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John Taylor was born at Mill Hill, in
Caroline County,
in 1754. At ten years of age,
he was or
phaned and
w a s
adopted
by his
uncle the famous Edmund Pendleton. He
graduated from
the college of
William and Mary in 1770. He studied law under his uncle and began his own practice in 1774. The
career of Taylor really began in 1766 when the reformation led by Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee exposed the extent of political corruption in Virginia.
Taylor enlisted in the first brigade of Virginia troops under the command of Patrick Henry, whom he ardently admired. He became a subordinate officer of William Woodford and saw action at the Battle of Great Bridge. After the battle, he was elected a major. In 1780, Taylor formed his own regiment which was sent to join the forces of the Marquis De LaFayette.
His participation in the war effort very nearly depleted Taylor's fortune. |  |
| The government recompensed him by granting him five thousand acres of land. After the war, he again took up the practice of law. He was so successful that he retired from active practice in 1792, with a much larger fortune than the one he lost in the war. How Taylor spent the balance of his years is best expressed by Marshall Wingfield in his history of Caroline County Virginia. "From 1776 to 1781 Taylor was member of the Virginia Legislature and as such added his strength to that of Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, James Monroe and George Mason in firmly opposing the plans of Washington for a more perfect union and a more compact nation. For to understand the life and activi ties of John Taylor it must be constantly bourn in mind that he was a Virginian First and an American second." He bought a large estate-Hazelwood-on the Rappahannock River, near Port Royal and devoted all of his time and energies to agriculture. In 1803, he published a volume, entitled Arator, one of the first books on agriculture ever written in this county. In this volume were suggestions for improvements of soils, housing of slaves, rotation of crops and conservation of forests, and other agricultural questions of the time." Taylor would become known as the "father of American agricul ture." The site Hazelwood is marked by a historical marker, the text of which says the following. Hazelwood. The home of John Taylor of Caroline, Jefferson's chief political lieutenant and a leading advocate of States' Rights. The marker is located 1.3 miles north east of Port Royal. | |