BIOGRAPHIES

HISTORY OF CLERMONT & BROWN COUNTIES, OHIO
By Byron Williams
1913
 

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SAMUEL R. TAYLOR.  No family stands higher n the esteem of their community than that of Samuel R. Taylor, of Byrd township, Brown county, Ohio.  He has been obliged to retire from active life on account of poor health.  He was born in that part of Pittsburgh, Pa., formerly known as Bayardstown, in 1838, son of Thomas and Sarah (Stephens) Taylor.  His father was born in 1802, and the mother in 1803, both in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania.  He died in 1872, and she in 1873, and both were buried in Pennsylvania, where they died.  She was born during the Indian troubles and was first dressed by the wife of Col. William Crawford.  Colonel Paul, another noted Indian fighter, lived in the same neighborhood.  The Taylors are an old family in America having come over from England with Lord Baltimore.  Their first home was in Maryland, but later generations migrated to Pennsylvania, where the grandparents of Samuel R. Taylor were born.  His maternal grandfather, Edward Stephens, served in the Revolutionary war, so that Mr. Taylor and his children are eligible to membership in the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution.  Col. Ed. Stephens Post was named in his honor.  Samuel Kyle Stephens, a cousin of Mr. Taylor, also of Wheeling, was a first lieutenant in the Union Army, and as a token of regard from his company received a gold-beaded cane.  Another cousin, are Mr. Brookings, from Illinois, was killed in the siege of Vicksburg.      Thomas Taylor was a heater and shingler in the rolling mills in Pittsburgh, and probably did the work that is now done by a furnace man.  His six children were born in Pennsylvania and the only one now surviving is the subject of this sketch.  His father and one sister came with him to Brown county, farmed there for a time, but returned to Pennsylvania and there the parents died.      Mr. Samuel R. Taylor attended school in what was then the fifth ward in Pittsburgh, remaining there until he was sixteen years old, then came with his parents to Brown county, and was married there in 1864, to Miss Martha A. Henry, who was born in Brown county, Ohio, in 1839, daughter of H. C. and Mary (Braunen) Henry, who lived near Ripley.  Mr. Henry, also a native of Brown county, was born in 1806, and died about 1876, and his wife was born in Clermont county, Ohio, in 1814, and died in 1861.  The Henrys came to Brown county about 1789 and had to clear their home in the woods.  They were a fine family and much respected.  On Dec. 11, 1839, H. C. Henry shot the last deer ever killed in Brown county.  It had swam across the river and was still dripping with water when he saw it.  Three of his sons participated in the Civil war from Ohio, they being members of the National Guard.  Mr. and Mrs. Henry had five children, born in Brown county, of whom but two now survive: James died in infancy; Mrs. Taylor; Robert and John, deceased; S. Wilson lives in Kansas.  The three sons who reached maturity moved to Kansas, where two of them died.      After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Taylor spent one year on a farm near Ripley, then spent one year in Kentucky, and at the close of the war located on their present farm.  Later they moved to Brown county, Kansas, but in the fall of 1874 came back to their present farm of two hundred and forty-three acres, which they have since occupied.  They have one of the finest farms in the county and it is well adapted to raising tobacco, hay and grain.  They have always had high grade horses and Mr. Taylor has raised some of the best horses in his part of the State.  On account of poor health he was obliged to give up active management of the farm and it is now operated by his son.  In early life he voted for Abraham Lincoln, but for many years past he had been identified with the Democrat party.  He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church at Red Oak.      Five children were born to Mr. Samuel R. Taylor and wife:      Sarah A. is at home with her parents.      Mary A. is the wife of James M. Moore, of Byrd township, and they have six children - Ruth, Ernest T., Frank E., Mary, James M. and Harold.      Joseph H. married Miss Anna Carr, lives in Byrd township and has three children - Sarah M., Mary and G. H.      Samuel, who lives in Adams county, Ohio, married Miss Ella May Bromley, and they have two children - Christine and Ora Maud.      J. E. married Miss Sallie Baird, and lives in Newport, Ky.      In 1894 Mr. Taylor attended the Grand Army of the Republic convention in Pittsburgh, and although he found the town had grown very much in the many years of his absence, he was delighted to find that in a portion of the town, near his birthplace, several blocks were almost unchanged - the town had grown very much in the many years of his absence, he was delighted to find that in a portion of the town, near his birthplace, several blocks were almost unchanged - the same stores, in the same locations, so that it seemed to him as if he had left but yesterday and returned.      Mr. Taylor is a man of fine physique, a trifle stout, but very well proportioned.  He has a fine memory and his mind is stored with interesting anecdotes of his early years in Brown county.  He first saw an old wooden plow in the hands of Russell Shaw, grandfather of Mrs. William Johnson given mention elsewhere in this history.  Mr. and Mrs. Taylor stand for all that is highest in the interests of the community.  She is a charming woman and their dutiful daughter is a great comfort to them.  All are people of quiet tastes and modest desires, and have many warm friends. * Source:  History of Clermont & Brown Counties, Ohio - Volume II - By Byron Williams - 1913 ~ Page 547

Clark Twp. - JESSE P. THOMPSON, farmer, P. O. Hamersville, was born in Pennsylvania Feb. 19, 1806.  He is the son of John and Margaret (Mitchell) Thompson, natives of Pennsylvania, he of Irish, and she of Welsh descent.  Our subject received a limited education in the subscription schools of Adams County, Ohio, and remained on the farm until eighteen years of age, when he commenced learning the wagon-maker's trade, at which he worked twenty years.  He carried on a shop in Clark Township this county, for several years, and throughout his business career was characterized by his honest dealings with his patrons.  When he came to this township he settled on 100 acres of acres of heavy timbered land that was willed to him by his father.  He was married in 1829 to Matilda Lawrence daughter of Jacob Lawrence, of Adams County.  She was a school mate of our subject's, and he thought in his school days that he would marry her, but did not tell of it until after they were married, when she confessed to having thought the same thing.  Their union was blest with these children - Christine, Barbara Ann (wife of S. H. Ellis), Thomas H. B., (a farmer of Kentucky), John L., Milton, Sarah E. (wife of Samuel Williams), James and Semantha (wife of Henry Snider).  Mrs. Thompson died in 1878, in the full faith of the Methodist Church, in which her husband is a local preacher.  He is a Republican, and has held most of the offices in the township.  He is the owner of a farm of 140 acres upon which he lives. Source:  History of Brown County, Ohio - Publ. 1883 - Page 193

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