William and Elizabeth (Wells) Taylor had ten children: Charles born 1805, married Mary Holmes; Elizabeth born 1807, married Thomas Brown; Thomas Taylor born 1809, married Ellen Carroll; Ann Taylor born 1812, married Allen Borman; William Taylor, Jr. born 1815, married Sarah Hughes; Richard Taylor born 1817, married Margaret Smith; Hannah Taylor born 1820, married William Alves; Mary Ann Taylor born 1822, married James Hill; John Taylor* born 1825, married Elizabeth Timberman, then Margaret Ann Hart; Joseph Taylor born 1828, married Margaret Timberman, then Martha Shaw.

We, the creators of this website, descend from William and Elizabeth's son, Charles and his wife Mary Holmes Taylor and their fifth child, George Taylor, who emigrated from England to Cincinnati, Ohio to Madison County, Iowa to Woodbury County, Iowa. Therefore, we have more information about Charles and his descendants than we do about his nine brothers and sisters.

One family story relates that Charles was a cobbler** in England and saved money from his business in order to send his children to the United States, but he and his wife, Mary (Holmes) Taylor, never came to America. Charles and Mary's fifth child, George Taylor, came to America in 1850. He worked for his Uncle John Taylor, who owned a grocery store in Cincinnati. George was a dray man, he delivered groceries in a horse and wagon to the customers. In 1857 George married Elizabeth Thompson*** and they had six children in Cincinnati. They moved their family to Madison County, Iowa in 1874.

Other children and grandchildren of William and Elizabeth Taylor left Ohio and moved west, settling mainly in Indiana, Iowa, Kansas and Colorado. These families will be written about in the "Taylor Family History" (the working title of the book), which is now being written by Grace E. Linden and her first cousin, once removed, Diane Schmidt. Because this book will not be published for a few years, please write to Grace if you have questions about the children of William and Elizabeth (Wells) Taylor.

*This is a link to John (Jackie) Taylor's website: http://history.cc.ukans.edu/heritage/families/ppfhist.html

**Research into Charles Taylor's occupation on the 1851 census and death certificate concludes he was an agricultural laborer, not a cobbler. Maybe Charles was good with his hands and made things (like shoes) for his family? Only speculation! Who knows how family stories gets started?

***Elizabeth Thompson was born in Brown County, Ohio, although her parents (William and Mary Birks Thompson) were born in England. William Thompson died in Ohio in 1862. Mary then moved to Iowa with her daughter Elizabeth. Mary died in Woodbury County, Iowa in 1883. (See the "Taylors in Woodbury County" page on this site.) More will be written about the Thompson family in the Taylor family history book.

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