My Genealogy Hound

EDWARD J. TAYLOR, civil and mining engineer, McKeesport, was born in Mifflin township, Allegheny county, in July, 1854, a son of Edward and Elizabeth J. (Calhoun) Taylor. His father was a native of Yorkshire, England, a geologist by profession; came to America in 1830, and was the pioneer geologist of the copper and iron regions in Marquette and Houghton counties, Mich. He settled in Mifflin township, Allegheny county, Pa., about 1850, and in 1863 removed to what is now the Twenty-second ward, Pittsburgh, where he resided until his death, in 1884. He reared a family of four sons: Charles Z., Edward J., John G. and William K. The maternal grandfather of our subject was of Scotch-Irish descent, and a pioneer of Mifflin township. Mr. Taylor was reared in Mifflin township, and was educated at the Western University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, from which he was graduated in 1876 as a civil and mining engineer. In August, of the same year, he located in McKeesport, where he has since resided, and since 1877, with the exception of one year, has held the position of city engineer; from 1877 to 1885 Mr. S. J. Hatch was associated in business with him, under the firm name of Hatch & Taylor. Since 1885 the firm has been Taylor & Romine.

The first public improvement in McKeesport was the sewerage system, designed and constructed by Hatch & Taylor, the first sewer being constructed in 1878; the next was the designing and construction of the borough water-works, and the next the street improvements, Walnut street being paved with Belgian block for one mile, under the supervision of Mr. Taylor, and he has thus far superintended over five hundred thousand dollars’ worth of work on public improvements for the borough. In his capacity of mining engineer, Mr. Taylor, with his partners, has also superintended the opening of many of the coal-mines of this region, and also designed and superintended the erection of several coke-plants in the Connellsville region. In 1882 he married Luvie O., daughter of Ernest and Anna (Peder) Succop, of Pittsburgh, and has two children, Charles E. and Ernest S.