Jacob Thomas Taylor, a farmer of
Mill Creek Township, Franklin County,
was born in Henry County, Ala., November 7, 1846, and is a son of
Robert H. and Sarah (Valentine) Taylor. The great-grandfather of our
subject was a native of Wales, and immigrated to South Carolina before
the Revolutionary War. He lost his life fighting for the colonies.
Jacob Taylor, father of Robert H., was a furrier, and removed from
South Carolina, his native State, to Georgia, where he remained until
his death, which occurred in 1845. Robert H. Taylor was born in South
Carolina September 10, 1816, and was but four years of age when his
parents located in Wilkinson County, Ga., where he grew to manhood and
received a common-school education. He chose farming as an occupation,
and first settled on a farm in Wilkinson County, but in 1846 he
removed to a farm in Henry County, Ala., where he lived until 1869,
when he located in Franklin County, Ark., and again engaged in the
pursuit of farming. He served several terms as justice of the peace in
Alabama, and in 1864 enlisted in the Alabama State troops, and served
on detached service, though holding a commission in the regiment at
one time.
In 1838 he married Sarah Valentine, who was born in
Wilkinson County, Ga., June 10, 1820, and was a daughter of Thomas
Valentine, who was captain of a militia company during the Florida
War. To Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Taylor were born thirteen
children, of whom eight are now living, viz.: Mary F. (wife of John
Valentine), Jacob T., Tabitha J. (who married James S. Rice), Levi M.,
Robert F., Andrew J., Martha A. and Giles C. Robert H. Taylor died in
Franklin County, Ark., in September, 1871, and his wife died in
January, 1876. The latter was an active member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Jacob T. Taylor was reared in Wilkinson County, Ala.
In 1864 he enlisted in Company E, Twenty-fourth Alabama Regiment,
Confederate army, and participated in all the engagements of the Army
of the Tennessee until the close of the war, when he returned to his
home in Alabama, and resumed farming. In 1867 he removed to Franklin
County, Ark., and settled on a farm near Webb City, locating on his
present farm in 1872, where he entered eighty acres, which he has
cleared, and has since added to his first purchase until he now owns
253 acres, and has 120 acres under cultivation.
In 1869 he married
Eliza St. Clair, who was born in Franklin County in 1846, and is a
daughter of William St. Clair, who came to Arkansas before it was a
State, and was one of the earliest settlers of Franklin County. Seven
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jacob T. Taylor, viz.: Aubrey,
Emma, Edna and Stella now living, and Edward R., Wallace and Benham.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, and he is steward of the Charleston Circuit. He is also a
member of the A. F. & A. M., of which he is the present secretary, and
has twice represented his lodge in the Grand Lodge. He is a stanch
Democrat, and has served as justice of the peace in Mill Township two
terms.
SOURCE:History of Benton,
Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.
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