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- "THE BIG HOUSE AT TAYLOR, MO.
"To enjoy the story of the Big House at Taylor, you must first get to know the Taylor family.
"Captain John Taylor who owned the town of Taylor and surrounding land and Jeremiah Taylor who lived on the hill north of Taylor in Lewis County were brothers and sons of Rev. Jeremiah Taylor of North Carolina. They were a family of ten brothers and sisters. Captain Taylor was born in 1806.
"The family moved to Missouri in 1821. I don't know how much of the land was original land grant, but some was because I have a land grant certificate issued to John Taylor in 1838 signed by President Van Buren. At one time Captain Taylor owned 1400 A[cres] of land in Marion County and Jeremiah Taylor 1800 A[cres] in Lewis County.
"Captain Taylor owned the home farm, the 300 A[cres] owned by the Hoerrs across the road, all of West Quincy and vicinity, the toll road from Taylor to Quincy and much more bottom land.
"In 1850 Captain Taylor had a ferry boat built named the Kosseth at the cost of $75,000.00. Between that time and 1878 he owned the ferries, Mary Cole, Emma, Quincy, the Rosa Taylor (named for his daughter) and the Frank Sherman. He built the first store in West Quincy in 1849. Captain Taylor built a blank toll road from Taylor to West Quincy at the cost of $40,670.74 and owned 1/2 interest in the road which was chartered by the State of Missouri in 1872. The sloughs and creeks were crossed by camel back bridges. There were no fences at the time and the people only used the toll road in bad weather. In high water parts of the road would float away. Much of the Taylor land was covered with native timber. Captain John and his brother owned and operated a flour mill and saw mill.
"In 1836 Captain Taylor married Miss Elizabeth Latham. For 10 years he had made his home in Lewis County. In 1843 he moved to Taylor. It may have been at this time the back part of the big house was built. Two large rooms down and two up with a side hall between and fireplaces in all four rooms. The house had a one story ell in the rear, which was later moved to become the wash house, when the new front was added in 1887.
"Captain Taylor was the father of six children. All but two died in childhood. Two daughters lived to be thirty, namely Susan and Rosa. No record of either ever being married was found.
"After the Civil War, Captain Taylor lived in Quincy and operated two ferry boats and conducted his large business holdings.
"When Mrs Taylor died in 1869 he returned to the Taylor farm and was still living there in 1884.
"Sometime between 1884 and 1887 he died and his estate was settled. William I. Taylor, a nephew, son of Jerimiah Taylor was the administrator. The farm on the south side of the road of nearly 300 A[cres] was sold to Dr. Daniel W. Tindall of Illinois who had previously been married to Sarah Elizabeth Taylor, the fourth child of Jerimiah Taylor and sister to Wm. I. Taylor.
"Now we must consider the Jerimiah Taylor family and the connection to Dr. Tindall and the building of the front of the Big House...." [The manuscript in its entirety is found in the notes on Minnie June Bonney.
Captain John Taylor must have been the enterprising soul. He built a toll road from walnut logs across the bottom land from West Quincy to Taylor's Station as the town of Taylor was called. This road was a necessity much of the year when the regular dirt roads were a quagmire in this swampy area---ABT
He also built the first store house in West Quincy, and Isaac Stephens sold goods in it many years ago. One of the first streets in West Quincy was Taylor Street. --Holcombe. op. cit., p. 781.
There was a C.B. & Q. railroad stop in West Quincy. The Wabash station was 5.5 miles west of Quincy at Taylor or "Taylor's Station," at the residence of Capt. John Taylor. Holcombe(op.cit., p. 782) reports "There are station houses here, but not much else." Even more true today!
The ferry was established in 1828 and landing rights in West Quincy, Missouri were established in 1829, making it the first ferry north of Louisiana. In 1840, the first steam ferry boat, the "Mary Ann" was used. The owner of the ferry at that time was Gov. Carlin of Illinois. At some unspecified time, John Taylor purchased the "Kossuth," and became the owner of a transportation network stretching from Taylor's Station to Quincy. He subsequently ran ferry boats named "Mary Cole," "Emma," "Quincy," "Rosa Taylor," and "Frank Sherman." The latter was still running in 1884 and was still owned by John Taylor.--Holcombe op.cit., p. 781
A disturbing incident took place "about the first of January 1861 when two old negroes, a man and a woman were found hanging in a stable belonging to Capt. John Taylor." It was unclear whether they had committed suicide, been murdered by the courtesan who was with them, or had been lynched by pro-slavery vigilantes. (Holcombe. op. cit., pp778-779) Apparently no blame was attributed to John Taylor.
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Taylor Family Genealogy
1806 - 1805
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