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European emigres had started coming to the Philadelphia area of southeast Pennsylvania nearly two centuries earlier, but the enlightenment of civilization crept more slowly into other parts of the state. The Taylor surname was well-known when JOHN TAYLOR arrived in the Keystone State during June, 1848. George Taylor had settled in Pennsylvania back during 1736, and the 20-year-old native of Ireland started out with the iron-manufacturing business. The patriotic immigrant American served both the Pennsylvania militia and the legislative assembly, and was recognized as a delegate to the Continental Congress and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Bayard Taylor, born at Kennett Square, PA, just 23 years earlier, was a popular lecturer and traveling journalist for the New York Tribune. Zachary Taylor was born on November 24, 1784, in Virginia, back when its boundaries stretched from the Atlantic Ocean westward all the way to the great Mississippi River. When young Zack was nearing eight years of age, the state of Kentucky was officially created out of western Virginia. 56 years later, General Zachary Taylor was recognized as the most prominent hero of the Mexican War, and the old soldier was very popular in Pennsylvania. By mid-1848, the 63-year-old's newly-acquired fame had spread throughout the States, and soon he would be elected U. S. President. The mining town of Taylor, situated in northeast Pennsylvania, lay ten miles upstream from Wilkes-Barre on the Lackawanna River, a waterway stretching south-southwesterly for 50 miles and linking several towns down through the north Appalachian coal country. The borough named for Moses Taylor of New York was originally called Union when it was founded 48 years earlier at the southwest edge of present-day Scranton. Later it was re-named Taylorville before another name-change shortened it to Taylor. |
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