from “Family History of the Joseph Taylor, Jr and Sarah Best Family”
by Shari H. Franke
Mary Ann Taylor, the fifth child of Joseph Taylor, Jr. and Sarah Best, was born in 1791, at Martin County, North Carolina. She grew up on the Taylor Plantation surrounded by many loved ones. Mary Ann was about 17 years of age when she left Edgecombe County, North Carolina for Warren County, Kentucky. She married (1) 2 February 1813, Samuel Cherry, at Warren County, Kentucky. In the Marriage Records of Warren County, it says that Mary Ann was the daughter of Joseph Taylor, who gave consent. William Cherry was bondsman. Mary Ann and Samuel had only one child together.
Samuel Cherry was born in 1792 at Edgecombe County, North Carolina. He was the son of William Cherry, Jr. and Lottie Hopkins. William Cherry, Jr. later married Frances Taylor, who was Mary Ann’s older sister. Samuel died young. Helen Cherry Fisher Greene of Pinehurst, North Carolina, a 2nd Great-Grandaughter of Samuel, says he died in 1823, killed by lightning. His burial place is not known. It must have been very hard on Mary Ann to be left such a young widow, with a young boy to care for alone.
Samuel Cherry and Mary Ann Taylor’s only child was Alfred born 25 December 1813, near Richardsville, Warren, Kentucky, must have been a delightful Christmas present for his parents!
After Samuel’s death, Mary Ann Taylor Cherry married Elijah Upton, 29 August 1826, in Warren County, Kentucky. Allen Taylor was bondsman. This must have been a happy day for Elijah and Mary Ann.
Elijah Upton’s occupation in life ws that of a farmer. He had been a soldier in the War of 812 and ws distinguished for his intrepidity in the Battle of the Thames on Lake Erie on 5 October 1813. he was given at least four land grants totaling some 350 acres between the Green and barren Rivers, according to Warren County Court records. his first wife Elizabeth died 19 April 1826 in childbirth. He was left alone to raise six children. They ranged in age from 12 years to a newborn son.
Now they had seven children to raise, but it would be much easier to raise then together instead of alone. Mary Ann’s son ‘ Alfred Cherry was 12 years of age, about the same age as Elijah’s oldest daughter, Rachel Upton.
Mrs. Nora Young Ferguson described Elijah Upton in the following way: “Elijah Upton was a very enterprising man in the Richardsville Community. He has the Masonic emblem on his gravestone. The Masonic Lodge at Richardsville is named for him. He was also one of the original members of the Board of Trustees of the Green River Union Meetinghouse.”
Mary Ann Taylor Cherry and Elijah Upton must have shared a good life together. They were married for 26 years. They stayed near the original Joseph Taylor, Jr. property. Mary Ann Taylor Cherry Upton died on 30 August 1852, at Warren County, Kentucky, age 61 years. The cause of death was listed as “hemorhage of the lungs–very sudden” in the Warren County Death Record. She was probably buried at the Taylor Family Cemetery, near Richardsville, Warren County, Kentucky, although a headstone couldn’t be found for her. When Elijah Upton died on 28 August 1862, he too was buried there by his first wife, Elizabeth Ford. The families apparently were very close. Elijah Upton left a Will dated 30 May 1857 in Warren County, Kentucky.
Elijah Upton and Mary Ann Taylor Cherry had no children together.
