James P. Taylor

TRUSTEE: JAMES P. TAYLOR

James Peugh Taylor was born 23 September 1832 in Coles Co., Illinois. He was one of twelve children of John Taylor. He had two brothers: John and Edmund and nine sisters: Ellen, Eliza, Mary and six others. As a boy and young man he grew up in Sangamon, Pike and McDonough Counties of Illinois. He studied law in Macomb, Illinois.

He married Mary Cox, daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth Cox, on 6 April 1856 in McDonough Co., Illinois. Mary was born 5 December 1835 at Decatur Co., Indiana. She died 27 January 1926 in South Pasadena, California. She was buried in the Seneca City Cemetery, Nemaha Co., Kansas beside her husband.

Five children blessed this marriage. The first child, Elizabeth Alice, was born 22 June 1857 at McDonough Co., Illinois. She married Arthur F. Campfield on 7 May 1879 at Seneca, Kansas. They reared eight children. Elizabeth died 17 June 1944 at Centralia, Kansas. She was buried in the Centralia City Cemetery, Nemaha Co., Kansas. The remaining four children were all born in Seneca. The second child, Lorrain Evelyn, was born 10 August 1864. Lorrain married Edwin Collins with whom she reared three children. She died 5 Dec 1927 at Sheridan, Wyoming. The next child, Dora Olive, was born 6 March 1868. She died 18 Mar 1954. Dora was buried in the Seneca City Cemetery, Nemaha Co., Kansas. The fourth child, Ada Florence, was born 7 January 1870. She married John Edward Stillwell in 1892. They reared five children. Ada died 12 September 1954. She was buried at San Gabriel Cemetery in California. The fifth child, a son Guy Otis, was born 5 May 1871. Guy married May Prather. He died 15 December 1939 at Washington, D.C.

James, his wife Mary, and young daughter left Illinois and located in Seneca in 1861.He was admitted to the bar and began to practice law. He supposedly spent 1862

and part of 1863 on the Pacific Coast before returning to Seneca. However, Abijah Wells, wrote that James P. Taylor prepared the arrest papers served March 10, 1862, and assisted in the prosecution, his first in a Kansas court, of what was known as "The Centralia Riot." He was to have said in his closing argument, "Have mercy upon the boys, but to sock it to the old d___l." He encouraged the organization of an I.O.O.F. lodge in Seneca in 1864 and was a member of the original lodge of Masons. Being a firm believer in Seneca's future, he bought largely of lands and town lots. With the 1870 arrival of the St. Joseph & Denver City railroad, he was one of the guarantors of the right of way through Seneca and Nemaha county. James was a 36 year old lawyer, who in 1870 had accumulated real estate in Nemaha County worth $8000 and had personal property worth $2000. In 1874 his law practice specialty became dealing in real estate. In 1879 he was the proprietor of the real estate publication called the Nemaha County Journal. Being one of the first trustees, he helped helped with the debt of building the Universalist Church to the amount of $500. He was listed as a prime mover along with others in the formation of the First National Bank of Seneca. During his lifetime, J. P. Taylor was appointed colonel of a Kansas militia group that participated in the Price and Indian raids. Mr. Taylor served as a member of the school board of Seneca for many years and was a member of the board of education at the time of his death. His political conviction was to the Democratic party. He served at all kinds of Democratic conventions. He was a delegate at the local, county, judicial, district, state, and national levels. In 1896, he was a delegate at the Democratic National convention in Chicago.

James's official contributions to Seneca and Nemaha County were:

James P. Taylor died 1 April 1905 in Se-neca, Kansas and was buried, after a Sun-day afternoon funeral service at the resi-dence of his daughter, Miss Dora Taylor, in Seneca City Cemetery, Nemaha Co., Kansas.

Sources:

Andreas History of Kansas, p951

1870 U.S. Census, Nemaha Co., Richmond Twp., p51

Seneca-Tribune, Vol.XXVII, No.3, April 6, 1905, p1

Tennal's History of Nemaha County, KS

Family history in possession of Harold Campfield