John Taylor legal documents, 1809, 1824

This collection contains the papers of John Taylor of Caroline (1753-1824) and papers from associated family members. Taylor served in the Continental Army as a major and colonel and would go on to serve in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1779 to 1785 and in the early United States Senate. He became known for his support of Jeffersonian Republicanism, with his work published prolifically over the final three decades of his life. The collection contains twenty-five handwritten documents roughly grouped into three categories: correspondence of John Taylor, legal documents authored by John Taylor, and Taylor family material not authored by John Taylor. Not many of his papers survived so this collection is very rare.

The correspondence of John Taylor contains eleven items dating from 1777 to 1812. Four letters recount Taylor’s service as an officer in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, in Princeton, New Jersey dating from April to October 1777. Two letters are more personal and one is written to his wife, Lucy, and the other to his son, Henry. There are five letters addressed to politicians James Monroe, Josiah Quincy, and two unnamed officials complain of the strife brought about by the War of 1812.

The legal documents authored by John Taylor are three items: one deed and two wills including an 1809 deed from John to his son, Edmund, which describes the Taylor family property in detail, and a list of the first names of thirty-one enslaved persons.

The Taylor family material not authored by John Taylor includes eleven items: seven letters, two legal documents, and two genealogical documents. There are letters to and from family members (descendants), and letters from friends or attorneys. There are also two letters that mention a court case related to disease (possibly Cholera) in Port Royal and possible causes directed at Taylor's plans for two dams on his property. There is a March 1898 letter between his grandson John Penn Taylor and W.W. Scott of Houghton Mifflin Publishing, who were interested in featuring John Taylor in their American Statesmen series.