John S. Taylor (1844 - 1928)

Ancestors

Biography of John S. TAYLOR, Jr.

John S. Taylor born 1844 in Benton County, now Hernando County, Florida. He is probably the son of John S. Taylor, Sr. born 1813, who is buried in the same cemetery in Clearwater.

John S. Taylor came to western Hillsborough County, Florida in the mid 1800s.

John S. Taylor is listed on the 1860 United States Census as son of John S. Taylor born about 1813, and maybe his wife Emily Unknown Taylor age 30. Several siblings are also listed:

• John Taylor M 16 Florida
• William Taylor M 13 Florida
• Margaret Taylor F 10 Florida
• Martha Taylor F 2 Florida
• Pelrix Taylor M 0 Florida

John S. Taylor served in the Confederate Army for the State of Florida on picket duty at the Anclote River during the US Civil War until the surrender of the Confederate Army in April 1865.

John S. Taylor was a slave owner until Emancipation.

John S. Taylor traded his female cook slave for hundreds of acres which are now most of downtown Clearwater, Pinellas County, Florida.

John S. Taylor owned a successful citrus growing and packing business in Clearwater, Florida in the late 1800s.

John S. Taylor is probably a relative, maybe an uncle, of John Stansel Taylor, born in 1871 six miles south of Largo, who represented Hillsborough County in the Florida Legislature from 1905 until defeated in 1910 over his insistence that western Hillsborough break away and become a separate county. The separation eventually happened with the formation of Pinellas County, Florida in 1912.

John S. Taylor applied for the Soldier's Pension enacted in 1917 in 1918, based on his service in the Confederate States of America Army in the US Civil War fighting for the State of Florida.

John S. Taylor passed away in 1928 and is buried in Rouseau Pioneer Cemetery, Clearwater, Florida

Sources

• "Speaking of History Series: Pinellas By the Decades, Part 1" by James Anthony Schnur published on youtube.com by Pinellas County Connections Television (pcctv1)

• "Pioneer St. Petersburg" by Rita Slaght Gould

• Find A Grave Memorial# 16059136, created by: Angela Kendall. Record added: Oct 08, 2006

Possible Sources

• John S. Taylor Park - named for John Stansel Taylor. Here is the website for this county park includes a short biography of John Stansel Taylor - http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/18_Taylor.htm

• https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-95NY-9X94?mode=g&i=308&cc=1913411