The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Frankfort, Ky. May,
1920, Vol. 18, No. 53. "Spring Hill," Oldham County, Ky.  The Home of Major
William Berry Taylor by a Great-Granddaughter, Alice Elizabeth Trabue. pp.
23-29. 

     With the incoming of automobiles, and thereby necessary improvements of
roads, there is a cry of "back to the soil," and a purchase of farm such as
has neaver been known since our pioneer days.  I am wondering how many old
estates of pioneer settlers have remained in one family for over a century?
It is with hope that by this article I can challenge the records of others
estates, that by so doing, the history of Kentucky, so dear to our hearts,
may be written and preserved for all time.
     It should be of interest to many to learn something of "Spring Hill"
in Oldham County, near Floyd's Fork, the home of the pioneer settler, Major
William Berry Taylor, 800 acres of which was purchased a year ago for $100
an acre by Mr. Samuel A. Glover, from Mrs. Susan Taylor Clore, Miss Alice
Taylor and Mrs. Gibson Taylor.  This was bought one hundred and twenty-two
years before for $1.33 1-3 an acre.  And of greater interest should be the
personal history of Major Taylor, whose nobility of character, mental
ability and generosity of nature were proverbial throughout the community
in which he lived.  He was a surveyor, following the profession of his
great grandfather, who was Surveyor General of the Colony of Virginia.  He
accumulated many thousand acres of land extending in several directions,
besides huge tracts in Clark County, Ky., into which locality his parents,
Lieut. and Mrs. Jonathan Taylor, removed in the sumer of 1790 from
Botetoute [sic] Co., Va., and settled a few miles from the present site of
Winchester, Ky.  The place is called "Basin Spring" because of the natural
basin formation.  The old house has long since gone.  {see diary of Col.
Francis Taylor.)  So vast were the estates of Maj. Taylor, he was nicknamed
"Big Foot Billy," said "to have owned all the land he put his foot on."
     He was born in Virginia, and according to the noted diary of his uncle,
Col. Francis Taylor, of Revolutionary fame, "he remained in Botetoute Co.,
Va., until the 23d of Dec., 1796, when he removed to Kentucky and bought of
his uncle one thousand acres on Floyd's Fork, in Shelby County (Oldham not
having been formed until 1823), paying 400 pounds or $1,333.33 of our
currency for the land."  This tract was an original grant to Col. Francis
Taylor for Revolutionary services, and was at the time of its purchase
1796, almost entirely a wilderness.  Shelby was formerly a part of
Jefferson County.
     "Patrick Henry Esq., Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to all
whom these presents shall come greeting.  Know ye that by virtue and in
consideration of a land office treasury, warrant No. 3967 and issued the 16
day of March, 1780, there is granted by the said Commonwealth unto Francis
Taylor a certain tract or parcel of land containing one thousand acres by
survey bearing date the 8th of November, 1783, lying and being in the
county of Jefferson bounded as followeth, to-wit:  'Beginning at John
Taylor's N. E. corner on the waters of Floyd's Fork running with said John
Taylor's line south 70 degrees:' here followeth description in full.
     "Signed by Patrick Henry at Richmond, Virginia, 27th of January, 1785. 
Recorded in Virginia grants, book No. 6, page 211, in the land office of
Kentucky, Frankfort, Ky."
     Major Taylor upon taking possession, had built of logs a temporary
dwelling house.  A year later he returned to Virginia, bringing back with 
him his wife, a negro woman and two negro men.  The party came by boat from 
Virginia to Maysville, and from there rode the rest of the way on horseback.  
While crossing a creek, the negro woman, who as riding behind a man, fell off
into the swollen stream and was drowned. Fortunately for our young and
courageous ancestress, one of the men was old "uncle Jacob" by name, a most
trusted and valuable servant.  The remainder of the servants and 
possessions followed a little later.
     This devoted old man Jacob often had entrusted to his care hundreds of
dollars at a time.  Typical of the ultimate relation between master and
servant of that day, an amusing story is told of his once having said,
"Marse William and I brought a lot of hogs out from Virginia, but the bars
killed and ate the hogs up, then Marse William and I killed and ate the
bars up."
     A very few years thereafter, about the beginning of the 19th century,
Major Taylor built the present brick house, the elegance of which,
according to the pioneer's standards in that community, brought visitors
from miles around.  He also built quarters for some fifty or more slaves,
among whom were blacksmiths, carpenters and shoemakers whose duty it was to
supply the plantation with necessities along their special lines.
     LaGrange, which he named for LaFayette's estate in France, was built upon
his desmesne, and the present site of the courthouse was donated by him for
that purpose.  He also gave the ground for the old Female Seminary, no
longer existing.
     Stories are told of strolling Indians around "Spring Hill," which caused
much apprehension at the time, but no serious trouble ever ensued.  Many a
night the family fell asleep to the distant howling of wolves.
     Among the frequent visitors to this home and family were such men as
president Zachary Taylor and John J. Crittenden.
     President Taylor, President James Madison and William Berry Taylor were
children of first cousins, all having been the great-grandsons of Col.
James Taylor, II., and wife, Martha Thompson of King and Queen and Orange
counties, Virginia.
     Upon one of Zachary Taylor's visits he escorted Betsy, one of the
daughters of "Spring Hill" to Frankfort to the first Assembly Ball ever
held there.  They rode through on horseback, a distance of over thirty
miles, she carrying her ball gown in saddlebags.
     In an account of this home and family, some mention is due old Mr. Abraham
Hapstonstall, a splendidly trained surveyor, who was previously for many
years associated with Hancock Taylor in vast surveys of early Kentucky.  In
May, 1774, Hancock Taylor accompanied by his kinsman, Willie Lee, and
Abraham Hapstonstall, were making surveys in Kentucky, near the present
site of Louisville.  Governor Dunmore was in what is now Ohio, and finding
an Indian war pending, sent expresses of warning to Daniel Boone and the
others, but Hancock Taylor delayed too long, and in an encounter, Taylor
was severely wounded.  One of the party attempted to cut out the ball with
his pocket knife, but not succeeding and seeing that the wound was a
serious one, Taylor was borne off on a litter by Lee and Hapstonstall,
hoping to reach Virginia for proper attention, but he died on the way and
was buried by Lee and his faithful friend Hapstonstall, who carved his name
on a stone with a tomahawk.  He afterwards return and identified the grave.
     Hancock Taylor's will, made shortly before dying, left among other
bequests to Willis Lee and Hapstonstall, two-thirds of his lands lying on
the Western Waters, and the remainder of his vast estates to his two
brothers, Colonel Richard and Captain Zachary Taylor, father and uncle of
the President.  This will dated the 29th of July, 1774, was the first legal
document except surveys ever executed in Kentucky.  It was probated in
Orange Co., Va.  A copy is now in the Kentucky Historical Society rooms,
Frankfort, Ky.  Many years thereafter, Mr. Hapstonstall came as an
assistant to William B. Taylor, where he lived, a valued friend to the end
of his days, and was laid to rest in the spacious family burying ground at
"Spring Hill."
     Here were reared a large family of sons and daughters:  The Bible record
of William Berry Taylor and Susanna Harrison Grayson Gibson follows below,
with marriages supplied by the compiler of this article.
     William Taylor, born 26 Feb., 1769.  Married Susanna H. Gibson, 26 Nov.,
1795.  Ceremony by the Rev. Nathaniel Sanders.
     Susan Harrison Gibson Taylor, born Nov. 26, 1775.
Children:
     Ann Berry Gibson taylor, b. May 10, 1798. (Married Thomas Throckmorton
Barbour, one son and three daughters.)
     Mary Berry Taylor, b. Feb. 7, 1800.  (Married William Todd Barbour, four
sons and one daughter.)
     Elizabeth Coats Taylor, b. Jan. 28, 1802.  (Married William Willett, 
M. D., no issue).
     Francis Madison Taylor, b. June 16, 1804.  (Died unmarried.)
     William Berry Taylor, b. Sept 7, 1806.  (Died young.)
     John Gibson Taylor, b. July 25, 1810.  (Married Oretta Barnes, no
issue.)
     Susan Harrison Taylor, b. April 5, 1815.  (married William Gibson,
one daughter.)
     Sarah Francis Taylor, b. April 5, 1815.  (Married Edmund Taylor
Berry, six sons and three daughters."
     Matilda Catherine Taylor, b. April 30, 1820.  (Married Robert
Mallory, three sons and five daughters.)
     William Willett Taylor, b. March 4, 1823.  (Married Alice Sandford,
three sons and five daughters.)
     John Gibson Taylor was for many years Judge of Henry County and also
Representative from the county in the Legislature in 1839.
     In the division of the large estate of Major Taylor, Matilda, the wife 
of Hon. Robert Mallory, member of Congress, was allotted the farm adjoining
the homestead, and her home, "Oak Knoll," was also noted for its
hospitality for many years.
     "Spring Hill," the homestead, was allotted the youngest son, William
Willett, whose children continued to reside there until the recent sale to
Mr. Glover.  Among the children of William Willett Taylor and his wife,
Alice Sandford, was the late Judge Sandford Taylor, who long held judicial
and clerical offices in Oldham County.
     Six other descendants of the old pioneer of "Spring Hill" having held
military records, were two grandsons, Surgeon William Berry, a Major in the
U. S. A., 1861, and Rear Admiral Robert Mallory Berry, U. S. N.  Though
retired in 1908, in 1918 he was recalled to active service and appointed in
command of a naval unit of over five hundred students, which he organized
at Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Admiral Berry made two relief expeditions to the
Arctic.  The first in 1874 as Watch Officer on board the Tigress, commanded
by Captain James A. Greer, U. S. N., in search of the exploring vessel
Polaris, of Captain Hall's expedition.  And again in 1881, when from many
volunteers, he was selected to command the Jeannette Relief Expedition,
fitted out by the U. S. Government in accordance with an act of Congress
which provided that the officers and crew of the Rodgers should be selected
solely from volunteers.
     The Jeannette commanded by Captain George W. LeLong had been lost. 
Lieutenant Berry took command of the Rodgers at Mare Island Navy Yard,
where the vessel had been equipped and fitted for Arctic service, it having
previously been used as a whaling ship.  He sailed from there for St.
Michaels, Alaska, then to Petropavlosk, Kamchatka, getting fuel, dogs, and
food; from there to St. Lawrence Bay, thence through Behring [sic] Straits
into the Arctic Ocean.  To govern them on their search, they had to depend
largely upon letters of Captain DeLong furnished by his wife.
     Upon reaching Wrangle Land, Berry and three other men climbed a mountain
2,500 feet high, and from its summit he had the discovery that Wrangle Land
was not as had been supposed, a very extensive land, reaching well towards
the North Pole, but an island not exceeding one hundred and fifty miles in
contour.  The name has been changed to Wrangle Island, and the summit
named Berry Peak.
     They steamed down the coast of Siberia and anchored in St. Lawrence Bay
for winter quarters.  On the 30th of November, the Rodgers caught fire in
the forehold.  A hard fight ensued lasting many hours, until the middle of
the afternoon, when seeing that the fire could not be extinguished, and the 
density of the smoke had driven them above, boats were lowered to be filled
with provisions.  Owing to a succession of gales, which had defeated their
plans by breaking up the young ice, and making the water almost impassable,
they found themselves on shore with less than two months' provisions.  The
natives generously offered to share their huts, but for food they had to
resort to frozen walrus meat and raw materials.  After months of perilous
searching, sleeping at night between reindeer skins thrown upon the snow,
clad in the skins, and hauled by reindeer and dogs, it was not until they
came to the mouth of the Koolym River, at Nishni Kolymsk, that they learned
of the fate of DeLong and his crew, most of whom had perished by drowning
or starvation, after the Jeannette had been crushed between icebergs. 
Melville, one of those who had made his escape, had found and buried
DeLong's party, and joining Berry and Ensign Hunt of the Rodgers, who had
left the crew in winter quarters until they could be sent for in safety,
they traveled together across the Veryansk mountains, and finally into
Russia.  While in St. Petersburg, the Chamberlain of the Winter palace came
to the hotel where they were stopping and delivered a message that the Czar
would receive them on the following day.  They were received with much
courtesy by the Czar and Czarina, who appeared deeply interested in their
experience, inquiring into the treatment they had received through Siberia
and Russia.  This reception was followed by a luncheon, after which they
were taken to see the grand display of fountain.
     Admiral Berry married Mary Augusta Brady.  Two great-grandsons of Major
Taylor are James William Barbour, officer in the U. S. A., 1861, who was a
son of William Edwin Barbour and Harriett Russell Hollingsworth, married
Martha Wheeler, and Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman, U. S. N., K. C. B., who was
Commander of the battleship division of the American Naval Fleet
co-operating with the British Fleet in the World War; and who was on the
23rd of July, 1918, one of the two American naval officers who were
decorated by King George of England.  Admiral Rodman was made a Knight
Commander of the Order of the Bath.  The Associated Press article was as
follows:
     "The investiture took place on board the flagship of the grand fleet.  
The honors were conferred in acknowledgement of the part the American Navy
played in the war.  Upon the King boarding the American flagship, he was
given a rousing reception.  The Admiral and his staff welcomed the King,
who was attended by Admiral Beatty and other officers.  A guard of honor
composed of American Marines saluted the royal visitor, while the band
played the British National Anthem.  The entire ship's crew was drawn up on
deck, and after the Admiral had presented separately all of his officers,
the King inspected the guard of honor and crew, showing keep appreciation
of their smartness."
     Admiral Rodman was also present when the German warships were surrendered
to the Allied Navies.  It took place on the 21st of November, 1918, at 9:30
a. m., thirty or forty miles east of May Island, opposite the Firth of
Forth, off the coast of Scotland.  Such a gigantic surrender has no
precedent in naval history.  The Commander-in-Chief of the grand fleet was
Sir David Beatty, of the English Navy.  His flagship was the Queen
Elizabeth, which led the column; American warships fell in line.  The
American Battle Squadron including five dreadnaughts, commanded by Admiral
Rodman, and operating a unit of the British Grand Fleet, participated in
the passing of the German sea power.
     Admiral Rodman was born and reared in Frankfort, Ky., and is the son of
Hugh Rodman, M. D., and wife Susan Ann Barbour.  He married Elizabeth
Ruffin Sayre.
     The two great-great-grandsons of Major Taylor are Samuel Sayre Rodman,
Surgeon, U. S. N., who was in charge of a Base Hospital in Europe, son of
Dr. Wm. Barbour Rodman and Virginia Sayre; married Margery Memminger; and
Col. William Colston, Colonel of our First Kentucky Regiment in Louisville.
He is a descendant of Mary Berry Taylor and William Todd Barbour.
     William Berry Taylor was the seacond of fifteen children.  Born in
Virginia, 26 Feb., 1768, d. at "Spring Hill," Oldham Co., Ky., 2 Feb.,
1836, married Susan Harrison Grayson Gibson, b. 26 Nov., 1775, d. 23 Feb.,
1838 (daughter of Jonathan Gibson who d., Fauquier Co., Va., 1791, and his
wife Susanna Harrison.)
     He was the son of Lieutenant Jonathan Taylor, b. Orange Co., Virginia, 
3 Dec., 1742, d. Clark Co., Ky., 1804; m. Jan., 1764, Ann Berry (daughter of
Col. William Berry and Mary Pryor).  Jonathan Taylor was a Lieutenant of a
company in the Convention Guards in the Revolution, and was the third of
the eleven sons of Col. George Taylor and wife, Rachel Gibson, 10 of whom
served in the Revolution, nine as officers.  Colonel George Taylor, b. 
10 Feb., 1711, d. Orange Co., Va., 4 Nov., 1792; md. 28 Feb 1738 Rachel
Gibson, b 4 May, 1717; d. 19 Feb., 1761 (daughter of Jonathan Gibson, d.
Orange Co., Va., 1745, from accidental poison, thought to have been the
brother of Bishop Edmund Gibson of London).  George Taylor was appointed
Colonel of Orange Co. Militia.  Commission signed 18 July, 1755, and served
in the French and Indian Wars.  Burgess 1748-9, 1752-8; member of the
Committee of Safety 1744-5; member of Convention 1775; Vestryman of the
Church of England, and Clerk of Orange Co. for twenty-three years.  His son
James succeeded him in the position.  George was a son  of Colonel James
Taylor, II., b. 1673, d. 23 Jan., 1729; m. 23 Dec., 1699, Martha Thompson,
b. 1679 (daughter of Col. William Thompson and granddaughter of Sir Rodger
Thompson of England, who served under Cromwell).  Col. Taylor was Colonel
of Militia of King and Queen Co., Va.  He was a member of "The Knights of
the Golden Horse Shoe," under Gov. Spottswood's Expedition.  He was
Surveyor General of the Colony of Va.; Burgess, King and Queen Co.,
1702-14; Justice of the Peace. He died at "Bloomsbury," Orange Co., Va., at
the home which he built in 1720, on an estate of ten thousand acres.  It is
about four miles from Orange courthouse, and the house, which is still
standing, is in good condition.  He was the only son of James Taylor, I.,
and first wife, Francis, who emigrated to America about 1758 from Carlisle,
England.  The home at which he lived and died is said to be in New Kent Co.
He was a large landowner and prominent man in all affairs affecting the
well-being of the colonies.  He d. 1698; his first wife, Frances (surname
unknown), died 1680; in 1682 he md. Mary Gregory from whom were descended
such men as Edmund Pendleton, a Signer, and Senator John Taylor of
Caroline, author of the famous Resolutions of 1798.
	
Taylor Glover Clore Henry LaFayette Crittenden Thompson Hapstonstall Lee
Dunmore Boone Gibson Sanders Barbour Willett Barnes Berry Mallory Sandford
Greer Hall DeLong Melville Hunt Brady Hollingsworth Wheeler Rodman Beatty
Sayre Memminger Colston Pryor Cromwell Spottswood Gregory Pendleton
=
Botetout-VA Winchester-Clark-KY Shelby-KY Louisville-Jefferson-KY
Maysville-Mason-KY King_and_Queen-VA Orange-VA Frankfort-Franklin-KY OH
Henry-KY MI AK Russia Siberia England Scotland Germany Fauquier-VA
New_Kent-VA	

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/oldham/taylor.wb.txt