Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/711

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
706
TAYLOR.
TAYLOR.

in Calvert county, Md., about 1790, died near Pascagoula, La., 18th August, 1852. She was a daughter of Walter Smith, a Maryland planter. She received her education at home, and early in life was married. She resided with her husband, before his election to the presidency, chiefly in garrisons on the frontier. She did good service in the Tampa Bay hospital during the Florida War. She was without social ambition, and considered Gen. Taylor's election as a "plot to deprive her of her husband's society and to shorten his life by unnecessary care." She surrendered to her youngest daughter the superintendence of the household, and took no part in social duties.


TAYLOR, Mrs. Martha Smith, author, born in Buxton, Me., in 1829. She is the daughter of David and Susan Warner Smith, formerly of Buxton, Me. Her father was educated in Deny, N. H. Her mother was the daughter of Captain Nathaniel Warner. Her maternal great-grandfather was the son of Capt. James Gregg, one of the original settlers of the town, who emigrated from Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1720. He was a man of ability and means, and procured a grant for the land upon which the city of Manchester and other towns, including Derry, were built. Soon after her father had completed his studies, he married and removed to Buxton, Me., where he became a successful teacher. MARTHA SMITH TAYLOR. Martha is the sixth of eight children. She early manifested a fondness for books. When she was six years old, her mother died, and two years later her father died. She was adopted by her maternal grandfather in Deny, N. H. At the age of seventeen she finished her education in the academy, in Derry, and soon after became the wife of George H. Taylor. He was active in business matters and filled many important official positions in his town and county. They have had three children, two daughters and one son. The son died in infancy. Mr. Taylor, with his family, removed to Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1867, for the benefit of his health, which was impaired by asthma, from which disease he died in 1889. Mrs. Taylor and one daughter still reside in that city. Mrs. Taylor has written for many years for the leading newspapers of Pittsburgh and New England. She has been special correspondent for several years for the Pittsburgh "Dispatch" and "Commercial Gazette" She is a staunch advocate of temperance and all moral reforms. Her poems have been published in the different newspapers with which she has been associated. She has rendered important service in the temperance and charitable work of Pittsburgh, and has taken especial interest in its progress in literature. She was for several years president of the Pittsburgh Woman's Club, and is still an active member. She belongs to the Travelers' Club of Allegheny, Pa.


TAYLOR, Mrs. Sarah Katherine Paine, evangelist and temperance worker, born in Danielsonville, Conn., 19th November, 1847. Her father was Reuben Paine. Her mother's maiden name was Susan A. Parkhurst. Her father died when she was thirteen years of age, leaving a widow and three children. Sarah attended but two terms of school after the death of her father and then was obliged to leave home to do housework for two years, after which she entered a shoeshop. Not satisfied with that work, she studied evenings and fitted herself for a teacher. SARAH KATHERINE PAINE TAYLOR. When eighteen years of age, she felt called to gospel work and began to hold children's meetings, to write for religious papers and to talk to assemblies in schoolhouses, kitchens, halls and churches. In 1868 she went to work in the office of the "Christian," in Boston, Mass., where for the first time she met Austin W. Taylor, a young minister from Byron, Me., who afterwards went south to teach the Freedmen. In January, 1869, Miss Paine went to Sea brook. N. H., and gave herself wholly to gospel work, holding