John TAYLOR, now living retired in Wenona, presents in his life a splendid example of downright hard labor, close application to business and perseverance. He commenced life at the foot of the ladder, but is now able to live comfortably in the enjoyment of the fruits of his early industry. He has met with many trials and adversities, but being an industrious, temperate and moral man has risen above these and now in his declining days is peacefully waiting the time when he shall be called to join the loved ones gone before.
Samuel TAYLOR, his father, was a native of
Our subject was born in Fayette county,
Pennsylvania, June 29, 1817, was there entered in the district
schools, learned the trades of a cooper, tanner, blacksmith and
shoemaker, doing his own smithing and shoemaking for many years,
and proving himself a genius in many lines. He also engaged in
farm and carpenter work during his early years. His life has
been an eventful one and during his long and busy career he has
met with several painful accidents, in several of which he
nearly lost his life. The first of these was caused by
disobedience when at the age of fourteen years. His father had
told him not to take up the ax during his absence, but he did so
and in striking a blow it struck a knot, slipped and cut him at
the knee joint. ON the outside it healed up, but gathered
inside, confining him to his bed for three months, and the
doctor said the limb would have to be amputated. A woman of the
neighborhood persuaded them to try a slippery elm poultice,
which healed the wound, but the knee remained stiff. However, he
later fell upon it, and it was relieved somewhat. During his
apprenticeship in a tan yard, while pulling a hide to the vat,
he slipped and fell in, dislocating his right shoulder, which
several times since has been thrown out of joint. While living
in
In 1840 Mr. TAYLOR was united in marriage
with Miss Isabel Ann MURPHY, who was born near Uniontown,
Fayette county,
Six children graced the second union:
Albert R., president of the
After his marriage he lived near the old
Griffith’s sawmill, running it for six months, then moved into
the old Mills cabin just north of Magnolia for a couple of
years, then moved on to the George Griffith prairie farm for two
years and finally located upon an unimproved prairie farm a mile
and a half north of Magnolia, in Putnam county, which he at once
developed, erecting good buildings, setting out a fine orchard.
During all these years he ran a threshing machine, which he
built himself, and did all the threshing for miles around. In
1860, however, he removed to Wenona for the purpose of
manufacturing a self-raking reaping machine, which he had
patented. Business thrived and for several years he manufactured
wagons, buggies and cultivators also, doing a general repair
business in connection with it. He disposed of his business in
1885, and is now living a retired life. He owns several houses
and some twenty acres of land adjoining the city. He was the
first man in the community to use a cultivator with a tongue,
and two horses. During the first season spent
in Putnam county, he took a load of wheat to
Mr. TAYLOR has invented many highly-prized agricultural implements, including a self-rake on a harvester; a cylinder corn sheller; a self-cleaner attachment for threshing machines; a riding cultivator, dodged by an adjustable frame in fount; a walking cultivator of four shovels; a self-feed to a corn sheller, called a direct feed; a window balancer, with spring stops; a swinging wing windmill, which needed no regulator, and an adjustable roller for rolling ground. He has some ideas peculiar to himself, one of which is his belief that the earth does not pass around the sun, but has an orb of its own, in which it makes its daily and yearly motions.
Mr. TAYLOR is an earnest and consistent
member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, in which he has
served as elder for half a century, and has always taken an
active part in its work, as well as in the work of the Sunday
school, acting for a long time as teacher and superintendent.
The cause of temperance has ever found in him an earnest
advocate; he has been a member of the Red Ribbon society and the
Sons of Temperance, was one of the founders of the Good Templars
lodge at Wenona, and now on account of his views on that
important question, since 1872 has been a stalwart supporter of
the prohibition party. He has done all in his power to remove
the evils of the liquor traffic, which has injured so many
worthy citizens in this fair land of ours. He was born a
democrat, but voted for
Extracted May 2011 by Norma Hass from The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall and Putnam Counties, Illinois, 1896.
| Bureau | Putnam | |
| Stark |
 |
La Salle |
| Peoria | Woodford |
