1776-1781.. The Revolutionary War
1792.. Immigration into Beaver County, PA begins.. predominantly Scotch-Irish families.
1793-1800.. Sometime between 1793-1800, John Taylor paid $1,100 for 550 acres of land. One parcel was called "Dunghaven" and the other "Flatridge". This is documented in the 1824 deed from Alexander Wright to Thomas Taylor - See 1824 below.
Apr 19, 1799.. Thomas Taylor buys a town lot in "Beaver Town". He and Agnes sold this property in 1829 (deed entered Jun 8, 1830) to James Kennedy for $30. The 1830 deed read "Thomas Taylor, of Richland Co, OH".
Before 1800.. Thomas Taylor marries Nancy Agnes McClelland in PA, possibly in Beaver County (maybe Nancy McClelland, with Agnes as nickname, or vice versa, or maybe full name was Nancy Agnes). We have the name Agnes McClelland from the James Taylor biography, the first name Nancy from her tombstone. Nancy and Agnes were variants of the same name in those days (like William and Bill). She signed as Agnes a real estate deed that referred to her as Nancy, confirming there is only one lady, not two.
June 5, 1800.. John Taylor executes a will which is filed in Allegheny County, whereby he wills the distribution of his real estate to his listed children: Thomas, John, Elizabeth (m William Latta), Jennet (m Patrick McCay), and Mary. This will also names his wife: Jean. Thomas inherits land called "Dunghaven" and "Flatridge". Matthew McElroy is listed as a neighbor in the property description.
1800 Census We find Thomas Taylor in the South Beaver Twp, Beaver County, census. One girl under 10, and two parents 26-45. Thomas would be 27, using 1773 as his date of birth from his tombstone. We don't know the date of birth of Agnes at this time. A Jane Taylor is on the next line, who we believe to be the "Jean" Taylor shown as John Taylor's wife in the 1800 will. We are therefore presuming that John Taylor passed away after June 5, 1800 and before when the census was finished, which was April 1, 1801. The will was entered into probate in late June, 1800, further narrowing the window of his date of death.
Neighbors named in the description of property in John Taylor's will of June 5, 1800, are neighbors to Thomas Taylor in the 1800 census in South Beaver Twp, Beaver Co, PA, as are his sisters and brothers-in-law and brother.
Jan 8, 1807.. Thomas' son Robert Taylor is born in Beaver County, PA, per his biography in Graham's History of Richland Co,OH.
1810.. Family is in Beaver County, PA, census. South Beaver Twp, 4 boys under 10, 3 girls under 10, and one girl 10-15. (A very busy decade for Agnes!)
Oct 4, 1811 James Taylor is born, per his biography.
1812.. War of 1812. We have no record that Thomas, or any of his older sons, were involved at this time.
1820.. We continue to find the Thomas Taylor family in South Beaver Twp, Beaver County, PA. Five boys under 10, 2 boys 10-15, 3 girls under 10, two girls 16-25, and parents, both over 45. This seems consistent with the age progression from the earlier Beaver Co Thomas Taylor family, and although we can't exactly calculate to the sixteen children alluded to in a family letter, it shows a large family in that ball park.
Mar 14, 1822.. Filed Dec 23, 1824.. Apparently a deed had never been filed to properly reflect the inheritance by Thomas Taylor of the land he inherited from John Taylor. So, a deed, apparently to "perfect" this title is filed, similar to what we would call today a quitclaim deed. The father, John Taylor, is mentioned, as well as Matthew McElroy as a neighbor in the property description, confirming this is the same property. The property is again referred to as "Dunghaven" and "Flatridge". This deed was apparently done to give Thomas clear title to sell the property, which he did two weeks after the date this deed was filed.
May 25, 1822.. Thomas and Agnes sell 46 acres of their land to George Fezle for $230. In this deed, Thomas wife is referred to as Nancy in the document, but she signed it as Agnes, giving further support to the proposition that the grave for Nancy Taylor is the grave of Agnes / Nancy Taylor, and that they are the same person.
Jan 6, 1825.. Thomas Taylor ("of Beaver County") and wife Agnes sell 205 acres of land in Beaver County, PA, inherited from John Taylor, to James Douglas for $800. (He then purchased 80 acres in Richland Co, OH for $100 later that year, so there might have been a mortgage to pay off, or did Thomas astutely invest the difference??) (Note, Thomas inherited 200 acres and sold 251 acres in two sales. We presume that Thomas inherited the extra 50 acres his mother got from the estate of John Taylor.)
May 25, 1825.. Thomas Taylor is a witness on a will for Joseph Flora in Franklin Twp. (Note, a grandson with the surname of Flora, appears in the household of a son of Thomas W. Taylor, later in the century in Richland Co.)
Sep 24, 1825.. We have the following land certificate from the National Archives: Land Certificate 932, Vol 2, Pg 42, Wooster Land Office: Thomas Taylor, of Beaver Co, PA, buys 80 acres at $1.25 per acre the West half of the SE 1/4 of Section 29, Township 29, range 18 (Franklin Township).
Mar 11, 1828.. Thomas Taylor is a witness on a will for Israel Dille in Franklin Twp.
1829.. Thomas and Agnes Taylor sell their lot in "Beaver Town", PA for $30. Shows their address as "of Richland Co, OH.", giving further credibility to this being our Thomas.
1830.. Census shows Thomas Taylor on pg 036 of Franklin Township, Richland County with one fella 50-60, one lady 40-50, and nine boys and two girls (Total in the house: thirteen).
1840.. Franklin Twp, Richland Co, Ohio Census. Thomas, with wife, and sister Mary Robison, and two boys and one girl teenager are in one dwelling. James by himself in another, and Robert with a young family in a third dwelling, all next to one another.
1841.. The first wagon trains start to move west across the plains.
Jul 21, 1847.. Date of death of Thomas Taylor, per Cemetery Records of Richland County, OH. He is buried in Clay Lutheran Cemetery.
Jul 27, 1847.. A will is entered into probate for Thomas Taylor. This will names Samuel, Alexander, and Johnson as sons with specific bequests. Then, Thomas' will provided that Samuel was to farm the homestead as long his wife lived, and be sold within two years of her death, and all proceeds from that sale to be divided among all heirs. Unfortunately, neither the will or the estate proceedings give the names of those heirs, but does give the number: thirteen. If we accept the sixteen total alluded to in an 1895 letter from Johnston Taylor's daughter, three children would have predeceased their dad.
Jul 13, 1849.. We find Samuel Taylor, son of Thomas and Nancy (Agnes), in the family plot in Clay Lutheran Cemetery, date of death Jul 13, 1849, with no age or date of birth. This is surely the Samuel Taylor, who was a co-executor of Thomas' 1847 will. His tombstone inscription is "Son of Thomas and Nancy", leading me to believe he was single when he died (otherwise, I would think the stone would have said "husband of xxxx".)
1850.. Franklin Twp, Richland Co, OH Census. Now three brothers' families show in three dwellings next to each other, all with families: Thomas W., Robert, and James.
Jun 21, 1852.. Final Settlement of the Thomas Taylor estate. $479.14 was left in the estate after selling the farm and paying bills and specific bequests. Since his will said to distribute the residual to "his legal heirs" that were not named in the will, this amount was split in 13 pieces and $36.84 was paid to each of 13 people. Unfortunately, the probate records do not list the 13 people's names.
Since the will provided that the farm needn't be sold until after the death of his wife, we may presume that she died sometime between 1847 and 1852. We find her grave next to Thomas with a date listed in a cemetery index book as 1818. We have sent a representative to view this stone and he tells us that though the date is very faded, he is sure the date on the stone was originally 1848.
By the way, the farm sold for $1,000. Son Thomas Wilson Taylor bought this land. Robert and James also bought adjoining farms at the same time.
1856.. James picks up his family and migrates to Washington Co, Iowa, with "nary a dollar in his pocket", as his biography states. Apparently the farm just couldn't support three growing families. Robert and Thomas W. apparently stay on the family farms in Franklin Twp.
After 1860.. We continue to see Taylors in Franklin township until, and through, the 1900 census. The Graham History indicates Andrew, a son of Thomas W., was still farming the "old homestead" when that book was written in 1880. And, we see Robert's son, David, in Franklin Twp through 1900, before he moved to town. So, it appears to still be in the family as late as 1900.
According to a family letter from the Alfretta (Taylor) Leonard to a relative, Thomas Taylor had sixteen children. We have identified thirteen, primarily from Samuel Taylor's beneficiary list: Samuel, Alexander, Johnston, Robert, Thomas W., James, John, William, Milo, Mary (Tennis), Nancy (White), Jane (Strong) and Ann (Robertson). We have accounted for 22 grandchildren at this time, all born in the range of 1834-1860. With a conservative estimate of 100 descendants from each of those grandchildren, there should be at least 2,200 descendants of Thomas out there... are you one of us??
We have found many descendants of Robert, Johnston, and Thomas W. Taylor that stayed in Richland County for several generations through 1920 and beyond. We also have found most descendants of James, who migrated to Washington Co, IA in 1856, and many through 1920 for Nancy (Taylor) White, who left for Huron Co, OH in the 1850's.
Editors Notes:
We presently have accounted for 510 descendants of John Taylor now, but are missing a lot of descendants, so this could turn out to be quite a few descendants when we're finished. Only time will tell.
About the researcher:
See the story of the Stories of the Thomas Taylor Children.
Vintage Mansfield, Ohio - a gallery of pictures of Mansfield.
Richland Co, Ohio Gen
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Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999 Norris Taylor