Hon. George Taylor and [Unk] Miller

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Husband Hon. George Taylor ^{1 2}

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           Born: 20 Nov 1812 - Oxford, Chester Co, PA 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 14 Nov 1871 3
         Buried: 

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         Father: Matthew Taylor (      -      ) 1
         Mother: Rebecca Anderson (      -      ) 1

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       Marriage: 

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Wife [Unk] Miller

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: John Miller, Esq. (      -      ) 4
         Mother: Margaret Armitage (      -      ) 4

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Children

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1 M Matthew H. Taylor ⁵

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           Born: 2 May 1847 - Huntingdon, Huntingdon Co, PA 5
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Clara A. Burton (      -      ) 5
           Marr: 1872 - Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, PA 5

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2 M William S. Taylor ^{2 6}

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           Born: 25 Aug 1853 - Huntingdon, Huntingdon Co, PA 6
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Margaret Maclay (      -      ) 2

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General Notes: Husband - Hon. George Taylor

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He was a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, born at Oxford, in that county, the fourth child of his parents. His father had a large family and limited means, and consequently he was afforded few facilities for acquiring even the rudiments of an education. While he was a boy he assisted his father in the blacksmith shop, and while thus engaged met with a very serious misfortune, a fragment of iron or steel striking and lodging in one of his eyes, from which he suffered severely. His eye was disfigured, and he wore blue or green spectacles to conceal it. It was frequently remarked, however, that he could see more with one eye than most persons could see with two.
He was not at any school or other institution of learning after he was thirteen years of age. But several years of his early life were profitably occupied in teaching a country school in Huntingdon County. During this period he diligently availed himself of all the means of improvement within his reach, greatly increased his scanty stock of knowledge, and in the quiet seclusion of his rural home, unnoticed by those around him, laid the foundation of his future success. While thus engaged he wrote to David R. Porter, prothonotary of Huntingdon County, offering his services as a clerk, and Mr. Porter was so well pleased with the tenor and penmanship of the letter that he took him into his employ. For one destined for the bar there is no better school than a well-ordered prothonotary's office. In 1834 he commenced reading law in the office of Andrew P. Wilson, and was admitted to the bar on the 12th of April, 1836. He was then in his twenty-fourth year. Buoyant with energy and youthful hope, present and past difficulties were forgotten in the anticipation of future success, and, as has been said of another, the horoscope of his destiny gleamed before his young eyes in golden colors. Soon after his admission he gave promise of success in his profession, and by his masterly efforts in a number of important cases he acquired an early reputation as an able lawyer and advocate.
In 1840 he assisted in the prosecution of Robert McConaughy, who was tried in Huntingdon County for the murder of the Brown family, in Shirley township. The case was one entirely of circumstantial evidence, and in a speech of matchless eloquence, in a clear, logical analysis of the facts, he so traced the murderer through all his windings, and so fastened the evidence of his guilt upon him, that there was no escape. The counsel of the prisoner later acknowledged the effect of that argument, and said it was perfectly electrical and overwhelming, that the jury, the judges, and the audience were so completely carried away with it that any attempt at a defense seemed to be useless, and conviction followed inevitably. This was one of the greatest efforts of his professional life.
In the prosecution of the Flanigans for murder in Cambria County he made another three or four hours' speech in behalf of the commonwealth, which was said to be as powerful as the argument in the McConaughy case, and compared favorably with it in forensic eloquence. At the time of these trials, and for some time afterwards, he was in partnership with John G. Miles in the practice of the law, under the firm-name of Miles & Taylor.
In October, 1843, he was elected treasurer of the county, and served a term of two years. During this time he had almost abandoned the law, had retired from the firm of Miles & Taylor, and was preparing himself for the Presbyterian ministry. During these two years he made such progress in studying Greek that he could read the New Testament in the original tongue. But he returned to the law, and never entered the ministry.
Judge Taylor was an exceedingly careful man in all his literary efforts. His words were all appropriate, carefully selected, plainly and neatly written, and clearly and distinctly uttered, and his penmanship was characterized by the utmost degree of precision. Every word, syllable, and letter was plainly written and exactly in its proper place, every "i" dotted and every "t" crossed, and his orthography and punctuation were faultless. All his writings were executed with as much care as if they had been intended for the "public eye." And his pronunciation and articulation in public and private discourse were models worthy of imitation, and his emphasis was very energetic and impressive.
In 1835, while a law student, he was also editing a Democratic newspaper, and his careful habit of writing was no doubt cultivated, if not acquired, while writing for the press, well knowing that his editorials would be extensively read and closely and severely criticised.
Early in life he adopted a rule\emdash that everything that is worth doing at all is worth doing well. And this rule he carried into his professional business, and whatever cases he had he prepared thoroughly and tried well, taking pains first to make himself perfectly acquainted with the facts and the law of each case; and thus he acquired more reputation in a few years than a careless or indolent man could acquire in a lifetime of threescore and ten. Thus in the thirteen years of his practice he had acquired an enviable reputation as a lawyer. During all the time that he practiced the bar of his own county was crowded with lawyers of ability and eminence, men of character and experience, some in the prime of life, and some in the zenith of their professional course; and the other counties in the district also abounded in able lawyers in full practice. Of course, at such a bar no young lawyer could reasonably have expected much pecuniary success, and for thirteen years he struggled onward and upward, with barely profit enough to support himself and his family. But to be selected from such a bar to preside over such a district was a distinction and an honor of which any man might well be proud. Thenceforth he had a wider field for the exercise of his legal talents, and speedily his fame spread throughout the commonwealth.
When the Legislature in 1849 passed an act creating the Twenty-fourth Judicial District, he was recommended almost unanimously by the bar of Huntingdon and Blair Counties for the president judgeship of the new district, composed of the counties of Huntingdon, Blair, and Cambria. In April, 1849, Governor Johnson conferred the appointment upon him, which was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. After the amendment of the Constitution making the judiciary elective was adopted, by which the commissions of all the judges terminated in December, 1851, Judge Taylor was unanimously nominated by his party (the Whigs) as a candidate, and elected in October of that year. This election brought him another commission for ten years. After serving the term he was re-elected for another term without opposition. During the twenty-two years of his judgeship he faithfully discharged the duties of his office, and never, from sickness or any other cause, failed to hold the regular terms of court in the district.
There is probably no other position in life which so completely shows and tests the mettle of which human nature is composed as that of president judge. Its duties are delicate, difficult, and responsible in the highest degree. The fortunes and even the lives of men are sometimes suspended upon the strength or weakness of the presiding judge, and temptations beset him on every side to swerve him from the straightforward line of duty. Great, terrible, awful is the responsibility of the position, and all honor is due to the man who can discharge it unawed by fear, unseduced by affection or the hope of gain, with no prompter but conscience, and no guides but truth and law. Judge Taylor was a man of this model.
He had an intense love of justice, and the nerve fearlessly to administer it in the face of all opposition, yet he always tempered justice with mercy.
The judge had a taste for agricultural and horticultural pursuits, and followed them whenever he had leisure to do so without neglecting his official duties.
At the regular term of the Blair County court, whilst charging the jury, on the 24th of October, 1871, he became so ill that he was obliged to leave the courtroom. Prompt medical aid gave temporary relief, and he expected to resume his duties on the bench on the following day; but towards evening he was stricken with paralysis (which he had for a long time dreaded) in both his lower limbs, causing entire helplessness of body, whilst his mind retained its vigor. He was brought home on a special train. Notwithstanding the efforts of skillful physicians and careful nursing of his family, he gradually became worse until Tuesday morning, November 14th, when, without a struggle, he gently passed away, at the age of fifty-eight years, eleven months, and twenty-one days.
"Here the reward stands for thee,\emdash a chief seat
In Fame's fair sanctuary, where some of old,
Crown'd with their troubles, now are here enroll'd
In memory's sacred sweetness to all ages."
-SINGLETON.

1 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 89.

2 —, Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley (Chambersburg, PA: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897), Pg 7.

3 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 91.

4 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 219.

5 —, History of Erie County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1884), Pg 961.

6 J. Simpson Africa, The History of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1883), Pg 102.