WILLIAM H. TAYLOR. The business men of Dalton City are well-known throughout
Moultrie and adjoining counties as worthy of high esteem on account of their thorough going
integrity, their active enterprise and their promptness in responding to the necessities of a business
life. They have brought forward the financial interests of Dalton and made the young town one of
mark in the county and throughout this portion of the State, and it is well for the rising generation
to study not only their methods but their characters, as they are worthy of emulation.
The lumber merchant whose name appears at the head of this writing, located in Dalton in 1881,
establishing the business which he has since conducted continuously. He was born in Wayne
County, Ill., May 23. 1853, being a son of Robert and Mahala (Hawk) Taylor, both natives of Ohio,
who settled in Wayne County in 1853 and are still residents there where the father is carrying on
a farm.
The subject of this sketch is the third in a family of seven living children, there being nine in
the number originally. He was reared upon the farm and educated in the district schools, and in
March, 1875, he went to Macon County and pursued farming until 1880, when he began work in a
lumber yard. In the fall of 1880 he came to Dalton City and took charge of the lumber business
for S. D. Moore, becoming in 1883 a partner in the business, and two years later assuming the proprietorship
and establishing also a trade in agricultural implements.
Mr. Taylor was married in January, 1881, to Anna Bottemfield, daughter of John and Maria Bottemfield,
of Macon County. Ill. Her nativity was in Ohio, January 30, 1857. She has two lovely and
interesting children, Edna Verne and Lynn. A number of local offices have been filled by Mr.
Taylor to the satisfaction and profit of the community. He is a Republican in his political ties
and an earnest advocate of the principles announced in the platform of that party. The Methodist
Episcopal Church forms the religions home in whose communion and labors Mr. Taylor chooses
to place himself.
Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties, 1891 - p. 353/354
Transcription copyright 2003/2007, Moultrie County ILGenWeb/USGenWeb
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