CALEB M. TAYLOR owns and operates a farm of seventy acres on section 14,
township 12, range 6, Pope County, which he purchased in 1872, paying for it
$650. The farm, which was but little improved then, only forty acres being
under cultivation, and having no buildings upon it except an old log house,
has been greatly changed in appearance, and our subject now has it in good
condition, raising crops of corn and wheat principally. He is a successful
farmer, and uses the latest methods in carrying on his work.
For over twenty years Mr. Taylor has been prominently connected with the
welfare of this community as a farmer, and has indeed spent his entire life
in the county, as he was born here, March 13, 1853. His father, James P.
Taylor, who was born in Indiana in 1825, emigrated to Illinois at an early
day, settling in Hardin County, where he was a prominent and leading
agriculturist for many years. A sketch of his life appears on another page
of this volume.
Our subject is third in a family of six living children, as follows:
Jonathan F., who is a resident of Carbondale, and a prominent lawyer and
politician of that city; Spencer B., who is engaged in farming in Golconda
Township; Richard F., an attorney-at-law and State's Attorney at
Elizabethtown, Hardin County; William F., a practicing physician in Poplar
Bluff, Mo.; and Priscilla I., the wife of Daniel Flannery, who is engaged in
farming in this locality. Two sisters and a brother died in early childhood.
Our subject was early inured to farm life, and received a fair common-school
education. When twenty years of age, he received a certificate and taught
school for one term, leaving home at that time. He was united in marriage
December 28, 1876, to Miss Minerva Flannery, who bore him six children, two
daughters and four sons. Of the six children, a son and the two daughters
died in early childhood. Those living are Richard R. and Henry O., aged
respectively thirteen and eleven, who are attending school, and James D. now
seven years of age. The mother departed this life in 1887, aged thirty-three
years. Some time later our subject was again married, Miss Sarah C.,
daughter of Samuel Gullett, becoming his wife, April 8, 1888. To them has
been born a bright little girl, Orpha D., now three years of age.
Soon after his first marriage, Mr. Taylor removed to his father's old farm,
in which he owned an interest, and which he carried on for about a year,
then selling his share in the former place, he purchased his present farm,
but previous to locating upon it, he engaged in working leased land for
about five years. In 1892 he was elected Justice of the Peace. Politically,
he is a Democrat, and he is an influential man in this region, one who is
well known and thoroughly liked.
Extracted 05 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope, and Hardin Counties, Illinois, published in 1893, page 336.