Some Notes on Thomas J Taylor in Iowa

One of my brick walls is my 4th great grandfather Thomas J Taylor (1807-1890), married to  my other (semi-brick wall) ancestor Sarah A Lynchard (1819-1879).  They were the parents of my 3rd great grandmother Elizabeth Taylor and grandparents of Elizabeth's daughter Rufina "Fina" Tomlinson (my biological grandmother Alta Mae Slater's paternal grandmother).

Of obscure origins in Maryland about 1808, Thomas lived somewhere in Pennsylvania before appearing in Cincinnati, Ohio records (where he married second wife Sarah in 1841), and near Bloomington, Illinois by 1850.  He and his family then moved to Iowa about 1854.

He is first found in Iowa in the 1854 Iowa state census in Crawford Township, Washington County, Iowa, and appears at the bottom of the county in this 1859 ownership map:

Map of Washington County, Iowa, 1859 (from the Iowa Counties Historic Atlases section of  Iowa Digital Library) , with arrow pointing to Thomas Taylor's area.

Detail of Thomas Taylor's land in Crawford Township.  His neighbors are also found in the 1860 Census.

They moved to Wapello County sometime between the 1860 Census and 1870 Census.

I found county histories for both Washington County (1880) and Wapello County (1878).

As Wapello County's terrain looked about 1878.  Thomas was in the eastern end of Richland Township.

Alas, nothing so vulgar as a birth date or place of birth for Thomas Taylor in this listing.

Info from the Agriculture 1870 Schedule
Name: Thomas Taylor
Location: Richland, Wapello, Iowa, USA
Enumeration Date: 22 Jun 1870
Schedule Type: Agriculture
OS Page: 3
Line Number: 13



80 acres improved land

$3200 present cash value of farm

$150 present cash value of farming implements and machinery

$15 total amount of wages paid during the year, including value of board

3 or 5? horses

2 milch cows

4 other cattle

13 swine

$470 value of all live stock

101 bushels of spring wheat

900 bushels of Indian corn

180 bushels of oats

350 pounds of butter

4 tons of hay

10 gallons of molasses

$30 value of animals slaughtered or sold for slaughter

$667 estimated value of all farm production, including betterments and additions to stock

Thomas Taylor 1870 closeup Antique Map Collection (HistoryGeo.com)

Thomas Taylor in Richmond 1870 from Antique Map Collection (HistoryGeo.com)

My view of part of the Wapello County map while using HistoryGeo.  Note the citation back to the LOC.  HistoryGeo provides an index to search for each map, as you can see in the blue high-lighted selection in the index box.  I have highlighted Richland Township, where Thomas Taylor lived, in yellow.

If you don't have HistoryGeo you can of course check out the same map at the Library of Congress.

Thomas does not show up in BLM General Land Office Records for Wapello County, as he came after the federal government was involved with the sale of land there, and the records would therefore be handled on the local level.




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