James Taylor I (abt. 1635 - 1698)

Born about 1635 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Mary Bishop (Gregory) Thomas — married 12 Aug 1682 in Colony of Virginia

Descendants

Died 30 Apr 1698 at about age 63 in King and Queen County, Colony of Virginia [uncertain]

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Biography

James “The Elder” Taylor, of uncertain parentage, was born about 12 Feb 1634/35 in England. He died 30 Apr 1698 (aged 64) in King and Queen, Virginia, currently Caroline County, Virginia.^[1]

The first record of James I in Virginia was 03 Dec 1675 when he when he purchased 200 acres of land (near what is now the town of Walkerton) on the Mattaponi River, from Thomas Reinolds. ^[2] This area became the Drysdale Parish of King and Queen County in 1691. ^[3] James was recorded as residing there in a later land patent dated 30 Oct 1686, and it is assumed that he died there in 1698.

Other land records include:

1693 DEED: King and Queen County Deed Book 8-268: Captain Joshua Story, James Taylor, and Jonathan Fisher: 9,150 acres.

1694 DEED: King and Queen County Deed Book 8-317: James Taylor, 134 acres.

1695 DEED: King and Queen County Deed Book 8-414: James Taylor, 500 acres.

Note: King and Queen County was established in 1691 from New Kent County.

James "The Elder" Taylor was first of this Taylor line to settle in British Colonial America and was the ancestor of a long line of politicians and statesmen including:

Edmund Pendleton, Grandson; a Virginia politician, lawyer and judge, and member of the Virginia legislature before and during the War. Pendleton attended the First Continental Congress alongside George Washington and Patrick Henry as Virginia’s delegates and he led the conventions wherein Virginia declared independence and adopted the U.S. Constitution.

John Penn, Great Grandson; an American Founding Father who served multiple terms in the Continental Congress, and who signed both the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation as a delegate of North Carolina.

President James Madison, 2nd great-grandson; 4th US President)

President Zachary Taylor, 2nd great-grandson; 12th US President

Jefferson Davis husband of 3r great granddaughter Sarah Knox Taylor, Davis was an American politician who served as the first and only president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865.

James I, married twice. We know this from the Taylor Bible Records. His first wife was the mother of James Taylor II and at least three other children. While her name not given in Taylor Family Bible or any other records, the name of Frances Walker (1640-1680) it listed in several historical and genealogical sketches of the Taylor family. James purportedly married his first wife about 1666 in New Kent County, Virginia. His second wife was Mary Gregory whom he married about 1682.

Known children of James Taylor I and his first wife which are named in the Taylor Family Bible include:

1. James Taylor II, born 14 March 1675 married Martha Thompson;
2. Sarah Taylor born 30 June 1676; married Robert Powell;
3. Ann Taylor, born about 1671; married Edward Eastham, Jr.
4. Mary Taylor born before 1680 married Henry Pendleton and Edward Watkins;

^[4]

After his first wife passed away on 23 Sep 1680 (aged 39–40) in New Kent, Virginia, James married his second wife, Mary Gregory on 10 Aug 1682 in New Kent, Caroline, Virginia. Mary was born February 1665 in Rappahannock County, Virginia, and died in 1747 in Bowling Green, Caroline, Virginia.

Although there may be more, four children of James Taylor I and Mary Gregory are listed in the Family Bible:

1. Ann Taylor (born 12 January 1685)
2. Mary Taylor Pendleton Watkins (born 29 June 1688)
3. Edmund Taylor (born 5 July 1690), married Sarah
4. John Taylor 1696-1780, married Catherine Pendleton (the sister of Henry).

Research Notes

According to the Taylor Family Bible James died of unknown causes on 30 April 1698, presumably at King and Queen County, Virginia. He was probably in his sixties. A 1745 court record from Caroline County, Virginia contains a statement made by Mary (Gregory) Taylor, widow of James Taylor, giving his date of death as April 1698. Neither James's will nor nor his grave site have been located. His will was said to have been filed in Spotsylvania County, but could not be found there. He was probably buried on his estate in King and Queen County.

Several cemeteries in Caroline County have historical significance. One of the most important cemeteries is Hare Forest. The Taylors and Pendletons were buried there more than 300 years ago. However, the cemetery is no longer extant. ^[5] The Hare Forest Farm of today consists of 173 Acres in Orange, Virginia and a dwelling erected for John S. Terrill in 1833-40. ^[6]

Additional Comments:

1. There is mention of a James Taylor as a headright of Leonard Chamberlain in a 1671 land patent in New Kent County, Virginia. This may have been James Taylor I. It fits the time period for James I, but there is no way to be certain. ^[7]

2. This James Taylor is often confused with James Taylor (1608-bef.1655) of Carlisle, England and Pennington Castle who immigrated to Bermuda in 1635 aboard the ship "Truelove" and who appeared in The Original Lists of Persons of Quality, 1931, LDS film 476924;

3. The Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence also claims, without citing any reliable source, that James Taylor's family came from Pennington Castle, near Carlisle, England; and that he was a descendant of Baron Taillefer who fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and became the Earl of Pennington; but no reliable source is cited for this information. DSDI also reports (incorrectly) that "James Taylor arrived in Virginia in 1635 at the age of 20 and established the estate of Hare Forest on Chesapeake Bay between the James and North Rivers."

4. Although James Taylor I was not a member of the House of Burgesses from King and Queen County, his son, James Taylor II was.

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18538665/james-taylor
2. ↑ Library of VA--land patents, Book 7 page 520, patent date Oct 30, 1686 ( http://www.lva.virginia.gov )
3. ↑ VAGenWeb: Parishes of Virginia, by Freddie Spradlin, 14 Mar 2015.
4. ↑ https://jamestayloridescendants.wordpress.com/james-taylor-i/
5. ↑ County of Caroline Virginia Cultural and Historic Resources Chapter 5 , page 8 https://co.caroline.va.us/DocumentCenter/View/413/Chapter-5-Cultural-and-Historic-Resources-PDF
6. ↑ Wikipedia: Hare Forest Farm
7. ↑ James Taylor I Descendants Association, by Steve Taylor, Secretary, James Taylor I Descendants Association, retrieved on 08 Nov 2023.

• Taylor Family Bible records held by Virginia State Library, Richmond Virginia. Bible gives names, dates of marriages, births, and deaths - these are microfilm records showing original had written Bible Records. http://image.lva.virginia.gov/Bible/27558.pdf

See also:

• Jennings, Kathleen. Louisville's First Families. A Series of Genealogical Sketches. Louisville, Kentucky: The Standard Printing Co. 1920. p. 125 https://archive.org/details/louisvillesfirst00jenn/page/124/mode/2up?view=theater
• Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 (500 years of Wittel and related families). Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2016. pp. 358-359 (Images 360-361). Endnotes/Sources. pp. 361-362 (Images pp 363-364)
• Introduction to The Taylor Family Tree (on linen), by Steve Taylor, Secretary of James Taylor I Descendants Association], accessed 28 Dec 2023.
• A crane's foot (or pedigree) of branches of the Gregg, Stuart, Robertson, Dobbs and allied families, by E. Stuart Gregg, published by the author, Hilton Head Island, S.C., 1975, 681 pages.
• "Notes and Queries", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 30, No. 4, Oct 1922, pg. 387.
• "Taylors In the Making of a Nation", by Alice Elizabeth Trabue, Taylor Family Association Historian, 17 Oct 1925, published in Yearbook of The Taylor Family Association, 1924-1926, Frankfort, Kentucky, pp. 16-20.
• Boddie, John Bennett; Historical Southern Families, Vol. VIII; Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1970.
• Burke's Presidential Families of the United States of America; Burke's Peerage Limited, London, 1981.
• Genealogies of Virginia Families, Volume IV, Healy-Pryor, Genealogical Publishing Company, Virginia, 1981.* National Geographic Society Quarterly, Vol XVIII, Jun 1930, No 2.