Bucks County PA Archives Biographies.....Taylor, Charles W.
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joe Patterson, Patricia Bastik & Susan Walters Dec 2009

Source: History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania; edited by 
J.H. Battle; A. Warner & Co.; 1887
Bensalem Township


CHARLES W. TAYLOR farmer, P.O. Hulmeville, was born in 
Philadelphia in the earlier half of this century. He is a 
son of Caleb and Lydia (Williams) Taylor, both of 
Philadelphia.  The pioneer of the Taylor family in America 
was Thomas Taylor, the son of a London merchant of very 
considerable estate, who dying when his son was very young 
left him in charge of his uncle as his guardian.  This 
uncle, coveting the family estate, had his nephew placed on 
board a Virginia trader and sent him to Virginia.  Family 
tradition says he was kidnapped, not a very unusual 
circumstance in those days.  Young Taylor on his arrival in 
Virginia found a refuge in the family of a tobacco planter, 
where he remained for many years, going through pretty much 
the same experience as that depicted by Hogarth in his 
"Industrious Apprentice," marrying his employer's daughter 
included.  By this marriage and by his own exertions he 
became possessed of a large landed estate and was very 
prosperous.  In the course of time the uncle in London died, 
and the existence of an heir in Virginia coming out, he was 
sent for.  But this call he did not feel inclined to respond 
to.  His predilections were all in favor of his adopted 
country.  His wife, children, friends, and property were 
there and he had grown up with the country, while his 
recollections of his childhood in London were probably 
anything but pleasant.  He, however, collected together such 
evidence as he thought sufficient to establish his identity, 
and forwarded it to the administrator of the estate in 
London, but he would not go himself, which was a fortunate 
thing for him, as the vessel in which the documents were 
sent was never heard from.  He never could be prevailed upon 
to try again.  His descendants, however, have not regarded 
the loss of their patrimonial estate with quite such equable 
feelings, and some generations afterward an effort was made 
to recover it. In this effort some of General Taylor's 
family (ex-president Zachary Taylor), who claim the same 
descent, participated.  The best of counsel was employed.  A 
son of Richard Rush, formerly U. S. minister to England, in 
Philadelphia, and the U. S. consul in London, had charge of 
the claim.  After a large amount of money had been spent on 
the lawyers an act of parliament was brought to light which 
appears to have been drafter with the express purpose of 
discouraging lawsuits of this kind.  This act confirms the 
title of holders of real estate who have had undisputed 
possession of the same for a certain number of years.  
Thomas Taylor, a grandson of the first Thomas, joined the 
Society of Friends in his youthful days, and when the family 
estate came to be divided he declined to take any share, 
either of slaves or of land that must be cultivated by the 
labor of slaves.  His family bought him out, and he left 
Virginia and settled in York, Pa., then known by the name of 
Little York, where he died in 1837, aged 84 years.  His son, 
Caleb, went into the drug business in Philadelphia in 1810, 
when barely 21 years of age, first learning the business 
with Dr. Isaac Thompson, Second and Market streets.  He 
established himself at 24 N. Front street, on the premises 
sold after his death, by his administrator, to Stephen 
Girard, and now a part of the Girard estate.  During the 
following ten years he built up a large and profitable 
business.  Early in August, 1820, he was on a wharf in 
Boston attending to the landing of an invoice of goods he 
had imported.  At the next pier there was a vessel from 
South America discharging a cargo of hides that had been 
damaged by salt water.  His friends attributed his death to 
this as he was taken sick directly after reaching home, and 
died of yellow fever as his physician said, his case being 
the only one in the city at the time.  He left four 
children.  All are deceased except Charles W., the second 
son, owner of the Trevose homestead in Bucks county, and 
Sarah T., wife of Thomas Paul, Esq., of Germantown, 
Philadelphia.  Caleb Taylor, Sen., married in 1814 Lydia 
Williams, a descendant of the Roger Williams family, who, 
when driven from Connecticut on account of their religious 
belief, settled in Shrewsbury, N. J., where many of their 
descendants are still living.  She was also a granddaughter 
of Grace, a daughter of Charles W. Biles, of Southampton, 
Bucks county, and granddaughter of Thomas Langhorne, father 
of Jeremiah Langhorne, of Langhorne Park, Bucks county.  
Sarah, another granddaughter of Thomas Langhorne, presumably 
a sister of Grace, married Lawrence Growden the younger, a 
grandson of Lawrence Growden the elder, who, with his son 
Joseph, were first purchasers, each of 5000 acres of land in 
Bucks county, October 24, 1681, known in the early surveys 
as "Lawrence Growden's great tract in Bucks county."  
Hezekiah Williams, the husband of Grace Langhorne Biles, was 
a prominent member of the Society of Friends, a Philadelphia 
merchant shipping goods to the West Indies.  He became 
reduced in circumstances in his old age, owing to his faith 
in the paper money issued by the continental congress.  The 
Williams family mansion was in Arch street, above Second, 
then about the center of the Quaker population.  The 
fashionable promenade in those days was on the south side of 
Arch street westward from Front.  Stephen Girard was on 
friendly terms with Hezekiah Williams, both being in the 
same business (the West India trade), and he would 
frequently stop and have a chat with the old man, who was 
then getting to be well on in years.  Hezekiah Williams died 
in 1807, from over-exertion.  He was very much interested in 
the building of the Market street bridge over the 
Schuylkill, which was going on at the time, and he walked 
out to see it one afternoon and back, a distance of about 
four miles, which was too much for a man in his 91st year, 
and he died shortly afterward.  His son, Charles Williams, 
grandfather of the owner of Trevose, fell a victim to his 
exertions in nursing the sick during the yellow fever 
epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793.  He was taken with the 
fever and died after a few days' sickness.  His grandson, 
the present owner of Trevose, was born and educated in 
Philadelphia, principally at Friends' Acadmey on Fourth 
street below Chestnut.  Soon after coming of age he went 
into the China and East India trade, making several voyages 
to Canton and other ports in the East Indies, as supercargo 
and one of the charterers of the ship in which he sailed.  
He removed to Trevose, now a farm of 212 acres, in the 
spring of 1848.  Trevose is one of the historic estates of 
Bucks county.  It was a part of the 10,000 acre tract 
purchased of William Penn in 1681 by Lawrence Growden, the 
elder, and his son Joseph.  In 1707 Lawrence Growden, the 
elder, deeded to his grandson, Lawrence Growden, the 
younger, all his undivided half of the 10,000 acre tract.  
The consideration was the sum of five shillings in cash and 
a rent of one peppercorn, "to be paid when lawfully 
demanded." Lawrence Growden, the younger, had two children:  
Elizabeth, who married Thomas Nickelson, of Philadelphia, 
and Grace, who married Joseph Galloway.  When their father's 
estate came to be divided in 1774, the portion allotted to 
Grace Galloway consisted of the three tracts called Trevose, 
Belmont, and Richelieu, in Bensalem township, containing 
together 1,425 acres, and the four tracts in Durham 
township, containing the iron mines, furnaces, etc.  These 
together formed the estate that was sold by the Burton 
family, grandchildren of Joseph Galloway and 
great-grandchildren of Lawrence Growden, the younger, in 
1847.  There is no known record of the date of the erection 
of the Trevose mansion house, but from the casual mention 
made of it by travelers and others at the time, it is 
believed to have been built about the year 1690.  Gabriel 
Thomas, who came over in 1681, wrote "An Historical 
description of the Province of Pennsylvania" up to 1696, 
printed in London in 1698, in which he refers to it as 
follows:  "And Neshaminy river, where Judge Growden hath a 
very noble and fine house, very pleasantly situated, and 
likewise a famous orchard adjoining to it, wherein are 
contained above a thousand apple trees of various sorts."  
As he says nothing about the house being a new one, it had 
probably been built several years before this was written.  
The two stone wings belonging to the mansion house are still 
standing pretty much as they were 200 years ago.  They stand 
back about 30 feet and distant some 14 or 15 feet from the 
house.  The west wing was occupied in the olden time by 
Richard Gibbs, secretary to Judge Growden, a justice of the 
supreme court and speaker of the assembly.  Gibbs lived 
there with a wife and four children, to each of whom the 
judge bequeathed the sum of one hundred pounds. In those 
days there was a covered passage-way reaching from the 
secretary's house to Growden's (afterward Galloway's) office 
in the northwest corner of the main building. There has been 
no trace of this connection between the two houses for at 
least half a century.  The east wing was used as a kitchen 
and was occupied by Growden's slaves, four in number.  There 
was also a covered passage-way connecting this wing with the 
housekeeper's room in the northeast corner of the main 
building.  This has long since disappeared, but has been 
rebuilt by the present owner.  All the buildings on the 
premises were constructed in the most substantial manner, as 
if they had been put up to last for all time.  The walls of 
the dwelling-house are of solid stone over 22 inches in 
thickness, and the wood work of the interior was of white 
oak, yellow pine, and white cedar, no other kinds of wood 
having been used in its construction.  The old house with 
only ordinary care appears to be good for another 200 years. 
 The room on the ground floor, which has been used for an 
office for several generations, and which is still used as 
such, has many associations of the olden time connected with 
it.  It was here that Judge Growden, who held several high 
offices in the province, dispatched his business and 
dispensed justice to his slaves and dependents, and to the 
offenders who were brought before him.  And it was here that 
in the next generation Joseph Galloway and his intimate 
friend Dr. Franklin held many a consultation.  Here the 
Doctor ventilated his theories with regard to electricity 
and rehearsed his experiments and told of his success in 
bringing down lightning from the clouds.  Here too they 
discussed the signs of the times and the tokens of the 
approaching conflict which was very then near at hand, and 
in which they made up their minds they would have to take 
opposite sides.  It is highly probable that it was owing to 
Galloway's influence that Franklin exhibited so great a 
reluctance in signing the declaration of independence.  This 
was very natural, for to the Doctor it seemed that, look 
which way he would, there was nothing but ruin in view.  In 
one event he would lose his estate and in the other there 
was every prospect of his being hanged. He, however, with 
his usual sagacity chose the winning side.  With Galloway 
the case was very similar.  He was one of the eminent men of 
his day.  He was a very able lawyer, and in 1776 he had a 
very large practice in the courts of Pennsylvania, New 
Jersey, and Delaware, and was a man of great activity and 
energy, and of indefatigable industry.  His private fortune 
at this time was estimated at 40,000 pounds sterling.  He 
had been a member of the provincial assembly for eighteen 
years, and speaker of the house twelve years.  The assembly 
sent him as a delegate to congress, with instructions as to 
the course he was to take with regard to the settlement of 
the difficulties between the colonies and Great Britain.  
These instructions he adhered to, to the letter.  He 
believed that everything could be settled constitutionally 
and amicably, without bloodshed, and he was opposed to 
independence and to the separation of the colonies, as he 
believed that both would do better together.  These views he 
upheld in congress openly and boldly, and his influence was 
so great and he had such a following that his most violent 
opponents, men who insisted on independence at any risk and 
at all hazard, saw that he must be silenced, and they took 
their measures accordingly.  He had been spending some 
little time with his family, consisting of his wife and 
daughter, at Trevose; this was late in November, 1776, when 
a body of armed men made their appearance at the house in 
search of him.  They did not find him, however, as he was a 
man who was generally aware of anything of importance that 
was going on, a little sooner than his neighbors. He has 
been warned in season and had left.  They then sacked his 
mansion, plundering and destroying as they pleased.  They 
also sacked the fire-proof record office on the premises, 
containing Dr. Franklin's papers and correspondence placed 
there for safe-keeping.  His home being now broken up 
Galloway joined the British army.  It does not appear that 
he had any other course open to him.  His wife and daughter 
went to Philadelphia, where he rejoined them the following 
year, entering the city with the British army under Sir 
William Howe.  He was made superintendent of police by the 
British general.  His house was at Sixth and Market streets, 
now Wanamaker's.  Having once made up his mind as to his 
course, Galloway acted with his usual energy.  He enlisted a 
troop of American light horse and also a company of refugees 
from his own county.  Having had these well disciplined he 
kept them busily employed all that winter and spring in 
scouting and obtaining intelligence, and attacking such 
detached parties of the continentals as they could come 
across.  Among their encounters they had one with a body of 
men posted near Bristol, numbering over 200.  These they 
dispersed, killing 23, and taking 8 prisoners.  Knowing that 
Washington's army at Valley Forge was in great distress for 
want of clothing and that he had seized all the cloth at the 
fulling mills in Bucks county and was having it made up for 
his army at Newtown, Galloway sent a detachment of 24 of his 
light horse and 14 of his refugees to take it.  His men 
returned the next day with the cloth and 24 prisoners, 
having had two encounters with the troops guarding it and 
killed eight men.  During the winter and spring of the 
British occupation of Philadelphia, Galloway's troops and 
company took nearly 200 prisoners and kept all Bucks county 
from Philadelphia to Trenton clear of the disaffected, so 
his friends claimed. Elizabeth Galloway went to England with 
her father in 1778 and married there, but his wife remained 
in Philadelphia engaged in an effort to prevent the 
confiscation of her estate.  In this she succeeded, but she 
appears to have suffered great deprivation while living away 
from her husband.  By her will, dated December 30, 1781, she 
devised all her real estate to nine persons therein named, 
to their heirs and assigns, without any restrictions or 
limitations whatever.  This will was proved in Philadelphia 
in 1783, and the legatees took possession and held the 
estate until 1801, when their survivors recorded in 
Doylestown a "Declaration of Trust" that they held the 
estate in trust for Elizabeth Galloway, her heirs and 
assigns, convenanting to convey, etc., at her and their 
request, etc., the tracts Trevose, Belmont, and Richelieu 
were so conveyed to Elizabeth Galloway Roberts and were sold 
by her grandchildren in 1847.