Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 269] the superintendent of the New Castle Water Company, was born in Pittsburg, Pa., March 26, 1828. His boyhood years were spent in Brownsville, Pa., and the only thing that distinguished him particularly from his associates in school and out of school, engaged in pastimes or work, was his liking for machinery, which amounted well-nigh to a fascination. At the age of eighteen years he took up the trade of a machinist, spending two years in Brownsville, and finishing his apprenticeship in the city of Pittsburg. He then went West and was a steamboat engineer on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers until 1853, when he returned to his native State and located in New Castle. He followed his trade in the large mills of the city until 1881, and since that time has been superintendent of the New Castle Water Works, the year 1881 marking the establishment of the present plant. He is a thorough mechanic and a competent engineer.
Mr. Taylor is a son of John and Mary (Walker) Taylor. Our subject's father was born near Washington, D. C., where he grew to manhood and married his wife, who was a native of Wilmington, Delaware. They crossed the mountains in 1813, and settled in Brownsville, Pa., where Mr. Taylor worked in a paper mill, having mastered his trade before removing from his native place. After a few years he moved to Pittsburg, where he made his home a number of years; subsequently he secured a financial interest in a paper mill at Brownsville, and so returned to that place, and continued in business there until compelled to retire on account of the growing infirmity of old age. He accordingly disposed of whatever interests as would prevent him from enjoying a calm and untroubled old age, and passed the remainder of his life in New Castle, dying there at the age of seventy-eight years. He was an old-line Whig and then a Republican in his political attachments. The family were attendants of the M. E. Church. Eight children were born to our subject's parents, as follows: Sarah A. (Davis); Elizabeth (Tilton); Jane (Crowell); Harriet (Coburn); Thomas; John W., our subject; Mary (Lynn); and William E.
Our subject is a member of the Mahoning Lodge, No. 243, F. & A. M.; Shenango Lodge, No. 195, I. O. O. F.; Lawrence Encampment, No. 86; A. O. U. W.; and R. T. of T., Free Will Council, No. 29. He has acted as treasurer of the Shenango Lodge for twenty-six years. In his politics, he is a Republican, and proud of the fact. The New Castle M. E. Church includes Mr. Taylor and family among its very regular worshippers. In 1856, Mr. Taylor married Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Thomas and Christiana (Luper) Smith. Thomas Smith came from Meadville, Pa., in 1830, to New Castle, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits and died at the age of sixty; his wife lived to be eighty-five years old. Eight children were born to them: Ann (Vogan); Daniel; Isabella (Harlan); John; Porter R.; Elizabeth (Taylor).; Martha (Simmons); and William. The union of our subject and his inestimable wife has resulted in three children: John W., Jr.; Isabel H.; and William E.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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Updated: 17 May 2001