Covington County AlArchives Biographies.....Taylor, Windal W. 1840 - living in 1893 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 17, 2004, 9:47 pm Author: Brant & Fuller (1893) WINDAL W. TAYLOR, a farmer and miller of Beat No. 4, was born in what is now Crenshaw county, then Covington county, in 1840. He is a son of John and Rebecca (Carter) Taylor, the former born in North Carolina in 1806,. the latter in South Carolina, 1808. While yet young their parents took them to Georgia, and in 1824 to Alabama. Here they married in what is now Crenshaw county, and when our subject was a small boy came to what is now Covington county, and spent the rest of their lives near where the subject now resides. He always worked hard, was kind hearted, liberal and generous, and never accumulated much of this world's goods. He was conservative and reserved regarding public matters, and was in religion a member of the Primitive Baptist church. His father, Windal Taylor, was probably born in North Carolina, but was one of the first settlers in southern Alabama. He settled in what is now Crenshaw county, while the woods were full of Indians, wolves and bears. He was a farmer, raised a large family, and died before the subject's recollection. His widow died at a great age, just before the war. The maternal grandfather of Windal W., Silas Carter. was also one of the first settlers of southern Alabama, and both he and his wife died before the recollection of our subject. The mother of Windal W. Taylor died in 1888, and was the mother of six children, who reached mature years, viz.: Elizabeth, deceased wife of Samuel Rogers, of Texas; William, joined the army, but was rejected, and was killed during the war on a train near Mobile; Mary, wife of Allen Driskell, of Clarke county; Windal W.; Washington, a private soldier in the Forty-second Alabama infantry, who took sick and died during the siege of Vicksburg; John J., who was in the service a short time. In March, 1861, our subject married Matilda A., daughter of John W. and Eliza Jones, who were early settlers in Covington county, where they still live. Mr. Jones was all through the war, a private soldier in the Forty-second Alabama infantry. Mrs, Taylor was born in Covington county, and died in October, 1889. She was the mother of eleven children, ten of whom are living, viz.: John W.; Florence, wife of William Caton; Mary, wife of J. T. Hardidge; Rebecca, wife of James Dunn; William Windal; James; Samuel T., deceased; Augusta; Alonzo; Hughey, and Matilda Alice. Mr. Taylor was married, in 1890, to Nancy Wiggins, who has borne him one child, Viney Lee. Soon after his first marriage, Mr. Taylor joined company B, Eighteenth Alabama infantry, recruited at Auburn, and spent the first few months on the coast at Mobile. He was sent to Mobile, fought all the way down to Atlanta in front of Sherman, back with Hood to Tennessee, and on the retreat to Mississippi, and at Fort Blakely, and at Spanish Fort, where he surrendered, in the spring of 1865. He was not wounded nor captured until the final surrender, and saw nearly four years of hard service. After the war he resumed farming and milling. He purchased the mill of his father on the farm on which he now lives. His present grist mill he built about twenty years ago. He owns over 400 acres of land, all of which he himself acquired by his industry and energy. He was county commissioner, in the third district, for ten years just prior to 1888. He is a member of the Primitive Baptist church, and ranks among the best citizens of Covington county. Additional Comments: from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 765-766 Published by Brant & Fuller (1893) Madison, WI This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb