My Genealogy Hound

James A. Taylor, one of the leading and most prominent farmers of Bluffton Township, was born in this county ten miles south of Dardanelle, on March 21, 1860, and received but a limited education. He was reared on the farm, and as a consequence is familiar with the duties of the same in every particular. His father, Benjamin F. Taylor, was born in Tennessee, and came to this county in 1848. Here he was married, and here he resided for many years, active and successfully engaged in cultivating the soil. In November, 1862, he enlisted in the Federal Army, Company F, Third Arkansas Cavalry, and was in the battle of Saline besides numerous smaller engagements. He was then taken with the measles, had a relapse, and died in April, 1863, leaving a widow and three children, who were named in the order of their births as follows: Roxie, James A. and Amos Franklin. The first and last named are deceased. James A. Taylor remained with his mother near Dardanelle for about three years, and then moved with her to — Township in the La Fouche Valley, where he attended school as the opportunity offered. At the age of eleven years he moved with his mother to Bluffton Township, and there he has continued to reside. When about eighteen years of age he commenced working for himself, and at that time bought eighty acres of land in connection with his brother. This he improved by clearing forty-five acres which he now has in cultivation, and erected a tenant house, having rented a portion of his land. About the time he bought this land a good school was opened, and Mr. Taylor, feeling a desire to have a better education, rented his farm, and that of his mother over which he had control, and enrolled himself among the earliest students of Gravelly Hill High School, as the school was called. He had attended about only eight months, when sickness in his family caused him to abandon his long-cherished desire for a better education. He remained on the farm until twenty-four years of age, and was then married to Miss Samantha Elliott, daughter of J. J. Elliott, of Forsythe County, Ga. He then bought a farm of 120 acres farther down the valley, and four years from the time of his marriage his wife died, leaving one child, a daughter, seven days old. His next marriage was in 1888, to Miss Susan Daniels, daughter of T. A. Daniels, of Mississippi, and by this union he has two children. Mr. Taylor is a Democrat in politics, and socially is a member of the Masonic lodge at Concordia, No. 310, in which organization he holds the office of worshipful master. He has held the office of justice of the peace three different times, and is filling that position at the present time. He has been school director for several years, and is doing all that he can for the advancement of education in his township. In his support of churches and all enterprises of a public nature he has always been very liberal and extends a helping hand to those less fortunate in life.