James TAYLOR FAMILY of Rutherford County, Tenn.

Between the federal census of the three decades, 1790-1820, several Taylor (and other surname) families disappear from the Craven & surrounding counties' records. They left for “parts unknown” to those looking only at the local records. The disappearances can be understood by putting the phenomenon into the historical context of the times. And, the context yields clues as to the “disappeared's” destinations.

Much of the context comes from the political history of our country's founding. The 1790 census (and its successors) was a requirement by the then newly-ratified Unites States Constitution to determine the representation of states in Congress. Another aspect of the Constitutional ratification process opened up lands for settlement in what would become Kentucky & Tennessee. These vast areas of virgin land became, initially, parts of the Southwest and Northwest Territories.

Yet a third aspect was an implication of the slavery issue. The Constitutional Convention essentially decided not to decide the fate of this institution, but to delay decision for at least twenty years. This would influence which North Carolinians emigrated and who remained behind. In general, most of the wealthy & educated (who could afford slaves) stayed where they were; life was good and moving risky. Many of the illiterate subsistence farmers (dependent upon their own labors) were tempted to seek new opportunities. While the subsistence farmer's goal was not necessarily financial profit, growing families required more land for self-sustenance and it was more readily available in the new territories.

“Indian troubles” were a fourth aspect, bearing on the timing of the beginning of what historians would call the “Westward Movement”. During the 1776-1781 War of Revolution and the weakness of the federal government from 1781 to 1789, few military resources were available to protect pioneers in the new areas. When the uprisings were put down (about 1793-1795), it became possible for the prospective settlers to establish farms without risking loss of life or property.

We think many of the Craven County disappearances can be traced to emigration to the new states of Kentucky and Tennessee. Between 1800 and 1820, the population of Tennessee tripled.

Four of these are the families of Moses Taylor, Junior & Senior, and James Taylor, Jr. & Sr. (There was also a 3^rd James Taylor in Craven.) The two Moses Taylors are listed in the 1790 census in Craven Co., but nowhere in the 1800 census. (If they were already in Kentucky, there may be no census record.) The two James Taylors are listed in Craven in 1790 & 1800.

All of the following Taylor housholds appear in images & indexes at Ancestry.com of the 1810 census in Rutherford County, Tennessee:

Name, Residence (City,Co.,State), Year, Eldest Male's Age, Est. birth year Absalom Tayler Jefferson, Rutherford, TN, 1810,	26-44,	1765-1784
James Taylor, Jefferson, Rutherford, TN ,1810,	26-44,	1765-1784
Jas Taylor, Jefferson, Rutherford, TN, 1810,	>=45,		<1765
John Taylor, Jefferson, Rutherford, TN, 1810,	26-44,	1765-1784
John Taylor, Jefferson, Rutherford, TN, 1810,	>=45,		<1765
Wm Taylor, Jefferson, Rutherford, TN, 1810,	26-44,	1765-1784

(Notes: “>=” means “more than or equal to, at least”, “<“ means “before”. The estimated birth year helps to distinguish individuals from others of the same name.)

The 1810 census for other Tennessee counties has been lost, increasing the difficulty of research. In 1810, Rutherford had only two townships listed, Jefferson & Nashville. Jefferson was apparently the area surrounding Murfreesboro, then the state capital.


And, in Warren County, Kentucky:
Name Residence (City,County,State) Year, Eldest Male's Age, Est. birth year

Josph Taylor, Bolin Green, Warren, KY, 1810,

>=45,

<1765

Abraham {Absolum?} Taylor, Not Stated, Warren, KY, 1810, ,

Daniel Taylor, Not Stated, Warren, KY, 1810,	16-26,	1784-1794
George Taylor, Not Stated, Warren, KY, 1810,	26-44,	1765-1784
Jos Taylor, Not Stated, Warren, KY, 1810,		26-44,	1765-1784
Joseph Taylor, Not Stated, Warren, KY, 1810,	>=45,		<1765
Moses Taylor, Not Stated, Warren, KY, 1810,	26-44,	1765-1784
Mosis Taylor, Not Stated, Warren, KY, 1810,	>=45,		<1765
Reddin Taylor, Not Stated, Warren, KY, 1810,	26-44,	1765-1784

1. indexed is :{Line below “Mosis” &endash; perhaps a transcription error?}
   

Absolum Taylor, Not Stated, Warren, KY, 1810,

26-44,

1765-1784

Without extensive research, we can not say that all of these individuals were in Craven County, NC before 1810. But, the likelihood is strong that at least some of them were. Both Kentucky and Tennessee, on each side of the Ohio River, were settled largely by families from North Carolina & Virginia.

In the hope that it would lead to the parents & siblings of an ancestor, the author has been engaged in finding the origins of two James Taylor families (Senior & Junior) who began appearing in Rutherford County, Tennessee records in 1809. Though it was most probable they came from North Carolina, identifying the county was not easy. There were 14 James Taylor households in North Carolina for the 1790 census, 26 for 1800, and 17 for 1810.

Three of the 1800 twenty-six, James Taylor Senior & Junior plus a James Taylor without the suffix, are listed in the 1800 census of Craven County, but not afterwards. By 1808, both a James Taylor Senior & Junior appear in court records, tax lists and road duty assignments of Rutherford County, Tennessee. By means of deeds, wills & other records , their specific location within Rutherford and James Senior's children were sorted out.

For example, extracts from “Pioneers of Rutherford Co. TN: Abstracts of County Court Minutes 1804-1810" by Carol Wells, 1989:
pg. 139 “letters of administration given to James Taylor on estate of James Arnold, dec'd, bond with Solomon Beasley, Absolom Taylor; 4 Jan 1808" {James Arnold was the husband of James Taylor Senior's daughter, Dorcas.}
p. 140 “James Taylor, admr of James Arnold, dec'd, rendered inventory.”
p. 163 “4 July 1808 acct of sales of James Arnold, dec'd, by admr James Taylor.”

This would indicate that James Taylor Senior was resident in Rutherford by 1808.

Further is this statement, from a sketch by Alma Taylor McCollum, “James Taylor and wife Elizabeth White migrated from Craven Co., NC to the Concord area of Rutherford Co, 1806... They had 4 children at that time:

1. Vincent b. 1797
   
2. Wm b. 1800
   
3. Phebe b. 1802
   
4. Nancy b. 1806
   

James Cullen Taylor was born 14 Jan. 1809.”

The wife's name indicates that Ms. McCollum is speaking of James Taylor Junior. She appears not to mention James Taylor Senior. Concord is near Overalls Creek.

Rutherford County Tax Lists, Taylors extracted {“0 WP” indicates over 55 years of age}:
1809

Taylor, John 100 ac.		0 WP
Taylor, Wm. 0 ac		1 WP
Taylor, Stephen		1 WP
Taylor, James		1 WP

1. Taylor, James Sr. 559 ac 0 WP
   

Taylor, John

1 WP

1810

Taylor, Absalom		1 WP
Taylor, James		1WP

Additional returns:
Taylor, James 559½ ac        0 WP

1811

Taylor, John 100 ac		0 WP
Taylor, John			1 WP
Taylor, Wm. 45 ac		1 WP
Taylor, James		1 WP

1. Taylor, James 500 ac0 WP
   

Taylor, Michael		1 WP
Taylor, Thomas 1 lot		1 WP

1812

Taylor, John			1 WP
Taylor, Wm. 45 ac		1 WP
Taylor, John 100 ac		0 WP
Taylor, Wm.			1 WP

It is not immediately apparent why some names are missing for some of the years.

Deeds:
On 12 Oct 1812, James Taylor Senior bought a tract of land, 490 acres + 70 poles in size, on Overalls Creek &endash; a tributary of the Stones River -- in Rutherford Co. from John & Ellinor Dickey, the heirs of Thomas Dickey. (In 1807, Thomas Dickey was still listed as the owner of this land, but had not paid the 1806 taxes.)

On 30 Jul 1814, James sold a 50-acre portion of this to Chloe Rucker, wife of Williford Rucker, and several times in the deed referred to Chloe as “my daughter”. The deed was registered on 7 Sep 1816. On 5 Sep 1816, James made 4 more deeds of parts of this Dickey tract to his children and one to Michael Taylor. Family relationships are indicated by language in these deeds.

Summary of James Taylor, Senior Rutherford Co., TN Deeds, (All portions of Thomas Dickey grant) to:

Grantee	Dates on Deed	Acres	Money Cons.	“Love & Affection”	Witnesses
Chloe (Taylor) Rucker	Ex: 30 Jul 1814 Reg:7 Sep 1816 Del: Jan 1822	50	$200	for the love and affection which He bears to his said Daughter and ..	Ben Carr, J.{?} Snell
Aaron Taylor	Ex: 5 Sep 1816 Reg: 20 Feb 1817 Del: 29 Apr 1817	108	$400	for the love and affection he bear to his son, and ..	Ben Carr, William Cock
Susannah (Taylor) Gilliland	Ex: 5 Sep 1816 Reg: 18 Mar 1817 Del: 15 Apr 1817	70	$300	for the love and affection which he bears to his daughter and..	Ben Carr, William Cock
Kesiah (Taylor) Hill {or Gill}	Ex: 5 Sep 1816 Reg: 18 Mar 1817 Del: 29 Apr 1817	14.8	$100	for the love and affection which he bears to his daughter and ..	Ben Carr, William Cock
Jesse Taylor	Ex: 5 Sep 1816 Reg: 25 Feb 1817 Del: 29 Apr 1817	109	$400	for the love and affection which he bears to his son, and ..	Ben Carr, William Cock
Michael Taylor	Ex: 5 Sep 1816 Reg: 18 Mar 1817 Del: 29 Apr 1817	108	$400	for the good will and affection which he bear and ..	Ben Carr, William Cock

Other Taylor deeds: “Land Deed Genealogy of Rutherford Co. TN Vol 1, 1804-1813: earliest land grants on Stones, Duck and Elk Rivers” by Marsh and Marsh, 2001, has entries for Absalom Taylor, Geo. M. Taylor, James Taylor and Thomas Taylor.

Wills:
From “Wills and Inventories of Rutherford Co. TN Vol 1 1804-1828" by Helen and Timothy Marsh, 1998
p. 72 will of James Taylor of Rutherford Co., TN
beloved wife Sary Taylor, son Jesse Taylor, dau: Darcas Arnold
grandson King Patterson (land where parents now live&emdash;Alexander Patterson and Sary his wife)
son James Taylor, extr, 12 Dec. 1817; wit: Benj. Ransom, J. Snell, Joseph Smith {Will proved in 1820. The witnesses and named beneficiaries & executor identify this as the will of James Taylor Senior.}

And, for another James:
p. 198 will of James Taylor of Rutherford Co., TN
beloved wife Deborah; all of estate to her except a horse, Jack, to my beloved mother.
Edin Taylor, extr, 15 Oct 1828 Wit: Samuel Denny, C.R. Davis

A third Taylor will was for George:
p. 204, will of George Taylor of Rutherford Co. TN;
beloved wife Jerusha; my sons: Wm. Taylor, Eden Taylor, George Taylor, James Taylor, Leonard Taylor; my daughters: Jane Taylor; Sally Taylor
Eden Taylor and Jerusha Taylor appointed executors
11 July 1827, wit: Andrew McKee, Nathaniel Green


Road Duties:
The County Court would, from time to time, order adjoining landowners to build or maintain roads. Carol Wells, in “Rutherford County Tennessee County Court Minutes, 1811-1815" has extracted many of these orders.

In April 1813, James Taylor was among those ordered to help cut out a road from Armstrongs Creek to Overalls Creek. On 11 Jan 1814, he and Edmund Taylor were among those to mark a road from Isham Cherry's saw mill to near the county line.

Conclusions:

The Rutherford County, TN information is sufficient to uniquely identify James Taylor Senior and place him in a specific place from 1808 through his death, 1816-1820. It also identifies James Junior as Senior's son.

The key to identifying the origins of James Taylor Senior & Junior came in two pieces: (1) James Senior's December 1816 will in which he mentions “my beloved wife Sary” and (2) a 1784 marriage between a James Taylor and a Sarah Daughety in Craven County. These two pieces of information are consistent with each other, but not necessarily conclusive. No other James Taylor has been found who matches. In the absence of conflicting records, we'll accept the James Taylor in Rutherford as the person who married Sarah or “Sary” in Craven.

It is likely that other Taylor residents of Craven County emigrated to Tennessee; the author has closely studied only one of these. Other such candidates include any named above, e.g., Absolum, John, Josiah, & William.

The author had hoped that information would show the parents of his ancestor, Michael Taylor. Alas, it shows only that Michael had a close association with the James Taylor, Senior family for at least twenty years, 1810-1830, but that Michael was probably not the biological child of James.


Appreciation:

We are indebted to Gloria Taylor & Martha Marble for their work in gleaning and publishing the information from “Old Dobbs” County, without which it would have been impossible to follow the trail backwards from Tennessee.

Similar credit should go to Debbie Spero for diligent search of Taylor records in Tennessee.

Perhaps deserving most of the credit for inspiring this research is someone who didn't sign or date her work, or provide sources. It was probably Mary Blankenship Allen who, in the 1950s, produced “The Taylor Line” a one-page typed (& much photocopied) sheet listing the parents & siblings of my grandfather, with a brief reference to his Taylor grandparents & great-grandparents. Subsequently, she has been proved mostly right.