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Below is a family biography included in The History of Moniteau County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  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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James D. Taylor, a prosperous farmer and carpenter of Burris Fork Township, Moniteau Co., Mo., was born in Wilson County, Tenn., December 21, 1828, and is the eldest in a family of eight children born to Richard W. and Lydia (Beard) Taylor, who were also Tennesseeans. The grandparents were from South Carolina. In 1880 the parents moved to Missouri and entered a large tract of land in Miller County, which he sold after having improved it to a considerable extent. After making several trades he came to Moniteau County, where he died on the 2d of September, 1885, at the age of seventy-nine years. His estimable wife, at the present writing (1889), survives him, and lives with a daughter in Olean. “Uncle Dick,” as he was familiarly known, was a member of the Baptist Church, and was a deacon in the same for twenty-five years. James D. Taylor, our subject, resided on a farm until twenty years of age, and then, in company with H. J. Wilson, Boyd Miller and his two sons Lewis and Mulkie, made the overland trip to California. Mr. Taylor located in Eldorado County, where he was engaged in mining for six years, then went to Washington Territory, and mined there and in British America. After a short time he went to Salem, Ore., where he was engaged in carpentering for about eighteen months, in partnership with James McCluggin, and then engaged in business for himself, and followed the occupation for twenty-three years. In 1862 he married Miss Rebecca Tomlinson, a native of Missouri, who died in 1873, having borne three children: Kate V., wife of E. Jackson; Clara Bell, wife of Charles Blackburn, and Lydia, who died at the age of eighteen months. In 1877, while in the Government employ, he was sent to Alaska, where he was engaged for some time in building light-houses. Two years later he returned to Missouri, and made his father’s house his home for some time. He was married in 1885 to Mrs. Mary L. Hunsaker, a daughter of Lewis and Mary A. (Lewis) Bruce, who were born in Maryland and Massachusetts, respectively, and came to Missouri at an early day, settling in Moniteau County. Here Mr. Bruce bought some partially improved land, on which he erected stone residences, which are still the finest buildings in the township. After his marriage Mr. Taylor resided in Olean three years, and in 1888 erected a handsome residence on a farm two miles west of Enon, where he is residing at the present time. Mrs. Taylor is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and their union has been blessed in the birth of a son, Edgar A., born January 25, 1886. He belongs to the A. F. & A. M., Lodge No. 24. Mrs. Taylor became the mother of three children by her first husband: Nellie, died in infancy; Eugene and William E.

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This family biography is one of 187 biographies included in The History of Moniteau County, Missouri published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Moniteau County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Moniteau County, Missouri family biographies here: Moniteau County, Missouri Biographies

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