AUGUSTUS A. TAYLOR.  Through much of the nineteenth century the name of Augustus Adams Taylor was connected with the history of commercial and industrial development of Ashland county.  He was born on Christmas day of 1825, on the old Taylor farm near Loudonville. and passed away at Casselton, North Dakota, on the 10th of September, 1886, at the age of sixty years. eight months and fifteen days.  He had spent his last year in the home of his daughter.  Mrs. Dr. R. H. Rowe.  He was only a few months old when his parents left Ohio and removed to Henry county, Tennessee, but in 1835 they returned to Loudonville, so that during much of his life he was connected with the interests of this section of the state.  He pursued his education in the public schools, assisted in the work of the home farm, and in 1835 secured a clerkship in the employ of Nathaniel Haskell, with whom he remained for thirteen years as a valued representative of the house.
     In 1848, with the capital which he had acquired through his own efforts he embarked in business as a partner of J. C. Larwill.  They opened a general mercantile establishment, which they conducted until 1860.  Through that period they enjoyed a large trade, having a liberal patronage which came not only from the town but from much of the surrounding district.  Their business methods were such as to commend them to the confidence and good will of all, and those who once gave them their patronage became their regular customers.  In 1866 Mr. Taylor purchased the Loudonville flouring mill.  By untiring energy and great executive ability, combined with unquestioned business integrity, he placed himself at the head of the milling interests of the state, owning mills in Loudonville, Toledo, Mount Vernon and Massillon, Ohio, with a capacity of sixteen hundred barrels of flour per day.  It requires a master mind to establish and control such mammoth enterprises, but Mr. Taylor was well equipped for the task, and his extensive business interests were crowned with a high degree of prosperity.  He was also a successful farmer and stock-raiser.  He did more for the upbuilding of Loudonville and the improvement of the surrounding country than any other one man, promoting its interests along many lines of substantial improvement.  His realty possessions were very great, owning property both in this locality and in other portions of the country.
     Mr. Taylor was united in marriage to Priscilla P. Wade, of Knox county, who prior to her marriage engaged in school-teaching in Ashland county.  She was a daughter of Thomas Wade, a native of Virginia, who came to Ohio in an early day and served as the sheriff of Knox county in 1848.  Unto Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were born the following children: Virginia F., the deceased wife of Judge P. S. Grosscup, of Chicago; Thomas A., a miller residing in Toledo, Ohio; Helen J., the wife of Dr. J., H. Hayland, a jeweler of Harmon, Tennessee; Charles M., also of Casselton, North Dakota; Elizabeth, now the wife of Charles Mayer, of Cleveland, Ohio; Bertha, deceased; Daniel, of Casselton, North Dakota; and Wade A., who occupies the position of cashier in a bank in Niles, Ohio.
     In his social relations Mr. Taylor was very popular.  He possessed a genial and courteous manner, and belonged to that class of citizens who shed around them so much of the sunshine of life.  He was extremely good natured, his pleasant disposition being seldom ruffled.  He always looked upon the best side of things and saw the best in people.  His friendship was highly prized by all who could win it, and any one could win it whose character was of a high order.  He believed in the superiority of heart and brain and not of wealth.  The cause of temperance found in him a warm friend. and he did everything in his power to promote the cause among his fellow men.  In politics he was a supporter of the Republican party.  Charitable and liberal, he gave freely of his means to the worthy poor and to all measures which he believed would contribute to the general good, and his benevolences were many but always unostentatious.
Source:  A Centennial Biographical History of Richland and Ashland County, Ohio - Publ. 1901 - Page

JOSEPH TAYLOR.  One of the substantial farmers of Richland county, Joseph Tayloir is now practically living retired in Springfield township, where he owns a valuable tract of one hundred acres.  His life has been one of the marked activity in business affairs and his present rest from labor is therefore well merited.  He was-born in Lincolnshire, England, Feb. 9, 1814, a son of. Robert Taylor.  The days of his youth were passed in his native land and in the year 1851 he sailed for America on the three-masted vessel, Constantine, of the Swallow Tail line, making the passage in four weeks and five days from Liverpool to New York.  He did not tarry in the eastern metropolis but went to Albany and thence to Buffalo by rail.  In the fall of the same year he came to Mansfield, accompanied by his brother, Robert Taylor, who died in this county, at the age of forty seven years, leaving two daughters and six sons.  When they arrived in Richland county they had a capital of a few hundred dollars.  They worked at ditching or anything that would yield them an honorable living. After three years had passed the father came to America with his children, the mother having died in England.  Here he spent his remaining days, passing away in 1887, at the advanced age of ninety-one years.  Up to the time of his death he was still active in mind and body.
     At the age of thirty-two Joseph Taylor was united in marriage to Miss Maria Scott, a native of England, and unto them were born six children, but only two survived the mother's death.  One son, Joseph W., is now managing his own and his father's farms.  He has one son and two daughters.  After the death of his first wife Mr. Taylor was again married. his second union being with Sarah Ann Scrofield, of England.  They became the parents of a daughter, Nellie Josephine, who is still at home.  They reside on the farm of one hundred acres, which is one of the best properties in this section of the county.
     Mr. Taylor has led a very energetic and busy life, performing much hard work.  He has cleared eighty acres of his land, but still has a good timber tract, which supplies him with all the fuel used on the place.  At present he is living retired, his son working the farm.  His rest is well deserved, for he has reached the eighty-sixth milestone on life's journey.  In politics he has long been a stalwart Republican and for twenty-five years he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In the evening of his days he is surrounded with many comforts which have come to him as the result of his earnest toil in former years.  He can look back over the past without regret and forward to the future without fear, and to-day he is regarded as one of the most venerable and highly esteemed residents of his adopted county.
Source:  A Centennial Biographical History of Richland and Ashland County, Ohio - Publ. 1901 - Page 670

NOBLE TAYLOR.  Many of the worthy residents of Richland county are natives of Pennsylvania or at least trace their ancestry to the Keystone state.  To the latter class belongs Mr. Taylor.  His grandfather, William Taylor, was born, reared and married in Pennsylvania and on coming to Ohio took up his abode in Mansfield, but after a short time located in what is now Ashland county, but was then a part of Richland county.  He purchased a section of wild land and for many years devoted his energies first in clearing and then in cultivating and improving his fields.  He afterward retired to private life, taking up his abode in Loudonville.  He was recognized as a leading and representative citizen of the community in an early day and for two terms served as a county commissioner, holding the position at the time the old county jail was built.  In politics he was an active Democrat.  His death occurred when he was about seventy-eight years of age.  He was a cousin of Zachary Taylor, and his father was a native of Ireland and the founder of the family in America.
     David Taylor, the father of our subject, was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, Mar. 9, 1818, and about 1821 accompanied his parents on their removal to Mansfield, Ohio.  He was then a youth of ten years, so that  his minority was largely passed amid the wild scenes of frontier life in Ohio, as at that time much of the state was still in its primitive condition and the work of improvement and advancement was being vigorously prosecuted by the pioneer settlers who left more comfortable homes in the east and became the founders of a commonwealth that is now second to none in the Union.  He assisted in the work of clearing and developing the fields and remained at home until twenty-one years of age, when he began business for himself as a stock drover, buying and selling cattle for several years.  About 1843 he purchased eighty acres of land in Richland township and upon that farm made his death, adding to the place from time to time as his financial resources increased until within its boundaries were probably four hundred acres.  He was a man of resolute will and of marked individuality, and his labors were carried forward so vigorously that he won a very handsome competence.  He successfully engaged in the breeding of horses and cattle and was a leading representative of agricultural interests.
     His fellow townsmen recognized his worth and ability and often called him to public office, and for two terms he was a county commissioner, acting as a member of the board at the time of the erection of the new courthouse.  In politics he was an active Democrat.  As a Companion and helpmeet on life's journey he chose Miss Eliza Calhoon, who was born Oct. 10, 1814, in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and came to this county about 1831, with her parents.  Her father, Noble Calhoon, was a native of Ireland and was married in Pennsylvania, near Pittsburg, where he engaged in farming until his removal to Ohio.  He there settled in Monroe Township, Richland county, upon a large farm of three hundred acres, where he died at the age of eighty-three years.  Mrs. Taylor spent her girlhood days in Richland county and by her marriage she became the mother of ten children, three of whom died in early childhood.  The others are Alexander, a farmer and justice of the peace of Hayesville, Ohio, Sarah, the wife of J. J. Cunningham, of Frederickstown, Ohio; Margaret, the wife of Alexander Martin, of Lucerne, Ohio; William, of Butler; Noble, the wife of Alexander Martin, of Lucerne, Ohio; William, of Butler; Noble, the subject of thsi review; Samantha the wife of Thomas Simmons of Worthington township; and John, who died in 1894, at the age of forty-four years.  The father of these children passed away August 13, 1890, and the mother's death occurred on the 19th of July, 1891.  She was a consistent member of the United Presbyterian church.
     The birth of Noble Taylor occurred Sept. 21, 1846, on the old family homestead, which is yet his place of residence.  This farm is endeared to him through the associations of his boyhood as well as those of more mature years.  He obtained his education in the common schools and remained with his parents until their death.  For a number of years prior to that time he rented the farm and worked with his father, and later he purchased of his father a part of the homestead and inherited a portion at the time of his father's death.  He owns ninety-five acres of land and is engaged in general farming, meeting with a creditable success.
     On the 5th of October, 1872, Mr. Taylor was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Remy a daughter of John William Remy and a native of Worthington township.  Four children grace their union: Frank; Ardella, at hoe; Mary, the wife of Lloyd Yorger, of Butler; and Charles at home.
Source:  A Centennial Biographical History of Richland and Ashland County, Ohio - Publ. 1901 - Page 450