My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography from the book, History of Kentucky, Edition 1 by J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin and G. C. Kniffin and published by F. A. Battey Publishing Company in 1885.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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WILLIAM F. TAYLOR was born in what was then Hickman, but is now Ballard County, Ky., November 22, 1830, and is one of ten children born to Francis T. and Sarah F. (Taylor) Taylor; the former a native of the “Old Dominion” and the latter of Franklin County, Ky., and of English descent. Francis T. Taylor at the age of eighteen or nineteen years came to Kentucky. In 1821 he was appointed deputy United States military surveyor, and helped to survey the lands of the Purchase District. Later he was appointed one of the magistrates of Hickman County, which then included what is now Hickman, Fulton and a part of Ballard. Still later he served one term as sheriff of the same county. The grandfather of our subject, on his mother’s side, Richard Taylor, was the chief military United States surveyor for Jackson’s Purchase, and afterward had charge of the records of the district until his death in 1837. He was also the acting trustee appointed to lay out the town of Columbus. After his death, Francis T. Taylor took charge of the survey records of the district, and continued to be their custodian until his death, which occurred in 1870. From 1835 to 1860, he was president of the board of trustees of the town of Columbus, and was for many years a devoted and consistent member of the Baptist Church. William F. Taylor was employed on his father’s farm until he was nineteen years old, after which he was employed in a dry goods store at Columbus for one year. He then resumed farming and has continued the same until the present time. For one year (1854) he owned an interest in a steamboat, and was on the river. Mr. Taylor is, and has been for sixteen years, city collector of Columbus. He was married in February, 1860, to Miss Martha F. Singletary, a native of Hickman County, Ky. Three children were the fruit of this union, two of whom, one son and one daughter, are yet living. Mr. Taylor and wife are members of the Baptist Church. He is also a member of the K. of H. Mr. Taylor is one of the oldest residents of Columbus, having resided in the town for forty-three years.

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This family biography is one of 142 biographies included in the Hickman County, Kentucky section of the book, The History of Kentucky, Edition 1 published in 1885 by F. A. Battey Publishing Company.  For the complete description, click here: History of Kentucky, Edition 1

View additional Hickman County, Kentucky family biographies here: Hickman County, Kentucky Biographies

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