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Edward Taylor (1642 - 1729)

Rev. Edward Taylor
Born in Coventry, Warwickshire, Englandmap
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 5 Nov 1674 [location unknown]
Husband of — married 2 Jun 1692 [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 87 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusettsmap
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Profile last modified | Created 11 Jun 2010
This page has been accessed 2,625 times.

Biography

"Rev. Edward Taylor was born at Coventry England, 1642; came over from Sketchley, Leicestershire, England in 1668; graduated at Harvard 1671, and settled at Westfield, Mass the same year. He was ordained the day the church was organized, and as was the custom, preached his own ordination sermon. He was Calvinistic In his doctrine, a man of sincere piety and exemplary behavior. He had some knowledge of medicine and ministered to disease of the body as well as soul. He was three times married: first to Elizabeth Fitch of Norwich, Connecticut; second to Ruth Wyllys of Hartford Connecticut, daughter of Hon. Samuel Wyllys; and third to Ruth Haynes, daughter of Gov John Hayes, who married Mabel Harlakenden."[1]

Rev. Edward Taylor and his second wife Ruth Wyllys had six children together, five daughters and a son. Each of the daughters married a man of the cloth: Ruth, b. 1693, married Rev. Benjamin Colton; Naomi, b. 1695, married Rev. Ebenezer Devotion; Anne, b. 1696, married Rev. Benjamin Lor d; Mehitabel, b. 1699, married Rev. William Gager; and Keziah, b. 1702, married Rev. Isaac Stiles. Ezra Stiles, the noted president of Yale College, was a product of this latter marriage. Children of Ruth WYLLYS and Edward TAYLOR are:

  1. Ruth TAYLOR was born 16 APR 1693 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts.
  2. Naomi TAYLOR was born 30 MAR 1695 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts.
  3. Ann TAYLOR was born 7 JUL 1696 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts.
  4. Nehitable TAYLOR was born 14 AUG 1699 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts.
  5. Keziah TAYLOR was born 4 APR 1702 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts.
  6. Eldad TAYLOR was born 10 APR 1708 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, and died 21 MAY 1777 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. He married Thankful DAY 21 NOV 1742 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, daughter of John DAY and Mary SMITH. She was born 19 JUN 1721 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, and died 12 AUG 1803.[2]

Sources

  1. The Signers of the Mayflower Compact and Their Descendants. By Henry Whittemore, Reference page 45
  2. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=gblcreations&id=I3529&op=GET NOTE: Dead link as of Apr 23, 2020




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Comments: 7

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The Poetry Foundation has an excellent bio of Edward: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/edward-taylor. It's quite long so I won't quote it, but it has information about his family, his career and works, his community, and various theological controversies in which he was involved.

Some info on his parents I pulled together. Feel free to add this to the profile if you agree.

Kurant<ref>Kurant, Wendy. "Author Introduction-Edward Taylor (ca. 1642-1729)" in "American Literature 1: An anthology of texts from early America through the Civil War. Excerpt accessed 28 Apr 2023 at https://viva.pressbooks.pub/amlit1/chapter/author-introduction-edward-taylor-ca-1642-1729/.</ref> observes that Taylor's poetry "displays a Leicestershire dialect," supporting the notion believed by historians of poetry that his family was from Leicestershire. He is believed to have lived in Sketchley, based on notations in his diary, so it is presumed he was born there. Stanford<ref>Stanford, Donald E. "The parentage of Edward Taylor." American Literature 33:22, 215-221, Duke University Press, May 1961. Accessed 28 Apr 2023 at https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/10519215/person/-529799795/media/7446c417-2546-44af-8dca-063c2974584a.</ref> discusses alternative birthplaces including Coventry. He studied the wills of Sketchley residents of this period and found one that fits known attibutes of Edward's family. He concludes that Edward's father is William Taylor of Sketchley, who died there in 1658. The Poetry Foundation<ref>The Poetry Foundation. "Edward Taylor 1642-1729." Web page accessed 28 Apr 2023 at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/edward-taylor.</ref> lists his mother as Margaret, who died in 1657. I have not found a source for this.

posted by Paul Thompson
edited by Paul Thompson
Taylor-61248 and Taylor-289 appear to represent the same person because: Same birth year and place, same wife Ruth (will set dups for merge), same death date and place. No sources on -61248, but good sources on -289. Please merge.
posted by S (Hill) Willson
hints w/r/t origins:
  • Taylor was born into the family of a yeoman farmer in Leicestershire, near Coventry, during the English Civil War and received a Nonconformist education which prepared him to be a Dissenter.
  • Although he became a schoolmaster in the town of Sketchley, near his birthplace, his refusal to sign an oath of loyalty to the Church of England meant that his prospects for the future would be limited.
  • Therefore, rather than compromise his religious principles, he emigrated to Boston in 1668 and, bearing letters of introduction to prominent figures such as Increase Mather, soon entered Harvard College with advanced standing.

hints w/r/t biography:

  • Edward Taylor (1642-1729) can safely be considered the most impressive poetic talents of the English colonial period.
  • His work reveals a powerful intellect and a technical proficiency surprising for a Puritan minister in the American colonies.
  • Like his Puritan predecessor Anne Bradstreet, Taylor wrote much of his poetry for private purposes.
  • However, perhaps because he was a man, and certainly because he was an academically trained theologian, his approach to religious themes was much more orthodox than hers.
  • In any case, this large body of significant poetry written on American soil during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries remained unknown for more than two hundred years after its author's death.

Source: http://americanpoetry.usal.es/poets/puritan-period/edwar-taylor/life-and-works

Please don't paste into the bio, because plagarism.

posted by Isaac Taylor
What is our source of exact birthplace? (Why do we have two?)

Why does this bio contain a huge amount of specific information but no in-line citations explaining what sources are supporting each assertion?

Have we copy-and-pasted the main blob of text in the bio from a book? Given it lacks punctuation it looks suspiciously like an OCR... but from which book?

posted by Isaac Taylor
TAYLER-129 AND TAYLOR-289 ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON!

A LOT OF WORK WENT INTO SEPARATING THEM, PLEASE DO NOT CONFUSE THEM.

posted by Jennifer Lapham
There is no record that John Taylor and his wife Rhoda had a child Edward. They had two sons-- John and Thomas. None of the sources cited on this profile name parents for Rev. Edward Taylor. Correction: the Find-a-Grave page suggests (but without source), that Edward's father was a William Taylor. Better source sought. Thanks.
posted by Jillaine Smith
Taylor-289 and Taylor-22196 appear to represent the same person because: common (2nd) wife and children, same birth and death dates.
posted by Wendy Hamilton

T  >  Taylor  >  Edward Taylor

Categories: Old Burying Ground, Westfield, Massachusetts