Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Use Restrictions

No physical characteristics affect use of this material.

Preferred Citation

Portraits of Yardley and Hannah Taylor n.d. (VC 0106), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Lee Lawrence, Lincoln VA

Alternative Form Available

Electronic media

Accruals

2019.0058

Processing Information

Laura Christiansen, 30 July 2019

Biographical Information

Yardley Taylor (1794-1868), son of Bernard Taylor (1771-1848) and Sarah Smith (1769-1862) married Hannah Brown (1792-1880) in 1818 and had eight children. The Taylors lived in Goose Creek, now known as Lincoln, and, like many of their neighbors were members of the Society of Friends. Along with being a prominent member of the Quaker community, Taylor was a surveyor, mapmaker, letter carrier, nurseryman, and outspoken abolitionist. He was rumored to have helped several slaves escape Virginia, in violation of fugitive slave laws, and in 1824 served as the first president of the Loudoun Manumission and Emigration Society. His vocal opposition to slavery led one Loudoun County resident to publish a broadside against him, calling him the "chief of the abolitionist clan in Loudoun" and denouncing his anti-slavery actions as "Monstrous!"

Taylor is best known for his work as a surveyor and mapmaker. In 1853, he published a "Map of Loudoun County, Virginia, from Actual Surveys" and an accompanying Memoir of Loudoun County Virginia. The map identifies landowners, mills, and places of worship in addition to mapping watercourses and roads. Taylor's Memoir describes in great detail the physical features of Loudoun County, the value of its land and products, and comments at length about its population.

Many of the children of Yardley Taylor and Hannah Brown Taylor remained in Loudoun County and are buried at Goose Creek Burial Ground.

Scope and Content

Collection consists of 3 photographs; two reproducing daguerreotype portraits identified as Yardley Taylor and Hannah Brown Taylor, and a third reproducing an accompanying note identifying the portraits. Images and note are not dated. The original daguerreotype images were sold at auction in Pennsylvania and later purchased by Lee Lawrence. The original daguerreotypes and note remain in her collection.

Arrangement

Item

Related Material

Yardley Taylor Surveying Book, 1832-1884 (M 036), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA; Taylor Family Tree, 1851 (OM 016), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA; Yardley Taylor Map, 1853, Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA; Memoir of Loudoun County, Virginia. To Accompany the Map of Loudoun County, by Yardley Taylor, Leesburg, VA: T. Reynolds, 1853 (V REF 975.528 TAY)

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

Account of the Sale of Yardley Taylor's Estate, Loudoun County Will Book 2V, page 125.

Ancestry Library Edition. US Census. www.ancestrylibrary.com (accessed 6 January, 2012).

Chamberlin, Taylor and John M. Souders. Between Reb and Yank: A Civil War History of Northern Loudoun County, Virginia. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2011.

Janney, Asa Moore. Ye Meetg Hous Smal: A Short Account of Friends in Loudoun County, Virginia 1732-1980. Lincoln, VA: the author, 1980.

Lawrence, Lee. "Yardley Taylor." Nest of Abolitionsts. https://lincolnquakers.com/yardley-taylor/ (accessed 30 July 2019).

Lawrence, Lee. "Yardley Taylor in newly revealed daguerreotype and: is this Hannah Taylor?." Nest of Abolitionsts https://lincolnquakers.com/2019/01/09/yardley-taylor-in-newly-revealed-daguerreotype-and-is-this-hannah-taylor/ (accessed 30 July 2019).

Poland, Charles P. From Frontier to Suburbia: Loudoun County, Virginia: One of America's Fastest Growing Counties. Westminster: MD: Heritage Books, 2005.

Taylor Family Papers, 1817-1872 (SC 0097), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Taylor Family Tree, 1851 (OM 16), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Taylor, Yardley. Memoir of Loudoun County, Virginia. To Accompany the Map of Loudoun County. Leesburg, VA: T. Reynolds, 1853.

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Other Finding Aid

Past Perfect catalogue records

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Technical Requirements

None