My Genealogy Hound

HORACE N. TAYLOR, Postmaster at New Carlisle, is also a Notary Public and in fact, a prominent man generally in his community. Among the people where he now lives he has spent his entire life He was born in this town May 20, 1847, and is the son of Ezra G. and Elinor (Neely) Taylor, the former of whom was a native of Winchester, Va., and born in 1806.

The paternal grandparents of our subject were Stephen and Mary Taylor, natives respectively of England and Virginia. After marriage they settled in the Old Dominion where Grandmother Taylor died. About 1829 Grandfather Taylor emigrated to Ohio and settled in New Carlisle where he spent the balance of his life, dying in 1855, at an advanced age. He lived in his native Nottinghamshire probably until after his marriage, emigrating then to America. Both he and his wife were Quakers in religion. Ezra G., the father of our subject, after coming to this State, occupied himself as a merchant in New Carlisle for more than fifty years. Several times he accumulated a fortune but met with financial reverses. He established the first banking concern in New Carlisle this being known as the Exchange Bank conducted by the firm of E. G. Taylor & Co. He was reared by his parents in the Quaker religion to which he held firmly during life. He was a member of the old Whig party during its existence, later was a strong Republican and all the time an uncompromising Abolitionist.

The mother of our subject was born at Carlisle, Pa., about 1818 and died when a young woman in New Carlisle, this State, in 1847. Her parents were Major James and Sarah (Brandon) Neely, who emigrated to Clark County, this State, during its early settlement. Grandfather Neely honorably earned his military title by serving in a Pennsylvania regiment during the War of 1812. Ezra and Elinor Taylor were the parents of two children only: M. Corwin, a tinner by trade and living, in Indianapolis, Ind., and Horace N., our subject.

Mr. Taylor of whom we write spent his boyhood and youth in his native town, attending the common school and assisting his father in the store. He thus at an early age gained a good insight into mercantile business and was associated with his father until 1877. He then formed a partnership with another well-known resident of New Carlisle and under the firm name of Garver & Taylor they conducted a successful mercantile business until 1886. Mr. Taylor then became interested in fruit trees and dealt in them until June, 1889. In the May of that year he received the appointment of Postmaster and still holds the office. For eighteen years he has been the Clerk of Bethel Township and for sixteen years has served as the City Clerk of New Carlisle. For twenty years he has acted as Notary Public.

During the progress of the Civil War Mr. Taylor, in 1863, entered the Union Army as a private, enlisting in Company C, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry, serving until March, 1864. He then entered the one hundred days’ service as a member of Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-first Ohio Infantry. After being honorably discharged from this he, in September, 1864, re-enlisted in the Sixteenth Ohio Battery of Light Artillery and served until the close of the war. He received his final discharge at New Orleans June 10, 1865. His field of operations was in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland and Louisiana. He was the youngest man in the service from Clark County and acquitted himself in a very creditable manner. For five years after the war closed he was Captain of a company of Ohio National Guards of New Carlisle.

When a young man of twenty-two years Mr. Taylor chose for a wife and helpmate Miss Clara R. Garver, a very estimable young lady and the daughter of a prominent family in New Carlisle, the wedding taking place December 23, 1869. Mrs. Taylor is a native of the same town as her husband and was born July 16, 1851. Her parents were John and Catherine (Fuller) Garver, natives of Virginia who emigrated to Clarke County, this State, during its earliest settlement and who are now in New Carlisle. There have been born of this union two children, viz.: Clifford, September 20, 1870, and Mary G., March 11, 1874.

Mr. Taylor obtained a good education, attending first the schools of his native town and completing his studies at Grier’s Commercial College, Dayton, Ohio, from which he was graduated with honors. He is a man of decided business ability, very popular in his community and occupies an enviable position socially and financially.