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Hon. John Taylor
Born February 16, 1808 |
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| HON. JOHN TAYLOR, Cascade. Hon. John Taylor, or, as he is more familiarly called, Judge Taylor, is the son of David Taylor and Martha McNeil, and was born February 16, 1808, in Rockingham Co., N.H. This was his home until 17 years of age, when he removed to Essex Co., N.Y., where he resided two years. He afterward lived awhile in Greene Co., and then in Albany Co. In 1834, he went to Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, and, in the autumn of 1836, came to Milwaukee, where he tarried about one year. He is a natural mechanic, but his chief occupation has been that of farming. The winter of 1837-38 he spent in the South, mainly in Louisiana. In the spring of 1838, he located in Dubuque, which continued to be his home for several years. In 1841, he purchased the place on which he now resides, on Sec. 1, in Richland Township, about one mile from Cascade, which is his post office. In October, 1843, he was elected Probate Judge of Jones County, for a term of three years. He was elected from Jones Co. as a member of the first Constitutional Convention of Iowa, which convened in October, 1844. He was married in Dubuque, December 25, 1844, to a native of Kentucky, Miss Elizabeth Graffort, on the occasion of her parents' golden wedding. In April, 1845, he was elected a member of the Territorial Legislature, by the counties of Cedar, Linn and Jones; the first session of said Legislature was held in May and June, and the next in the winter of 1845-46. He was appointed by the State Legislature in 1847, one of the Commissioners to locate a permanent seat of government for the State. He was elected a member of the Legislature, the session of which was held in the winter of 1852-53. In 1859, he was again elected to the Legislature from Jones Co., which regular session was at Des Moines, in 1860, with an extra session in May, 1861. He has one son, John Taylor, Jr., born December 22, 1846. He is now living near his father and upon the original purchase of 1841. Judge Taylor was a loyal supporter of the Government during the trial-period from '61 to '65, but has always been a Democrat from principle—a firm friend of the people and of their chosen government. Although Jones Co. is strongly Republican, yet the Judge has never been defeated in a political contest in his own county. The Judge is only a "brother-in-law" of the Evangelical Church—his wife being an acceptable member of the Baptist Church. He is kind, benevolent, and often sought as a counseloris a humanitarian. Conservative and conscientious, with ripened wisdom, he is pursuing the even tenor of his way to that "bourne whence no traveler returneth."
Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Western Historical Company, Chicago, 1879, page 691. |
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© Copyright 1997-2013, The Art Department, © Copyright 2014-2020, Richard Harrison.
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