westchester, NY.[87] He followed the careers of his father and his stepfather and became a noted ship captain. During the War of 1812 he was a midshipman in the Navy. He kept a journal and his account of a battle between the American Hornet and British Penguin has been published.[88] A search of the Internet reveals that he captained many ships in various parts of the world, spanning the eras of the tall masts and the steamships, and that he directed the construction of a number of major vessels. One of these, named the John R. Skiddy for his stepfather, made many voyages from Liverpool to New York bringing immigrants from the Irish potato famine. William Skiddy retired to Stamford where in 1860 he was a wealthy man, with 5 Irish servants in the house, real estate valued at $50,000 and other property worth $150,000.[89] William Skiddy married Mary A. Anderson (born ca 1809 in England) 26 Nov 1841 at the Parish Church, Islesworth, London, England.[90] They had the following children:

66ii. William Skiddy, b ca 1845 in New York. He became a prominent industrialist in Stamford.

24 Susan⁴ Devoe (Name unknown³, Benjamin², William¹). Susan married Richard Wells (from the Philadelphia area) in NY in March 1806.[92] By December they were living in Charleston, SC and during the next ten years they had 7 children, of whom four lived to adulthood. In 1820, the Wells family moved to Cherry Street in NYC where three more children were born. Richard Wells was a shipbuilder; then a ship captain. They were pretty well off, summering in Newport in 1813 and around 1825 moving to Brooklyn Heights but keeping several properties on Cherry Street. Susan Devoe and Richard Wells had the following children:

The Kent, Howe and Shaw sons-in-law all came from well-to-do families; Leavitt was the son of a very wealthy banker and railroad owner, David Leavitt, who had huge homes in Brooklyn and Great Barrington in the Berkshires. Daniel came from a distinguished Charleston family but was not well off.

[1] Augustus Campenfeldt Taylor, San Francisco, CA, letter to T. E. Bowman, Topeka, KS, 4 Jul 1886. It is printed in full on www.popenoe.com. The original is in possession of Edward Lorison Taylor, dalhcathouse@email.msn.com.

[2] This info is from the 1886 account of Augustus Campenfeldt Taylor and also from a note by Rev. John Elliot Bowman on page 317 of the 1904 volume of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register: “[James Taylor] was a son of Benjamin Taylor and grandson of William Taylor an emigrant, probably from Scotland, who settled previous to 1736 in the vicinity of Peekskill, New York.” John Elliot Bowman, 28 December 1866 – 29 Jan 1933, was a son of Ebenezer Bowman and a grandson of Melita Ellis Taylor and Thomas Bowman. When ill health caused him to give up his ministerial career he devoted himself to genealogy, was active in several New England genealogical societies and was a frequent contributor to the genealogical columns of the Boston Evening Transcript. His obituary is on p 388 of the NEHGR, October 1933. A note there in 1906, p 277, stated that he was preparing a genealogy of William Taylor. I have never seen it; it is not catalogued as one of Bowman’s manuscripts in the NEHGS but it may exist there or elsewhere.

[3] Bergen, Teunis G., Register of the Early Settlers of Kings County, Long Island, New York, NY: S. W. Green’s Son, 1881, p 354. He suggests that Adriantje was baptized 21 Sep 1703 and gives no first name for Taylor. In 1913, Effie M. Smith published A Genealogy of the Van Pelt Family, which added the given name Charles. Dorothy Koenig (dkoenig@library.berkeley.edu) has written me that Effie Smith’s work is completely undocumented and consistently disappointing. Koenig is also editor of New Netherlands Connections in which, in Vol 6 pp 96-104, she ran an article entitled “Some Erroneous Marriages in Bergen’s Kings County.” While she did not mention the Van Pelt/Taylor marriage she certainly did cast doubt on Bergen’s work in general, and my own perusal of the latest book of records of the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church did not turn up any Taylor marriage. So I think we have to keep an open mind on the Van Pelt connection, despite the fact that Augustus Campenfeldt Taylor cited it. For an ahnentafel of Adriantje Van Pelt see the records submitted by William Henry Roll in RootsWeb’s WorldConnect. There do not seem to be any records that continue the line of Ariantje Van Pelt and --- [or Charles] Taylor so we cannot rule them out of consideration in the family we are researching.

[4] Letter from Coleridge A Hart to Franklin Couch, Esq., Apr 4 1921, in files of Field Library, Peekskill, NY (Local History room). Along with this is a handwritten sheet by Couch on the Taylor family, which, however, lacks sources. Couch’s notes show that William Taylor married Rebecca, dau of John and Deborah (Jacobs) Depew. This might be the second wife or it might be that this was a second William Taylor, father (or brother?) of Benjamin and Absalom Taylor. Couch also might have reported an unrelated William Taylor; it is a common name. Couch also lists, below Benjamin, Hannah Taylor m Daniel Thorn.

[5] This is from ACT. However, J. W. Poucher, Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, 1904 (on the Dutchess Co GenWeb site) says the gravestone at the Methodist Church at Johnsville, org. 1826 says: Taylor, Benjammane, d 1881, Sep 12 in 94^th year. I visited the churchyard 22 Sep 2002; none of the Taylor gravestones are still extant or readable. Poucher probably read 1831 as 1881; this would still have Benjamin born ca 1737 a year later than ACT’s recollections.

[6] This parentage is supported by Rev. John Elliot Bowman’s note, supra, and by the fact that James Taylor named a son Bartholomew Foster Taylor, presumably after his mother’s brother of that name. Their ancestry, back to the Mayflower's Isaac Allerton, is traced on RootsWeb's World Connect by Mae Beth Smart. The Line of descent is Isaac Allerton’s daughter Mary Allerton (1616-1699) married Thomas Cushman; their son Thomas Cushman (1637-1726 married Abigail Titus; their son Samuel Cushman (1687-1766) m Fear Corser; and their daughter Desire Cushman (1710-ca 1810) m1 John Allen and m2 17 Sep 1730 in Attleborough, Ebenezer Foster.

[7] From Franklin Couch’s notes in Peekskill Library

[8] 94 according to Poucher, op cit.

[9] The Journal of Rev. Silas Constant, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1903, edited by Emily Warren Roebling, pp 197 and 233.

[10] Ibid, p 199.

[11] Letter of Augustus C. Taylor (his nephew) supra.

[12] Much more about the family will be found in Susan Rockwell Austin's listings in RootsWebs’s WorldConnect.

[13] I do not find this Richard Ferris among the known descendants of Jeffrey Ferris, however Jonathan Ferris (Peter³, John², Jeffrey¹) who died in Peekskill in 1798, left to his son Jonathan 49 acres purchased from Gretia Lent, bounded by the lands of Hannah Montross on the west, Abraham Montrosss on the south, Augustus Taylor on the east, and the Crombpond road on the north. Witnesses: William, James and John Lent. http://www.ferristree.com/john.htm

[14] Will dated 28 Mar 1814, probated 1816., Westchester Co Archives.

[15] Westchester Co Mortgages, Liber G, p 407

[16] Liber D, p 172

[17] Wills, Liber 39, p 342.

[18] J. Thomas Scharf, History of Westchester County, New York, 1886, reprint Picton Press, Camden, ME, 1992, p 395.

[19] Donna Valley Russel, Salisbury CT Records, Vol 1, Vital Records 1730-1800, Middletown, MD: Catoctin Press, 1983, pp 22 and 66.

[20] Sabra later applied for a pension; this is from her account in 1838.

[21] This info is from Sandi Lee Craig, a descendant, ewfam@airmail.net.

[22] More on the Partridge ancestry can be found on the PartridgeNest database on World Connect.

[23] per Massachusetts Volunteers Roster, Ancestry.com.

[24] State of VT, Roster of Soldiers in the War of 1812-14, 1933, p 418.

[25] (According to family recollections, recorded by Ed Lorison Taylor, James Taylor's daughter-in-law, Mary Thompson Taylor, always referred to him as James Lorison. This name has continued down to the present, though where it came from is a mystery).

[26] ACT Letter, supra.

[27] This birth date and the following Franklin County ones are from Mary Beth Smart on RootsWeb and I presume they came from Franklin records.

[28] Mary Beth Smart. Augustus Taylor said she was born in Peekskill but he was probably wrong.

[29] There is an Ambrose Barnaby in the 1830 NY Census, Tompkins Co, Ithaca, p 349 and in the 1840 Michigan Census in Monroe Co, Raisinville Township, p 345. Since the latter is where Amos Partridge Taylor lived, I assume they went out together. Ambrose is not in the 1850 census so I assume he died or moved on.

[30] Birth calculated from tombstone on Listing of the Cortlandville Cemetery, Peekskill Museum.

[31] Ibid and Letter of Coleridge A. Hart, supra.

[32] The two marriages are reported in the International Genealogical Index but no source is given. The dates given in the IGI are 1780 and 1792, which are obviously wrong.

[33] He may have been a grandson of Johannes Devoe [originally DeVeaux], b in Hackensack and married in the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow 9 Nov 1723 to Hester See. He had eleven children born 1725-1748 who lived in the environs of Tarrytown. This is from a hand written booklet in the manuscript collection of the NYGBS: Genealogical Data of Old Families of Phillipsburg Manor NY, compiled by Daniel Van Tassel. Van Tassel followed some Devoe families but gave no indication of who might have married Miss Taylor.

[34] 1850 Census, NY Franklin County, Bangor Township, M432-505 p 61 (image 12 on Ancestry.com)

[35] 1860 Census, same place

[36] Much of the information on Benjamin and his children is from the extensive research of a great grandson, Robert Saxton Taylor, [rtaylor1@twcny.rr.com]

[37] DAR Applications 18332 and 154334.

[38] To J. Wilder Lawrence 14 Aug 1814, Deedbook 5, p 163, and a quitclaim to James Taylor 14 Nov 1814 for a probably adjoining lot in Division III on the west side of Brown’s River.

[39] William Heilgard, compiler, The American Descendants of Chretien Dubois, New Paltz, NY: Dubois Family Assn., 1971, part 5

[40] ACT letter

[41] Info. from DAR applications.]

[42] Heilgard, op cit, part 5, G-87 and part 6, H136 – H144.

[43] There is a lengthy article and picture of James in The National

Some Descendants of William Taylor

of Yorktown and Peekskill, NY

First Generation

Second Generation

Third Generation