History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with
Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious,
Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons
and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co.,
Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 930, Vermont Township
Benjamin Taylor, physician and surgeon, Vermont, was born in
Chester Co., Pa., April 5, 1829; his father, Benjamin T., was also a
native of Penn., and a farmer by occupation, who married Miss Hannah
Richardson, and had 13 children, the subject of this sketch being the
youngest; he came to Vermont in 1850 and purchased a piece of land; but
he concluded to study medicine, which he did under Dr. Clark, of
Rushville, and afterward became his partner, soon attaining prosperity.
In 1853 he married Marietta Clark, by whom he had 9 children; she died
in 1868, and Oct. 21, 1869, the doctor married Gabriella Gilson,
daughter of Wm. G., of this State; of this marriage 6 children are
born, 5 of whom are living. He is a relative of the late Bayard Taylor,
the traveler, historian, poet and U. S. Minister.
Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County,
Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with
portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States,
and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890;
page 333-334; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
Benjamin Taylor, M. D., a retired physician, practiced his
profession in Vermont several years. In 1882 he began to give his
attention to the culture of fruit, and has a fine fruit farm of
forty-seven and one-third acres a half mile from the city, which he is
managing very successfully. He has here a valuable orchard of four
hundred apple trees, two hundred pear trees, and a few of peach, plum,
etc., besides eleven acres devoted to small fruits. He finds a ready
sale for his fruit, which is of a superior quality and comprises many
choice varieties.
The Doctor is a Pennsylvanian by birth, born in Chester County,
April 5, 1829. He springs from the same family from which came the late
Bayard Taylor, traveler, poet and author, and at the time of his death
United States Minister of the German Court. The father of our subject,
whose given name was like his own, is thought to have been born in the
same county as his son, while his father, Abraham Taylor, was either
born in England or was a native of this country and born of English
parents. He was a resident of Chester County during his last years.
Benjamin Taylor, Sr., was reared to agricultural pursuits, and
followed farming all her [his?] days. He married Hannah Richardson, who
spent her entire life in Chester County, surviving her husband many
years. Mr. Taylor bought a farm in Pennsbury Township, Chester County,
and there he died in 1832. He and his wife were the parents of thirteen
children, of whom seven were reared, namely: Benjamin, Eliza, Newton,
Clarissa, Caleb, Sarah and Hannah. Newton served in the Mexican War,
and died two or three days after his return from disease contracted in
the army. Hannah married Emmor Way, and lives in Chester County. Caleb
lives in Wilmington, Del.
The subject of this sketch was next to the youngest child in the
parental family. He attended school quite steadily in his youth, and
later only in the winter seasons, as he had to work on his father's
farm the rest of the year. He remained in Chester County until 1859,
and in the fall of that year emigrated westward, coming by rail to
Johnstown, Pa., thence by canal to Pittsburg, from there by the Ohio,
Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to Sharp's Landing, in Schuyler County,
this State, whence he made his way to McDonough County. He there bought
a tract of wild land, located in Eldorado Township. At that time the
prairie was sparsely settled, as the early pioneers had selected the
timber land, thinking the open prairie worthless for agricultural
purposes. Deer were abundant and furnished good fare for the table of
the settlers. The Doctor's first work was to erect a log cabin on his
tract of prairie, and he then broke forty acres of land and sowed it to
wheat. The next year he traded that place for a tract of improved land
adjoining. About that time he decided to turn his attention to
medicine, and immediately entered upon his studies with Dr. Ebenezer
Clark, a pioneer physician of Industry Township.
In 1855, our subject started upon his career as a physician. In
1857, he sold his McDonough County farm, and removing to Sheridan
County, Mo., purchased a farm joining Keatville, the county seat. He
resided there until the spring of 1860, when he sold his place to an
advantage and returning to Illinois, established himself in his
profession in Vermont, and was actively engaged in his vocation here
several years. Though he has now abandoned his professional life, his
old friends and patients often call upon him to administer to their
ills, preferring his services to those of the younger doctors who have
taken his place.
In 1853, Dr. Taylor contacted a matrimonial alliance with Miss
Mary Clark, a native of the State of New York, and a daughter of
Ebenezer and Julia Clark. Of the children of that marriage the
following five are living - Annie, Marietta, Clara, Elmer and Howard.
Our subject's union with his present wife was consummated in 1870. Mrs.
Taylor was formerly Miss Gabriella Gibson, a native of McDonough
County, and a daughter of William and Mary Gibson. The Doctor and his
wife have six children living, as follows: William, Frank, Jesse,
Lillie, Maude and Blanche.
