Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 1,736
By This is the grave of George Taylor.
Born in 1716 in Ireland, probably Ulster but this is not certain, Taylor came to the American colonies in 1736, landing in Philadelphia. He came over as an indentured laborer in order to pay his way and his master ran an ironworks in Chester County. Taylor started just as a regular laborer, but then it came out that he had some education. People have speculated that his father was a minister back in Ulster, but again, we really don’t know much about the guy’s early life. But when this came out, his master realized he could be a lot more useful than just working away on the iron, so he made him a clerk by 1739. In 1742, his master died. Taylor married the guy’s widow shortly after. By 1745, he managed the new ironworkers his master had invested in until the guy’s son reached adulthood, at which time the kid took over as part of the father’s will.
In any case, Taylor became an ironmaster for himself and slowly became a prominent citizen in Pennsylvania. In 1755, he leased the Durham Ironworks, which went back to 1727 and was owned by many of the wealthiest men in the colony. He ran that for a couple of years until the lease came up. By this time, Taylor had political interests. He became a justice of the peace in Bucks County from 1757 to 1763. At this time, now fairly well off, he moved to Easton, where he built a nice home in the center of town. He became a justice of the peace there too and was also elected to the provincial assembly. He continued with his ironmaking business too, sometimes again leasing the Durham works, sometimes other working other furnaces.
In 1775, Taylor became a supporter of the Patriot movement in the colonies. Now, it turned out that five of Pennsylvania’s delegates to the Continental Congress did not support independence. So they were all forced to resign. Taylor was one of the men named to replace them. As such, he is a signer of the Declaration of Independence. This is what he is known for. He really didn’t have anything to do with it. He was barely even a backbencher, having just arrived in Philadelphia for the Congress. But he signed it and most of the 56 men who did are forgotten today anyway, even if the ones who actually wrote it are among the most famous Americans of this period. He was however the only one of the 56 who had spent time as an indentured servant. That experience did not make him opposed to slavery however, and in fact, Taylor owned slaves himself.
Taylor did not stay in Congress long. He was back with his iron furnaces by 1777, having not been reappointed by the legislature. But he was mostly producing for the government now and had been since 1775. In fact, his furnace was the first to provide munitions to the Continental Army. He briefly returned to politics, being named to the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council, a body formed to govern the ex-colony. He didn’t stay long though, as he got sick and resigned.
Taylor did have another controversial moment though. Since he still leased the Durham ironworks, he was vulnerable when the owner turned out to be a Tory, who fled to English lines. This led the state to confiscate the mill. Taylor was like, I didn’t have anything to do with this! And it’s not as if he had to prove his loyalty really, he had signed the Declaration of Independence after all. So he had to convince people to let him run it and he did until 1779, when the state sold it off. He then leased another furnace in New Jersey.
Taylor was in bad health the last couple years of his life, mostly didn’t work by 1780, and died in 1781. He was 65 years old.
George Taylor is buried in Easton Cemetery, Easton, Pennsylvania. This is not his first burial actually. He was in a Lutheran cemetery until 1870, when it was sold for a school and the remains were dug up.
If you would like this series to visit other signers of the Declaration of Independence, you can donate to cover the required expenses here. Charles Carroll is in Ellicott City, Maryland and William Williams is in Lebanon, Connecticut. Previous posts in this series are archived here and here.