Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/115

 TAYLOR

TAYLOR

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issippi wlien that vessel sailed in Perry's expedi- tion to Japan, 1853-55, and was promoted com- mander, Sept. 14, 1855. In 1861, while in com- mand of the Saratoga, engaged in suppressing the slave-trade on the east coast of Africa, he was ordered home, promoted cap- tain, July 16, 1862, stationed at the Charles- town navy yard, 1862-65, and in 1866 given com- mand of the flag- ship of the Brazilian squadron. He was promoted commodore, Sept. 27, 1866, in 1869 was made light-house inspector, and was promoted rear- admiral, Jan. 29, 1872. He was retired, May 23, 1872 and died in Washington, D.C., April 19, 1891. TAYLOR, Alfred Alexander, representative, was born near Elizabethton, Barter county, Tenn., Aug. 6, 1848; son of Nathaniel Green and Emma (Haynes) Taylor. He studied at Edge Hill, and Pennington, N.J., and was admitted to the bar in 1870. He was a representative in the Tennessee legislature in 1875-76, canvassed the first con- gressional district for Hayes and Wheeler in 1876, and canvassed the state for Garfield and Arthur in 1880. He was married, June 22, 1881, to Jennie, daughter of John A. and Ann (Jones) Anderson of Okolona, Tenn, In the state elec- tion of 1882 he canvassed the state in joint dis- cussion with Senator Harris. He unsuccessfully , contested the gubernatorial election of 1886, with his brother, Robert L. Taylor (q.v.), and they can- vassed the state together, speaking from the same platforms. He was a delegate to the Re- publican national convention of 1888 and was a Republican representative from the first Tennes- see district in the 51st, 52d, and 53d congresses, being the third member of his father's family to represent that district in congress, and serving on the committees on elections and invalid pensions and war claims. He declined a fourth nomina- tion, preferring to retire from politics.

TAYLOR, Bayard, author, was born in Ken- nett Square, Chester county, Pa., Jan. 11, 1825; son of Joseph and Rebecca (Way) Taylor; grand- son of John and Ann (Bucher) Taylor; a descend- ant of Robert Taylor of Little Leigh, Cheshire, England, and of Benjamin Mendenhall, who immigrated to the United States with William Penn in 1681, the former settling near Brandy- wine Creek, and the latter at Concord, Pa., and of Melchior Breneman, a Mennonite minister, whose grandfather came from Switzerland in 1709, and settled in Lancaster county. Bayard

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Taylor was named for James A. Bayard of Dela- ware, and originally signed his name J. Bayard Taylor. In 1829 the family removed to Hazeldell farm in East Marlborough township, which was part of the original land-grant made by William Penn to Robert Taj^- lor. At the age of six he attended a Quaker school, and in 1837-40 was a student at Bolmar's academy, Westches- ter, Pa. He com- pleted his education at Unionville acad- emy, 1840-42; served as tutor during his course: collected a mineralogical cabinet and an herbarium, and attempted draw- ing and painting. His first essay, " On the Art of Painting ", was read before the Kennett Literary circle, 1838; a description of a visit to the Brandy wine battle- field appeared in the West Chester Register, 1840, and his first published poem, " The Soliloquy of a Young Poet," in the Saturday Evening Post, 1841. He was apprentice to Henry E. Evans, printer and publisher of the Village Record, West Chester, 1842-44, where he continued the study of German and Spanish, and helped to organize "The Thespians," a dramatic society. Through the friendly interest of Rufus W. Griswold, he published and sold by subscription, "Ximena, and other Poems," in February, 1844. After reading " The Tourist in Europe," he was con- sumed with a desire to travel abroad, and to that end sold several of his poems, and by the advice of Nathaniel P. Willis applied to J. R. Chandler of the United States Gazette and S. D. Patterson of the Post, who each engaged him as a foreign correspondent, paying him $50 in advance. These orders were supplemented by an order from Horace Greeley for contributions to the Tribune, and he sailed for England, July, 1844. He made a pedestrian tour through Scotland, England, and Belgium; spent the winter of 1845 in Frankfort, Germany, in the home of Richard S. Willis, American consul, perfecting his knowl- edge of the German language; continued his walking tour in the spring through northern Germany, and subsequently through Bohemia, Moravia, and Vienna, to Florence, Italy, where he began the study of Italian, embarking in January, 1846, as a deck-passenger for Marseilles. Upon his arrival in Lyons, he was suffering from lack of food and clothes and from exposure, and was obliged to send for funds to Paris, which