Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/1281

Rh of 1812, and well known as a man of large wealth. George, who died in 1794, was a man of great prominence; member of the house of burgesses, of the committee of safety of Orange county in 1774, and of the State convention; was commissioned colonel in 1775; had eight sons in the Revolutionary army, and by his marriage to Rachel Gibson, had numerous descendants who filled many important positions. Zachary, who died in 1768, married Elizabeth Lee; lived in Orange county near his brothers, on the farm now occupied by Maj. Erasmus Taylor; and had several children, among them Col. Richard Taylor, of Kentucky, who was father of President Zachary Taylor, and of Gen. Joseph P. Taylor, at one time commissary-general of the United States army. Erasmus, born 1715, died 1794, lived near Orange Court House, owning part of the present site of the town, and married Jane Moore, a half-sister of President Madison's mother. One of their numerous children, Capt. John Taylor, was an officer in the Revolutionary army. Another, and the youngest son, was Robert Taylor, of Orange, born 1763, who married Frances, daughter of Col. Edmund Pendleton, Jr., of Caroline county; was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis as a volunteer with the Culpeper Minute Men; was member of the Virginia senate in 1804-05-06, and member of Congress in 1825 and 1827. Among his children was the well-known Jaquelin P. Taylor, of Richmond. Another son. Dr. Edmund Pendleton Taylor, married his cousin, Mildred Turner, and was the father of Maj. Erasmus Taylor. The latter is also descended from James Taylor, the founder, through his daughter Mary, by a second wife, Mary Gregory. This daughter, born 1688, married Henry Pendleton, and among their children was the celebrated chancellor, Edmund Pendleton, first president of the court of appeals of Virginia. Another was John Pendleton, whose son, Col. Edmund Pendleton, married Mildred Pollard, and had among their children, a daughter Frances, whose marriage to Robert Taylor is above noted. Maj. Erasmus Taylor was born in Orange county in 1830, completed his education at the university of Virginia in 1849, and married Roberta Ashby, of Fauquier county, in 1851. She was a descendant of that Captain Ashby, afterward colonel, who was the bearer of dispatches from Colonel Washington to the authorities at Williamsburg announcing the defeat of Braddock. Gen. Turner Ashby, of Confederate renown, was her first cousin. Eleven children were born to Major Taylor and his wife, of whom eight are still living, five daughters and three sons. Of the latter, Edmund Pendleton Taylor is a civil engineer, and married Virginia Gildersleeve, of Abingdon. Another, John Ashby Taylor, married Isabel King, of Augusta, Ga., and holds a responsible position in the general offices of the Central railroad of New Jersey. Jaquelin P. Taylor, the youngest, residing at Henderson, N. C., is a successful business man, and the largest exporter of tobacco in that State. He married Katherine, eldest daughter of W. E. and Mary Wall, of Montgomery county, Md.

James Taylor, for more than a decade past connected with the treasury department of the United States government, and residing at Washington, had a career in the army of Northern Virginia distinguished for long and faithful service embracing participation