Taylor family

Thomas Masters (1781-1844) was born in London, England, to Thomas Masters, Sr., and Sarah Rowley. He married Isabella Caldwell (1783-1841) of Philadelphia on June 3, 1807. They had eight children, including Martha Caldwell Masters, who married Henry W. Taylor, and Sarah Rowley Masters, who married Jeremiah Wilbur. Thomas Masters worked in the mercantile business for thirteen years before collaborating with his brother-in-law Francis Markoe, Sr., in 1810 to form the firm of Markoe & Masters. Francis Markoe (1774-1848) was married to Sarah Caldwell. Masters had important business connections in England, as well as in Philadelphia and New York, while Markoe’s business ties were in St. Croix and Philadelphia. Later, after Francis Markoe fell into debt, they formed a new company under the name Masters & Markoe. Masters was the more active and successful partner, eventually shouldering most of the responsibility for the firm. In the early 1840’s, he was elected director of the Bank of the Manhattan Company. Masters died on November 13, 1844.

Jeremiah Wilbur (born c.1805) and his sister Rachel Wilbur were both born in New Jersey. Jeremiah Wilbur, his wife Sarah Masters Wilbur, and their three children lived in New York City, where Jeremiah worked for his father-in-law’s firm of Masters & Markoe. Rachel Wilbur was married in 1818 to Jonathan Harrison Lambdin (1798-1825); they had three daughters. Both of Jonathan Lambdin’s business ventures in Pittsburg had failed by the time of his death in 1825, and his widow Rachel Lambdin and her young daughters returned to her family in New Jersey.

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