Orla Benedict Taylor, for many years occupying a leading position in the legal profession in Detroit, but now retired from active practice although still officially and financially identified with many important corporations of Detroit, was born in Fowlerville, Michigan, September 29, 1865, a son of James and Mariette (Benedict) Taylor. His father was a native of Yorkshire, England; on his mother's side he is a descendant of Thomas Benedict, who came to Massachusetts Bay in 1638, and later became prominent in the affairs of Norwalk, Connecticut. Mr. Taylor's great-grandfather was one of the last survivors of the Revolutionary war veterans, passing away in 1845. In the acquirement of his education Mr. Taylor completed a high school course at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1882, and later matriculated in the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated with the degree of A, B. In 1886, while the following year, completing his law course in the same institution, he received the LL. B. degree. He also studied law in the firm of Sawyer & Knowlton of Ann Arbor and on coming to Detroit in 1888 he entered the office of Edwin F. Conely, then one of the most prominent lawyers in the state. Three years later he was admitted to partnership, his association with Mr. Conely continuing until 1902, when the death of the senior partner terminated tho connection. Mr. Taylor then formed an association with Charles F. Delbridge, which eon tinned until 1916; thereafter he practiced alone until his retirement in 1919. He took part in much important litigation in both the state and federal courts. He conducted the proceedings to compel the Detroit United Bank to incorporate under the general banking laws, Mr. Taylor being retained by the other savings banks of the city. He represented the railroads in too state in toe litigation involving the power of the Michigan Railroad Commission to fix demurrage rules. Be was also retained in connection with the receiverships of the Glazier Stove Company, the Chelsea Savings Bank and the receivership and reorganization of tho Consolidated Light & Power Company of Mount Pleasant, Michigan. He was one of the counsel in the Cameron Currie & Company case, the Randolph street case, and others of equal note and importance. He acted as counsel for the reorganization committees of both the Pere Marquette and tho Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroads, Mr. Taylor has been identified with many of the leading corporate interests of Detroit which have contributed in largo measure to the development and upbuilding of the city. For many years he was vice president of the Home Savings Bank and the Wayne County & Home Savings Bank, of which he is still a director. He is the president of the Detroit Legal News Company and the Grosse He Bridge Company and a director of F. A. Thompson & Company, manufacturing chemists, and the Liberty Motor Car Company. On the 21st of October, 1891, Mr. Taylor was married to Dorothea D. Tromble of Detroit. He has been deeply and helpfully interested in many organized benevolent projects, having served for years on the advisory board of the Young Women's Home Association. He belongs to the American, Michigan and Detroit Bar Associations and to the Sigma Chi, a college fraternity, of which at one time he was the national president. He has membership with the Detroit, Country, Detroit Athletic, and the Detroit Cribbage Clubs. He is also a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and of the American Society of International Law. He finds recreation in golf and literature. In addition to extensive travel in the United States he has made many trips to Europe during the last thirty years and recently returned form a trip around the world, having visited Japan, China, the Philippines, the Straits Settlements, Java, and India, A gentleman of broad and liberal culture, association with him means expansion and elevation. Mr. Taylor resides at No. 1725 Burns avenue. The City of Detroit 1701 - 1922 Vol. 3 edited by Clarence Monroe Burton, William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller Orla and his wife are buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Washtenaw County Michigan