Source:Hawes, James W. Richard Taylor, Tailor, and Some of His Descendants

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See Taylor in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States for an argument against the findings of this publication.

While the bulk of this publication covers the descendants of Richard Taylor, tailor, the first footnote is an extensive explanation of the family of Richard Taylor, Rock. Specifically, this footnote reads:

There were two men in Yarmouth in early times named Richard Taylor, the one, who appears to have been the older, was called Richard Taylor, tailor, from his trade, and the other, Richard Taylor of the Rock, from having built his house near a large rock near the boundary between Hockanom and Nobscusset in the northeastern part of the town. The latter, it is said, married Ruth, probably daughter of Thomas Burgess, although neither the will of Thomas Burgess nor of any contemporaneous Burgess mentions her nor any Taylor. His wife died June 9, 1693. He died Aug. 1, 1703. To his will, dated Sept. 2, 1693, and to a codicil date Oct. 28, 1699, he made his mark. The will and codicil were proved Oct. 3, 1703. (2 Barn. Prob. Recs. 262.) He is mentioned in the records March 1, 1663-4, when it is stated that Thomas Starr had taken a piece of timber from “Richard Tayler, of the Rocke,” and was ordered to give him another piece and pay damages, or pay him L3. (4 Plym. Col. Recs. 53.)

Richard Taylor, tailor, died in 1673. After his death there are only two mentions of Richard Taylor in the Colony records: one, Jan 12, 1679-80, when the bounds of his land near Nobscusset were fixed, and the other, June 2, 1685, when he was on the grand jury. This last mention probably refers to his son, Richard Taylor, Jr. (12 Plym. Col. Recs. 142, 143; 5 ib. 166. See also Land Book of Yarmouth, pp. 31-34.)

The fact that his [Richard Taylor of the Rock’s] will was made ten years before his death and was not signed by him indicates that he was unable to write, although sometimes aged and infirm persons mark who were not illiterate. This fact, and the fact that practically no mention of the name is made after the death of Richard Taylor, tailor, indicate that it is correct to award the mentions of the name, when the individual is not distinguished, to the latter, as the writer has done in the text.

Richard Taylor of the Rock had in 1677 seven children (3 Mf. 246):

1. Richard, b. June 9, 1652;
2. Mehitable,b. July 23, 1654;
3. Keziah, b. Feb. 18, 1655-6;
4. Jasher, b. May 9, 1659;
5. Hannah, b. Sept17, 1661;
6. Elisha, b. Feb. 10, 1663-4;
7. Mary, b. June 12, 1667.

The late William P. Davis, long the town clerk, gives the birth of Richard as above, and the fact that the calculation in the records where not worn out is from 1677, accounts for the year of Mary’s birth. Davis says that Mehitable married Jonathan Smith; Keziah, Samuel Eldgred; and Hannah, Job Jenkins.

The will of John Joyce of Yarmouth, dated Nov. 20, 1666, proved March 5, 1666-7, contains a provision giving to Richard Taylor at the Rock, “because a poor man, in corne or in sume beast, the sume of twenty shillings, provided that he vindicate my name and acknowledge the wronge that hee hath done the same.” (2 Plym. Col. Wills, pt. 2, p. 35; 6 N. E. Reg. 188.) In the volume of recopied Colonial wills in the Barnstable Probate office he is called Richard Taylor at the Neck, but there was no person in Yarmouth so generally known and the Register of Deeds at Plymouth informs us that in the original record the first letter looks more like R than N although the second letter looks more like e than o. As Richard Taylor of the Rock was known and frequently so called, we may safely assume that John Joyce so named him in his will.

The “Taylor Family,” by Rev. B. S. Taylor, who derived his information from Wm. P. Davis, gives some of the descendants of Richard Taylor of the Rock, but contains many errors.

The writer printed in the Chatham Monitor of Sept. 19, 1882, a notice of Richard Taylor, tailor, and some of his descendants. The present notice omits some of the descendants, but makes some additions and corrections.

FHL film numbers

• 1004003