Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/159

 ZACHARY TAYLOR ZACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth president of the United States, born in Orange County, Va., Sep tember 24, 1784; died in the executive mansion, Washington, D. C., July 9, 1850. He was fifth in descent from James Taylor, who came to this country from Carlisle, on the English border, in 1658. His father, Col. Richard Taylor, an officer in the war of the Revolution, was conspicuous for zeal and daring among men in whom personal gal lantry was the rule. After the war he retired to private life, and in 1785 removed to Kentucky, then a sparsely occupied county of Virginia, and made his home near the present city of Louisville, where he died. Zachary was the third son. Brought up on a farm in a new settlement, he had few scholastic opportunities; but in the thrift, in dustry, self-denial, and forethought required by the circumstances, he learned such lessons as were well adapted to form the character illustrated by his eventful career. Yet he had also another form of education. The liberal grants of land that Vir ginia made to her soldiers caused many of them, after the peace of 1783, to remove to the west; thus Col. Taylor s neighbors included many who had been his fellow-soldiers, and these often met around 123