Taylor, James Young

John Young Taylor (1854-1939) was born in Canada to George Taylor and Lady Margaret Graham in 1854. He married Annie May Bingham with whom he had six children: George Dudley (1879-1938), Grace Lucille (1894-1967), John Young, Jr. (1883-1938), Anna May (1885-1960), Clara Dudley (b. 1887), and Jane Gertrude (1888-1960). They moved to Oswego, New York in approximately 1887, before the birth of their last child in 1888.

Taylor worked as a salesman for the Pictorial League in New York, for which he traveled across North America and even Cuba selling advertising cuts, or services. Taylor greatly admired Henry David Thoreau and modeled his life after his example, frequently camping in such areas as St. Lawrence, Canada, the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Long Island, and even Goat Island, Niagara Falls.

In 1929, Taylor, now a widower, moved to Rochester, N.Y., to live with one of his daughters, the principle of School 41-Kodak Park. During the summer, he camped outside the house in a tent. He moved to Carmel, N.Y., in 1837 to live with another of his daughters and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley D. Cornish.

Sources:

John Young Diaries, 1893-1894, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

Winterthur Library: The Joseph Downs Collection and the Winterthur Archives. “Guide to the Winterthur Archives.” Winterthur Museum & County Estate. http://www.winterthur.org/about/downs_collection_and_winterthur_archives/xhtml/JDCMcKinstryFM.htm (accessed July 29, 2010).

From the guide to the James Young Taylor Diaries 85-218., 1893-1894, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)