Taylor, John (4), a Revolutionary patriot and pro- fessor of natural philosophy and mathematics in Queen's College. He was elected by the trustees at their first meeting in 1771, and Kev. Dr. Jacobus Kutsen Harden- bergh was chosen as president. The college went into operation at once, and before the war several students were graduated. When the war broke out, these two illustrious men threw themselves ardently into the cause of independence. Professor Taylor drilled the students as a military company, anil they were quite expert in the use of arms. The irruption of the British troops who occupied New Brunswick broke up the college. An advertisement is still extant that tlie exercises of the college would be continued at a private house at the head of the Karitan during one of these years. Subsequently professor Taylor became c(donel of the New Jersey State regiment, but he continued to dis- charge his professional duties for a time. In a letter to governor Livingston, Sept. 25, 1779, he speaks of "the necessity of attending the examination of the students; and as the trustees insist upon my fulfilling my engage- ments, I hope I shall be discharged from the regiment as soon as possible." Of his subsequent life there is no public record accessible to the writer; but his name and relationship to the college are important and in- teresting as showing the patriotism of both officers and students of the infant college, and the close connection between enlightened academic education and the spirit of independence in that period of New Jersey history. Among those whom Prof. Taylor drilled in the com- panj' of students the most eminent was the first grad- uate of the college, Simeon De Witt, who was Wash- ington's chief "geographer to the army," or topograph- ical engineer, as the office is now termed. See Recolu- tionary Coi'respondence of N. J. p. 177 ; Hist, of Rut- fjers College. ( W. J. Pt. f .)
Taylor, John S., a Methodist Episcopal minister, was born in Delaware County, Pa., Aug. 29, 1795; 'eon- verted jMarch 10, 1827; admitted on trial in the Phila- delphia Conference in 1833, and appointed to Milford Cir- cuit; in 1835, to Cambridge Circuit; in 1836-37, to Ac- comacCircuit; in 1838, to Northampton Circuit; in 1839- 40, to Snow Hill Circuit; in 1841-42, to Dorchester Cir- cuit; in 1843-48, to Mariners' Bethel, Philadelphia; in 1849, superannuated. He died Aug. 21, 1849. See Min- utes of Annual Conferences, iv, 423.
Taylor, Jonathan, a minister of the Society of
Friends, was a resident of Mount Pleasant, in the State of Ohio. He was much esteemed by the society of which he was a member. He was sent as a delegate to the societies in England and Ireland in the year 1831. During his journey he was attacked with inflammation of the lungs, and died at Kilnock, near Carlow, Ireland, June 11, 1831. See Annual Monitor, 1833, p. 57.
Taylor, Joseph, a Congregational missionary to India, was born in 1786; commenced his labors in India in 1812, laboring some time in the Bellary ISIission, and removing thence to Belgaum, where he continued until 1852, when he retired to Bombay. Here he died, Nov.
19, 1859. See (Loud.) Co?)(/. Year-hook, 1861, p. 242.
Taylor, Joshua, a minister of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, was born at Princeton, N. J., Feb. 5, 1768. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to a cabinet- maker, and continued in his employ three years, when the death of his mother awakened his mind to his spir- itual condition. After a severe struggle against scep- ticism, he entered fully into communion witli the Church in 1791 ; became an itinerant preacher, and was appoint- ed to Flanders Circuit, N.J. The next year he went to New England, and labored in the circuits of Fairfield, jNIiddletown, Granville, and Trenton, in Connecticut. In 1797 he was transferred to Maine, and appointed pre- siding elder of the newly formed district in that State. In 1798 he united with his duties as presiding elder the care of Readtield Circuit. In 1801 Mr. Taylor was ap- pointed to the Boston District; in 1803 he was returned to the " District of Maine," and in 1804 was stationed at Portland, Me. He located in 1806, continuing to preach in Portland and vicinity, and teaching a private school. In 1824 he was chosen one of the presidential electors of Maine, and cast his vote for John Q. Adams. From 1826 to 1848 he confined his labors principally to Cum- berland. In the latter year he re-entered the Confer- ence, was entered as superannuated, and was appoint- ed chaplain to the almshouse, where he atten<led to the duties of his office till June, 1852, when he was disabled by paralysis. He died at his home in Portland, March
20, 1861. About 1802 he was engaged in a pamphlet controversy with a Kev. Mr. Ward, a Congregational minister who attacked Methodist doctrines. " The Methodist party was entirely satisfied with the result of the controversy." See Ziow's Herald, April 3, 1861.
Taylor, Michael S., a Methodist Episcopal min- ister, was born in Scott County, Ky., Oct. 28, 1798; licensed to preach September, 1824, and some time af- terwards received on trial in the Kentucky Conference. He travelled about four years in the Kentucky Confer- ence ; was then transferred to the Illinois Conference, and thence to the Indiana; was subsequently retrans- ferred to the Illinois Conference, and appointed pre- siding elder in the Wabash District, where he contin- ued his labors for four years. In 1836 he was appoint- ed presiding elder of the Quincy District. He died July 20, 1838. In all the relations of life he was irre- proachable. See Minutes of Annual Conferences, 1839, p. 661.