Background
Taylor was born in Woodbury, Connecticut. He was orphaned at age 6 when his father"s ship was lost at sea. His mother had died when he was an infant.
Taylor was born in Woodbury, Connecticut. He was orphaned at age 6 when his father"s ship was lost at sea. His mother had died when he was an infant.
Taylor moved to Ohio, where he taught school, studied medicine and served in the local militia.
Cared for by his neighbors, he then moved with his guardians to Jefferson County, New New York He served as president of the Dane County Agricultural Society and the State Agricultural Society after he moved in 1848 to a farm in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin. There he was involved with lumbering as well as farming.
He was trustee of the State Hospital for the Insane in Mendota from 1860 to 1874.
Although he was a Democrat, he supported the North during the Civil war and was elected to one term as Wisconsin"s governor at the head of the "Love" or "People"s Love" party, a short-lived coalition of Democrats, reform and Liberal Republicans, and Grangers. He served as governor from January 5, 1874 to January 3, 1876 paying for his own inauguration and refusing free railroad passes and telegrams.
Impoverished, Taylor died in the Gisholt Home for the Aged in Burke, Wisconsin, on March 17, 1909 (age 88 years, 250 days). He is interred at Forest Hill Cemetery, Madison, Wisconsin.
Taylor County, Wisconsin is named for him.
He was a member of both the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1855 and the Wisconsin State Senate 1859-1860. He was chairman of the city and served as a member of the Dane County Board, County Superintendent of Schools, and County Superintendent of the Poor.