BIOGRAPHY, Rockbridge County, VA- "T" ********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ********************************************************************** TAYLOR-- Five brothers of the name of Taylor, --George, James, William, John, and Caufield--came from county Armagh, Ireland, and settled in Rockbridge, 1760, investing their money in lands and slaves. John was killed in battle, April 25, 1778. Caufield was taken prisoner, but liberated after the surrender of Cornwallis. The four surviving brothers lived in a fine valley at the head of Cedar and are buried there. The wife of William was Janet Paul, said to have been a sister to the famous John Paul Jones of the Revolution. Admiral Jones was a Paul and added the name of his foster parent to his surname by birth. George and James married daughters of Captain Audley Paul. The Pauls were conscientiously opposed to slavery, and imparted their scruples to the families of these two brothers. Stuart, one of the youngest of the fourteen children of James, freed the last of the Negroes in that branch of the family. In doing so he gave each freedman $50. Hugh P. Taylor, a bachelor son of James, was an attorney and surveyor, and is buried at Rockbridge Baths. A love affair inspired him to write a beautiful poem. He also wrote "Hugh Paul Taylor's Sketches," a historical work covering the period, 1740-1781. Much of the material was derived from his maternal grandfather, Captain Audley Paul. Stuart Taylor, who lived on the brow of Hogback Mountain, a few miles from Rockbridge Baths, was a tanner and currier by trade and a mechanical genius as well. Like his distinguished son, he was tall, large in frame, and fearless. Several of his hunting exploits have been related to us. Once he was attacked by wildcats, and another time he had to get upon a fallen tree the better to defend himself against some half-wild hogs. In each instance he was in much danger. He did not hesitate to go into a bear's den in the winter season, knowing that if the animal were not molested while in its lair, it would rush out after getting awake. His colored man, Joe, was left near the entrance to shoot the bear as it ran out. But on one occasion the bear slipped down a hillside in Goshen Pass, Taylor and his dogs clinging to the animal's shaggy back. Man, bear, and dogs slid out some distance on the ice which then covered North River, and the hunter dispatched the brute with his hunting-knife. Stuart Taylor was not a man of education, yet was a forceful local preacher of the Methodist communion. His wife, Martha E. Hickman, to whom he was married in 1819, was a most useful woman in her neighborhood and highly respected. William, the oldest son of Stuart Taylor, was born May 2, 1821. He grew to manhood, a giant in size and strength, and could win people to his side by his feats at a log-rolling. At the age of nineteen he was converted at Shaw's campground, and he joined the Methodist Church at the Lambert meeting house on the Lexington circuit. A year later he was attending school in Lexington. A year later yet he taught the Rapp school on the South Branch of Buffalo. Already he had been licensed as a local preacher and occasionally conducted divine service. When admitted to the Baltimore Conference in 1845, his presiding elder announced to the assemblage that "here is a young man whom the sun never finds in bed." His first field was in Highland county. After six years of circuit work, he was assigned to mission effort in Baltimore and Washington. Already he was very successful as an evangelist, and his unusual gift of song was a wonderful help to him. In 1851 the young minister was sent to California. The three years preceding had made that state cosmopolitan and a scene of almost unprecedented lawlessness. The Sabbath was a carnival of crime and immorality. San Francisco, a city of tents and shacks, was perhaps the most corrupt spot on earth. The choice proved very wise. Taylor's powerful physique, his abounding faith, his tactfulness, and his rare gifts as singer and preacher made him the man for the task. The Mission Board did not adequately understand the actual conditions in that land of high prices, but although Taylor's salary of $700 a year was entirely too low, he never complained, nor did he ask his friends in the East for a single dollar. He labored seven years in California, making a nationwide reputation as an evangelist. He could accomplish in a few hours what others were months in performing. Taylor next preached in every quarter of the United States and Canada, and made tours in Britain and other parts of Europe. He then visited South America, Africa, Malaysia, Australia, China, Ceylon, and India, two new conferences being the result in the country last named. In 1884 he was a delegate from India to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was elected Bishop of Africa. This field he relinquished only because of advancing years. Bishop Taylor had preached more widely than any man of the Christian Church in any age. His leading road to influence among the heathen was through the children. But he was very successful in winning over the chiefs, and it was his design to span the Dark Continent with a chain of mission stations. His habits were simple. He used always a hard pillow, and his bedroom window was open, even in zero weather. At a late period in his life Bishop Taylor visited his native county and preached in crowded houses. His brother Archibald and Andrew also entered the ministry, the former going to California. Bishop Taylor died in that state in 1902 at the age of eighty-one. Source: A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia by Oren F. Morton, published in 1920. Transcribed and submitted by: "Marilyn B. Headley" , 1997 ************************************************************************************** FREDERICK A. TAYLOR - took up his residence in Rockbridge county in 1863, and is a native of Augusta county, Virginia, there born on the 20th of April, 1824 He married Elizabeth Guy, who was born in England, their marriage consummated in Alleghany county, Virginia in 1863. They have three daughters and two sons, Mary E. and Nannie W., Sarah M., Frederick and Samuel P. William L. and Nancy (Ailor) Taylor were the parents of Frederick A., and his wife was a daughter of William and Mary (Chaplin) Guy. Mr. Taylor has a farm which he is cultivating, and has been since the war postmaster at Brownsburg, Rockbridge county, Virginia, and continues to fill the office. Source: Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia (NY, Richmond, and Toledo: H. H. Hardesty and Company Publishers, 1884). p. 411-412. Transcribed and submitted by Valerie F. Crook" ********************************************************************** ROBERT GAMBLE TEMPLETON - is a son of John Jimison Templeton, who was born in Rockbridge county, and Rachel Jane (Berry) Templeton, who was born in Augusta county, Virginia. He was born in Rockbridge county, November 17, 1851. His father died in April 1863, and his mother died in February, 1877, each at the age of about forty-six years. William Templeton, uncle of Robert G., was a captain in the Rockbridge artillery, and was killed in Port Republic, in 1862. Benjamin Templeton, another uncle in the same army, died in the service, of fever. Colonel John Templeton, killed in the Confederate service in 1864, was a cousin of Robert G., and he lost one relative, Captain William Templeton, in the Federal army at the Manassas battle. Robert Gamble Templeton is extensively engaged in the sale of farming implements, mowers, reapers, rakes, harrows, etc., etc., with his headquarters in Lexington, Rockbridge county, Virginia. Source: Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia (NY, Richmond, and Toledo: H. H. Hardesty and Company Publishers, 1884). p. 411-412. Transcribed and submitted by Valerie F. Crook" ********************************************************************** LUCAS P. THOMPSON - son of Pleasant and Lucy (Tucker) Thompson, was born in Amherst county, Virginia, December 28, 1833. In 1856 he made his home in Rockbridge county, and in this county, in the following year, on the 23d of December, he was joined in wedlock with Sarah E., daughter of William W. and Sarah (Trasom) Pring. Her birth was in Rockbridge county, on the 3d of October, 1838. Their children are nine living, one deceased; Lucy E., John W., Harry (deceased), Samuel B., James C., Ollie V., Henry Dorman, Sarah E., Carrie Bell, Bruce A. Lucas P. Thompson enlisted in the Rockbridge Artillery, in July, 1861, and served till the close of the war, taking part in the battles of Kernstown, Winchester, Seven Pines, the Wilderness, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, and others. He had one brother killed in the battle of Bull Run, and another who died at Mt. Jackson. His occupation is farming, and his address is Oak Dale, Rockbridge county, Virginia. Source: Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia (NY, Richmond, and Toledo: H. H. Hardesty and Company Publishers, 1884). p. 411-412. Transcribed and submitted by Valerie F. Crook" ********************************************************************** JOHN FULTON TOMPKINS - born in Albemarle county, Virginia, May 15, 1830, was a son of Edmund G. and Sarah (Staples) Tompkins. In the war between the States he volunteered in the 1st Rockbridge Artillery, ----- helped to organize the company, Rev. Dr. W. N. Pendleton captain. He took part in only two engagements, the battle of Gainesville in the valley, Jackson's first fight, and then in the first Manassas fight, after which he was detached and assigned to duty in the hospital department as apothecary. In Botetourt county, Virginia, June 5, 1867, John F. Tompkins wedded Sallie D. R. Pendleton, who was born in that county in 1834. Dr. Micajah and Louisa J. (Davis) Pendleton were her parents. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Tompkins are four: Edmund Pendleton, Sallie Louisa, George Johnson, and Bertie Lee. J. F. Tompkins has been a resident of Rockbridge county since 1859; his occupation is farming, and his postoffice address is Natural Bridge, Rockbridge county, Virginia. Source: Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia (NY, Richmond, and Toledo: H. H. Hardesty and Company Publishers, 1884). p. 411-412. Transcribed and submitted by Valerie F. Crook" ********************************************************************** JOHN F. TREVEY - born in Rockbridge county, November 23, 1851, was a son of John J. and Sarah A. (Claibourn) Trevey, natives of this county. His father was a soldier of the South, serving in the 14th Virginia Cavalry, was captured at Brattons Run, Virginia, in June 1864, and sent to Camp Morton, Indiana, where he died April 9, 1865, the day of Lee's surrender. In Rockbridge county, January 20, 1880, John S. Trevey was united in marriage with Jennie Grose, who was born here December 31, 1854. Nettie Grose Trevey, their daughter, was born October 17, 1882. The parents of Mrs. Trevey were born in Rockbridge county, John A. and Nancy (Corby) Grose. John S. Trevey owns 150 acres of good farming land lying along the old Raleigh pike, four miles northeast of Lexington. His postoffice address is Lexington, Rockbridge county, Virginia. Source: Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia (NY, Richmond, and Toledo: H. H. Hardesty and Company Publishers, 1884). p. 411-412. Transcribed and submitted by Valerie F. Crook" ********************************************************************** TUCKER-- John Randolph Tucker, son of Henry St. George Tucker, was born at Winchester, December 24, 1823. He was graduated from the University of Virginia 1844, and was admitted to the bar the following year. He settled in his native town for the practice of his profession and it remained his home until 1870, except that he was Attorney-General of Virginia in 1857-65. In 1870 he came to Lexington as professor of law and equity in Washington College. After four years of service in this field he was elected to Congress. He was reelected for six successive terms. In the Forty-Eighth and Forty-Ninth congresses he was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and he was eight years on the Committee of Ways and Means . In 1887 Mr.s Tucker returned to his professorship in Washington and Lee University, holding it until his death, February 13, 1897. Tucker Hall, one of the most imposing of the University buildings, is named in his honor. Mr. Tucker was a genial, thoroughly trained gentleman, an orator of great power and was regarded as one of the very ablest men of the South. To him the law was a science and in constitutional law he was a recognized authority. He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws by Harvard and Yale Universities and by the College of William and Mary. In 1844 Mr. Tucker was married to Laura H. Powell, of Loudoun county. The children of the couple were these: Powell, who died in youth' Evelyn, wife of Wilmer Shields, of Mississippi;Anne H., wife of William P. McGuire of Winchester; Virginia B., wife of John Carmichael; Henry St. G., of Lexington; Gertrude P., wife of Judge --Logan; Laura P., wife of E. -- M. Pendleton. Henry St. George Tucker, born 1853, took the degree of Master of Arts from Washington and Lee University in 1875. Two years later he settled as an attorney at Staunton, but in 1897 returned to Lexington, and resides on his estate of "Colalto." In 1889 Mr. Tucker went to Congress and remained four terms. Upon the death of his father he succeeded him as professor of Constitutional and International Law and Equity. In 1905 he was President of the Jamestown Exposition. Mr. Tucker has written a treatise on the treaty-making power of the Federal Government, and has edited his father's Tucker on the Constitution. Source: A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia by Oren F. Morton, published in 1920. Transcribed and submitted by: "Marilyn B. Headley" , 1997 **************************************************************************************