From “Family History of the Joseph Taylor, Jr. and Sarah Best Family”
By Shari H. Franke
Reverend Nicholas Wren Taylor, son of Joseph Best Taylor and Polly Ann Hudnall, was born 21 June 1828, near Richardsville, Warren, Kentucky.
“He spent his early life in Kentucky. In the sunny land of the South in the 18th year of his age he gave his heart to God and united with the Methodist Church, South. At age 23 he was licensed as an exhorter in this church.” “He received a common-school education in the temples of learning then to be found in the Blue Grass State. Upon attaining his majority he purchased a farm in Warren County, and at once commenced the active career of an agriculturist. Not content with the education he had received in the district schools, our subject, as soon as he had sufficient money, attended a select school in Warren County, where he supplemented the knowledge previously acquired by a systematic study of the high-school branches. He then commenced to teach school in the county, and continued in that profession for some time, teaching nine terms in Kentucky and Missouri. As an instructor be was interested in the progress of each pupil and a friend of all under his preceptorship, so that he was popular and successful as a teacher.”
Reverend Nicholas Wren Taylor married 28 June 1854, Julia Ann Elizabeth Cole, at Warren County, Kentucky. They had 13 children: John, Mary Ann, Nancy Elizabeth, Sarah E., Ellen M., Joseph Irven, Emma, Alice J., William Nicholas, Charles Thomas, Frances Best, Noah Wesley and James Alfred Taylor.
In 1854, Mr. Taylor purchased a large tract of land, including 970 acres in Warren County, Kentucky. Soon afterward he disposed of the property, and went north, sojourned for one year in Mississippi County, Missouri, whence in 1855 he came to Kansas and settled in Jefferson County, near Winchester. The land was at that time wild and scarcely a furrow had been turned in the soil. Of cultivation not a trace was to be seen, and even a vivid imagination could scarcely depict the present prosperity of the place. The first purchase of Mr. Taylor consisted of 160 (?) acres, to which he added from time to time until he acquired 140 (?) acres. This he sold in 1869, and during the same year located upon his present farm, (at Mulberry, Crawford, Kansas) then wholly unimproved.
The village of Mulberry was platted by Mr. Taylor soon after his arrival in Crawford County. There he opened a store and conducted a general mercantile business for two years, since which time he has resided upon his farm. Soon after coming here, he erected a three-story stone house at a cost of $800, the stone for which was taken from the quarry on his land. Later he planted an orchard, and from time to time made other improvements, which materially enhanced the value of the place. He made his home in the stone house from 1871 until 1886, with the exception of one year spent in Girard and three years in Baldwin City. In 1886 he erected the residence in which he has since made his home. This house is one of the most substantial and commodious in the township, and was erected at a cost of $2,000. The barn, which was also built in 1886, cost $2,500. and is 60 X 80 feet in dimensions, with a seven foot basement. This building serves as a granary, having at present (1893) 300 tons of hay, and also is used for the shelter of the hundred head of stock which Mr. Taylor owns.
In 1873 Mr. Taylor fell from a load of hay upon a three-tined fork, which entered his body just below the sternum. Two of the tines passed through his lungs while the third penetrated the liver and came out on the right side near the spinal column. This incident proved almost fatal, and it was long before the injured man recovered sufficiently to again superintend the management of his farm. He is now the owner of 557 acres of land, upon which he engaged in raising grain and stock. He makes a specialty of Poland-China hogs, in the raising of which he has been very successful.
In former years Mr. Taylor was accustomed to officiate as a local preacher and also as circuit preacher, having been ordained to the ministry in 1862. He now preaches occasionally, (1893) and his efforts in that line are always appreciated by his friends. As a minister, he has been earnest and loyal, fearless in the presentation of the Gospel and eloquent in appeals to his hearers. Socially he is identified with the Masonic order. Through all the years of his active life, Mr. Taylor has steadfastly adhered to the principles of the Republican party, and notwithstanding the popularity of the people’s party in late years, he has never forsaken the political organization with which his lot was first cast. He joined the Farmer’s Alliance, and has served as President of the County alliance. While a resident of Jefferson County, he was elected Sheriff in 1861, and served in that responsible position for two years. His name was prominently mentioned for the position of State Senator, but his strong temperance proclivities defeated him in the convention.”
Reverend Nicholas Wren Taylor died 26 April 1901 at Mulberry, Crawford, Kansas. Both he and Julia Ann Elizabeth were buried at the Ross Cemetery at Mulberry, Crawford, Kansas. A tribute to him stated: “His weary feet have come to the end of their toilsome journey, from his nerveless grasp have dropped forever the working tools of life, beneath the clods of the valley his arms lie motionless upon his pulseless breast, the tender heart that throbbed for others has ceased its beating, the spirit has returned to God who gave it, but the record of his life and actions that he left behind him are as pure and spotless as the fair emblem that he wore so worthily for so many years: and that stainless record is his children’s most precious legacy–their priceless heritage.”
After his death, his widow and heirs, in March 1903, sold 280 acres of his farm land to Miller Bros. for $31,300.
Julia Ann Elizabeth Cole was born 6 June 1833 at Warren County, Kentucky, the daughter of William Alfred Cole and Nancy Maxey. She was a wonderful and supportive wife and mother. She went through all of the experiences mentioned above with her husband. After Nicholas’s death, “Julia A. E. went to live with two sons and a daughter at Rooks County, Kansas in 1904. In September 1906, she went to live with a daughter near Ft. Scott, Kansas. Then at last she returned to Rooks County to visit her son, Alfred Taylor and family and she became ill. She was ill only a few days with pneumonia when heart failure terminated her life. She died 2 February 1917 at Woodston, Rooks, Kansas. “The deceased had united with the Methodist Episcopal Church when eighteen years of age, from which time she has been loyal to her faith and Master. Although Mrs. Taylor had passed the four-score milestone, she was a woman of remarkable vitality, youthful in spirit and appeared much younger than her years would indicate. She was exceedingly fond of her young friends and they reciprocated her affections. She will long be remembered in the Survey locality as a woman of beautiful character and as a mother, her life was such that her children ‘rise up and call her blessed.’ “
