My Genealogy Hound

Capt. G. W. Taylor, wholesale grocer, Hope, Ark. There is nothing so markedly shows the strength and prosperity of Hope’s trade as the number of large concerns engaged in handling the staple necessaries of life. Prominent among them is the old and pushing grocery house of Capt. G. W. Taylor, which was established at this place in 1875. Capt. Taylor started with a small retail business, which subsequently drifted into an extensive wholesale and retail business. He occupies the three ground rooms of a large two-story brick building and carries an excellent stock of goods. He is a native of Alabama, his birth occurring in 1839, and is the son of Hugh and Susan (Carr) Taylor, the father a native of South Carolina and the mother of North Carolina. The parents first emigrated to Alabama, and thence in 1849 to Louisiana, where they both received their final summons. The father was a cotton planter by occupation. They were the parents of seven children, five of whom are living, and Capt. G. W. is the eldest. The latter was reared in Louisiana and educated in the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he graduated in 1860. One year later he joined the army at Corinth, Miss., enlisting in the Twelfth Tennessee Infantry, and served until the surrender. He enlisted a perfect stranger, was not acquainted with a soul in his regiment, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant at the battle of Belmont, and at the reorganization, and on the death of his captain, John Jones, he was promoted to the rank of captain, serving in that capacity until the close of the war He received a slight wound at the battle of Murfreesboro, and was a participant in all the battles in which his regiment engaged. After the surrender he returned to Homer, La., and embarked in the mercantile business, which he continued until November, 1875, when he came to Hope, Ark., a short time after the town started. He is now the only merchant here who was in business at that time. The Captain was married in 1869 to Miss Sallie Drew, a native of Louisiana, and the fruit of this union are three children: Clarence (attending the University of Mississippi, in the freshman class), Kathleen and Maude (attending Hope Female Institute). Capt. Taylor was an alderman of the city, is secretary of the Fair Association and is also school director in the public schools and a trustee of the Hope Female Institute. He and Mrs. Taylor are members of the Old School Presbyterian Church.