TAYLOR Family

11. John Taylor (b. 1616 – d. 1680)

10. Thomas Taylor (b. 1637 – 1674)

9. John Taylor (b. 1658 – d. 1725)

8. Arthur Taylor (b. 1700 – d.1765)

7. Drury Taylor (b. 1760 – d. 1808)

6. Simeon Taylor (b. 1783 – d.1862)

5. William Horne Taylor (b. 1827 d. 1896)
Almeda Melvina Powell (Wife 1), m. January 6, 1853, deceased
Elvira Oslin Griffith (Wife 2) m. November 5, 1865, deceased
Sarah Elizabeth Jarrell (Wife 3)

4.Clarence Oscar Taylor – “Daddy Taylor”
Margaret “Maggie” Viola Watson – “Mammy Taylor”

3. Emma Taylor Christmas (b. 1906 – d. 2005)
Louis Matthew Christmas (b. 1903 – d. 1952)

2. Bobby Jon Christmas (b. 1935 – d. 2009)
Nelda Fern Pepper (b. 1938 – d. 2009) m. May 20, 1960

1. Bart Brock Christmas (b. 1970)

On November 22, 1637 emigrant John Taylor received 50 acres on the Pagan River in what is now Smithfield, Virginia (opposite Arthur Smith).

The emigrant trail continued in July 1745 when John Taylor’s great-grandson Arthur Taylor bought land in what is now Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Later Arthur Taylor received land grants from Lord Granville in Edgecombe County (later to become Nash County). That eventually totaled 2700 acres. Arthur built a Plantation Home near the Tar River, which he left in his will to his youngest son Drury Taylor (1760-1808).

The Will of Arthur Taylor is as follows:

ARTHUR TAYLOR of St. Mary’s Parish, 9 Aug 1765
“…being sick and weak of body…”

MARTHA DEW, Daughter
Negro Sam

BENJAMIN, Son
The labor of my Negro Bett for his lifetime, and at his death this Negro shall belong to him and his heirs

JAMES, Son
Rifle, etc

JOHN TAYLOR, Grandson
Land on the Southside of the Tar River on Green’s path, containing 160 acres.

SAMUEL TAYLOR, Grandson
Negro Bob

WILSON TAYLOR, Son
Land on the south side of the Tar River at the mouth of the Wolf Trap Branch and adj. John’s Meadow and Bailey’s Path and containing 400 acres
Negro Tom

DRURY TAYLOR, Son
Plantation where I now live containing 80 acres, also a tract of 370 acres lying below the mouth if the Wolf Trap Branch on the south side of the Tar River adj.
NOTE: Property belong to my son Drury must not be sold but kept for him while he is small, and I desire that LAZARUS POPE may have care of the child until my son WILSON is of age to take care of him

WILSON, Son
Negro Joseph

PRISSILA, Daughter
Bed
Negro Hanna

ANN, Daughter
Negro Frank

KITT, Son
Land on the north side of the Tar River known as BATTS Plantation as low as the Long Branch, and containing 500 acres/
Negro Jeney.

SALLY, Daughter
Negro Rachel

MOLLEY, Daughter
Negro Lucy

JOHN, Son
Negro Cloe
Cattle

I wish Jacob Strickland have taken care of my children KITT and SALLEY and their estates.
EX: sons BENJAMIN and JOHN
WIT: EDWARD MOORE, LAZARUS POPE, GALE BRYANT




Of Drury Taylor’s seven sons, Simeon became the next member to travel to new areas. In July 1808 following the death of his father (Drury) in February, the newly married Simeon packed his wagons and by August 1809 hw was living in Washington County Georgia where he resided for the next 10 years.

August 1819- Simeon, his wife and three sons moved to Twigg County, Georgia. The family lived there for the next 6 years.

December 1825, Simeon Taylor’s family and their seven children had now moved to what was then known as the crossroads of Georgia, Houston County. He bought land there and this is where William Horne Taylor was born at Lot #121 in the 13th district of Houston County Georgia on November 27, 1827.

Simeon Taylor bought and sold land in Houston County. IN his will Simeon left his wife Amelia 2 slaves: Negro Albert 46 years old & Negro Harriet 42 years old. All of the Taylor children were literate.

December 26, 1826 Simeon Taylor was appointment along with four other men as Trustees for the “poor School Fund” in Houston County (this fund was an annual appropriation by the legislature to pay for the tuition of pupils who attended “Field Schools”. These schools were for pupils whose parents could not afford to send them to academies, seminaries or college.

William Horne Taylor probably attended one of these “Old Field Schools” which were so called because the schoolhouse usually stood in an old clearing. It was built of logs, no heat in winter; a one room building with boys and girls from approximately 6 to teens sitting in the same room and taught by one teacher. They sat on rough hewn logs and studied out oud. The school usually lasted about 3 months a year and the patrons paid based on the pupils. Supplies included a Webster’s Blue Back Spelling Book, a Reader, and a Smith’s Arithmetic to learn the 3 R’s.

William Horne Taylor married his first wife, Almeda Melvina Powell on January 6, 1853 in Dooly County, Georgia. The ceremony was performed by Justice of the Peace Robert O. Holton.

William Horne Taylor and his brother John Horne Taylor bought land in Dooly County, Georgia. On January 20, 1854, William Stephen Taylor was born in Dooly County, Georgia. The land as later resold to their brother Simon Lawrence Taylor. William Horne Taylor and family moved back to Houston County and were living there by August 20, 1858 when second son John Riley Taylor was born. Their third son Arthur Madison Taylor was also born in Houston County on August 30, 1860.

On the 1860 census Simeon Taylor was 77 years old. He and his wife Amelia living at the house of their oldest son Drewry Williams Taylor which was not far from their old homeplace just east of the town of Elko in Houston County, Georgia.



William Horne Taylor moved in 1861. By May 1861 he and his wife and 3 children (ages 6 yrs, 2 yrs, and an infant) joined a wagon train heading west. Their destination was found in the Petersburg township in Ashley County, Arkansas (before Crossett, AR was incorporated). They settled on an 80-acre tract situated on the eastern half of the NW quarter of Section 23 in TWP 19, South range 9W.

Call to Confederate Duty
William Horne Taylor was a member of the Petersburg Masonic Lodge and he eventually became a Master Mason. The young family were not long settled when the call to confederate duty was present and William H. Taylor traveled with his friends “Holman” and “Wimberley”. He traveled to the county seat at Hamburg to enlist.

May 10, 1862: William Horne Taylor enlisted in the Army of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Company G, 29th Arkansas Infantry/ also known as 1st Arkansas Infantry). He then spent some time at a hospital in Little Rock, AR (possibly for Physical) and was called for a rendezvous with his unit for training at Lewisville, Arkansas on the Red River.

December 7, 1862: the 29th Arkansas Infantry fought in the Battle of Prairie Grove near Fayetteville, Arkansas. William was injured in the combat. He was sent to a hospital in a private home at Cane Ridge, Arkansas and three months later on February 9, 1863, he continued to recover from his injuries.

By July 4, 1863, he was back on duty when the 29th Infantry participated in the Battle of Helena (in Helena, Arkansas). Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication between the leaders, William was among many men who were captured by the Union Army and transported on the Steamer “Silver Moon” up the Mississippi River to the Union Prison at Alton, Illinois. They were received on July 9, 1863.

August 24, 1863: Outbreak of pestilence reported at the prison and William Horne Taylor was stated to be “dead from smallpox”. He actually recovered enough to live in deplorable conditions there until he was transferred to the “Andersonville” of the North- “FORT DELAWARE”. Fort Delaware on Peapatch Island is located in the state of Delaware.

April 4, 1864: William Horne Taylor was received

March 7, 1865: William Horne Taylor released as part of a Prisoner exchange. He, along with “Holman” and “Wimberley” were transported down the Delaware River to a Receiving Hospital #9 in Richmond, VA.

March 9, 1865: William Horne Taylor, along with his 2 friends were freed.
March/April 1865: William Horne Taylor and 2 friends walked from Richmond, Virginia to Ashley County, Arkansas.

Homecoming
After a lengthy absence, most of it in Union Prisons, William returned to his adopted homeland to find Arkansas in chaos and his wife Almeda and son Arthur Madison deceased.

November 5, 1865, William Horne Taylor married Elvira (Oslin) Griffith at the courthouse in Hamburg, AR. Elvira was also a Georgia transplant, as well as a civil war widow. Her first husband (Lewis A. Griffith) had been in William’s regiment. Elvira brought two daughters into the marriage, Emma 8 years old and Ella 6 years old. William brought three sons, William Stephen 11 years old, John Riley 7 years old, Charles Odom 2 years old.

Two additional children were born to the couple of William Horne and Elvira:
October 13, 1866 Jesse Oslin Taylor arrived and on April 11, 1869 Carrie Julie Taylor.

In 1869 William Horne became a member of the Meridian Masonic Lodge No. 214 near Hickory Grove in Ashley County and in April 1869, both He and his wife Elvira were among 16 people who began a home study and later became the Meridian Baptist Church. William was a Deacon listed in the founding documents written by Meridian Church in order to join the Bartholomew Baptist Association. At the time, William Horne Taylor was the recording clerk / secretary.



ON the 1870 Census, William Horne Taylor’s property is listed in Marie Saline Township. He is Farming, Elvira is keeping house and William Stephen and Emma are in school.

“Daddy Taylor”
On October 13th, 1871, Clarence Oscar Taylor was born and when he was just a month old, his mother Elvira Oslin Griffith Taylor past away at 35 years of age. Mrs. Holman, a neighbor and Civil War friend weaned her older baby so that she could nurse Clarence Oscar due to being an infant.

On March 18, 1873 William Horne Taylor married his third wife Sarah Elizabeth Jarrell. The same George H. Wimberley who had officiated at his previous wedding to Elvira eight years previously was now officiating the new marriage as well.

Sarah E. Jarrell was born in Louisiana and was 24 years old at the time of her marriage. William Horne was 46 years old.

February 8, 1874, a son Leonard is born to the couple and on November 26, 1876 a second son Henry is born. On August 27, 1880 fraternal twins Sudy and Drewry are born.

Late in 1880 the Taylor family consisted of eight children living at home as well as a 16 year old farm laborer named Catherine Belcher from Louisiana and a 27 year old black female hireling named Ella Cup from Mississippi with her 2 year old daughter Della Cup.

When the twins were 4 years old on January 5, 1885 their last child Sarah Amelia Taylor was born.

After 25 years in Ashley County, William Horne Taylor sold his property to Mr. Holtoff and the family moved to Drew County, Arkansas.

New Beginnings
William Horne Taylor purchased 80 acres of land on the western half of the NW corner of Section 16, TWP 13 South, Range 5 west in the Enon-Cominto District just outside of Monticello, Arkansas near the Seven Devils Swamp.

According to Drew County Courthouse records William Horne Taylor grew corn and cotton and Sarah Taylor was a homemaker. William farmed until the end of his life. He was independent until the close of his life. Sarah Jarrell Taylor died during childbirth in 1891 at age 42. In 1891 and 1892, William Horne Taylor mortgaged his land to Mr. Shewmake for supplies and he listed his assets as a sorrel horse named “Charlie” 12 years old and 15 hands high and a black Mare named “Minnie” about 4 years old and 14 hands high.

Last days
His final mortgage was dated on February 1895 and on it William Taylor listed his sorrel horse “Charlie” and four heads of cattle. A year later on February 18, 1896, William Horne Taylor passed away.

His final note was marked “satisfied in full” on December 17, 1897. His son Clarence Oscar Taylor, otherwise known as “Daddy Taylor” bought the old home-place which was located “past the deer camp by the seven devils swamp”.