SAMUEL F. TAYLOR, of the firm of Taylor & Keese, is with his partner successfully conducting a livery, feed and sale stable at Freeport, among the business interests of which he has become no unimportant factor. He is a New Englander by birth, his native place being Effingham, N. H., where he began life on the 5th of June, 1821.

The Taylor family is of Scotch descent. The father of our subject, Henry D., and his mother, formerly Miss Abigail Lord, were natives of the Old Granite State. The former served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and after its close received a pension from the Government. He was a farmer by occupation, and after his marriage settled on a farm in New Hampshire. This he left for a time to assume military duties, but subsequently returned, and there with his family spent the remainder of his days. The parental family included seven children, five sons and two daughters, five of whom are still living.

Samuel F., our subject, was the next youngest child and spent his boyhood on his father's farm, studying both at the district school and under the instruction of a private tutor. He remained with his parents until his marriage, which occurred when he was twenty-five years old. Soon afterward he became interested in the livery business in Lawrence, Mass., following it successfully for two years. Thence he went to Haverhill, where he engaged in the bakery business, which he also subsequently conducted at Amesburg, until deciding to migrate westward.

Mr. Taylor came to Illinois in the spring of 1852, and first established an eating-house at Huntley Station, which was then the western terminus of the Northwestern Railroad. He followed the employees as they completed the road from point to point until reaching Rockford. After he located near Savanna, on the Mississippi, and conducted a hack line from that place to Freeport, being also mail-carrier a portion of the time. He became a resident of Freeport in 1855. He then engaged in the livery business, first in a frame building which was destroyed by fire in 1861. Soon afterward he began the erection of the present commodious brick structure, which covers an area of 60x120 feet, and is two stories in height. His business has steadily increased, and he now keeps from fifteen to twenty-five good horses, with a creditable assortment of hacks and other vehicles. The stalls are large, airy and comfortable, and the animals especially well cared for. Mr. Taylor in 1886 took in his present partner, Mr. W. B. Keese, and their united efforts are making one of the best establishments of the kind in Northern Illinois.

Mr. Taylor was married in the twenty-fifth year of his age to Miss Francena Prescott, a native also of New Hampshire, born near the home of her husband. This union resulted in the birth of two daughters: Nellie F., now the wife of L. J. Phelps, of Polo, Ill., and Julia M., who became the wife of S. O. Clayton, and died at Chicago Nov. 25, 1886. Mr. Taylor, with his family, is a regular attendant of the First Presbyterian Church at Freeport, and socially our subject belongs to Excelsior Lodge No. 77, A. F. & A. M.

Contributed by Carol Parrish from Portrait and Biographical Album of Stephenson County, Ill. (1888), p. 546