My Genealogy Hound

JOHN TAYLOR, Ballard County, was born May 6, 1832, in Nash County, N. C. He is the youngest of six children born to John and Mary (Weaver) Taylor, natives of North Carolina and Maryland, respectively, and of English and Scotch descent on the father’s side; Irish and Scotch on the mother’s side. The grandfather, John Taylor, was a soldier for five years during the Revolution. He was born in England. Our subject was partly reared on a farm; was but three years old when his mother died and thirteen when his father died. At this tender age he was thrown upon his own resources, working at anything he could find to do. At the age of seventeen he commenced the carpenter’s trade, and worked in Virginia and North Carolina. He followed his trade for about twenty years exclusively. In October, 1855, he moved to Paducah. In the spring of 1856 he moved to Woodville, and lived in the vicinity until 1873, with the exception of two years, between 1859 and 1862, when he lived in Independence County, Ark., where he had purchased 500 acres of land, which he afterward sold, and returned to McCracken County, Ky. In 1873 he moved to where he now resides, in Ballard County, on ninety-three acres of land in good condition. In 1878 he was elected justice; after one year’s experience, having no desire to hold an office, he resigned. He has been school trustee several terms. Mr. Taylor was married November 12, 1857, to Myra E. Beck, of McCracken County, Ky., a daughter of Dr. Jesse and Mary (Woodard) Beck, natives of Virginia and Tennessee respectively. To this marriage several children were born: John W., Laurie E., now Penn; Mary E., Fernando E., Anna M., Gertrude (deceased) and Lillie (deceased). Mr. Taylor is a Mason and was one of the principal members of the Grange. He cast his first presidential vote for James Buchanan and has voted the Democratic ticket ever since. His wife and three of his children are members of the Christian Church; he is a member of no church.