Edward Taylor - Edward Taylor, New Jersey immigrant, Quaker?

Started by Karl David Wright on Monday, April 20, 2020
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The popular story has Edward Taylor, of Monmouth County, New Jersey, a Quaker, emigrating to the New World in 1692 after the death of his brother Matthew Taylor in New York. It turns out that this story is false. Not only is Edward provably in New Jersey by 1684, but Matthew's will does not in fact mention Edward at all, despite what the authors of this popular tale have contrived. See Edward's profile overview, and:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Taylor-2794

And yet, the relationship with Matthew has not been adequately disproved, in my opinion. It would still be perfectly reasonable for there to be a filial relationship even if Edward in truth did not receive mention, and even if he arrived as early as 1677.

It's probably beyond our ability to find the truth of Edward's history in this small group. But I'd be very interested to put together what evidence we *do* have as to Edward's life story, starting with:

- when exactly did he arrive in New Jersey? With whom?
- did he marry in New Jersey? Ancestry thinks he did, but it seems once again to come from a genealogy book rather than records. Correct, or not?
- was he indeed a practicing Quaker? The fact that his sons all appeared to be of the Quaker faith would be a strong indication of that; is there evidence? It is noted that he himself avoided monthly meetings. True?

Tagging Erica Howton. Erica, please tag whoever else may make sense for this.

I attached two copies of Mathew Taylor's will to his profile. This one looks like it may be the original https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000131257414855& and this one is probably a later transcription (it is written on printed lined/ruled paper, which was not invented in 1688), https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000131257414857&

On both of them the brother mentioned in London is clearly Samuel. There is no way that Edward could be read from either of them as the names are quite clear.

Thanks, Tamas. I'm pretty sure everyone agrees that the story of the will is a fabrication designed to further a claim of a famous pedigree. But are there any other documents around that might lend insight into Edward's family origins?

That's why I asked if it could be confirmed whether or not he was a Quaker. It's odd to me that his sons all were practicing Quakers if he was not. And if he *was* a practicing Quaker, he would likely have shown up as such in England, one suspects.

Here's one tidbit. Edward was maybe a son of Robert Taylor, from Rhode Island. Robert bought the land, Edward settled it.

https://books.google.com/books?id=XqchvDnzm0wC&lpg=PR58&ots...

This might be the Robert Taylor so mentioned. If so, what do we know about him? He doesn't at first glance seem to have a son named Edward.

(Excuse me for the Ancestry link)

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/113217478/person/3...

Here he is in Geni; dates differ a bit. Robert Taylor

This is the article on the family quoted from at Wikitree. “Taylor of Monmouth NJ”

https://www.gengophers.com/bookreader/?pages=577&bookurl=%2Fapi...

What do Taylor Y DNA projects indicate?

Here’s the disproved origins article by Asher Taylor. It has the children born at England. I don’t see a connect to the Rhode Island Taylor’s as quoted in your link.

https://archive.org/details/jerseyman08deat/page/7/mode/1up

Ok, I was about to say that one of the daughters of Robert Taylor of Rhode Island supposedly married Yeamans Gillingham in Philadelphia:

https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-1-292339681-1-500280/mar...

The Gillinghams were prominent Quakers so that would fit stuff together.

Erica Howton, I think if Robert Taylor is Edward's father, then we've basically proved he's not a brother of Matthew, no? That's what I'm trying to show here, and why I'm going deep into Robert at the moment.

Taylor DNA project as follows:

https://www.familytreedna.com/public/taylorfamilygenes/default.aspx...

This ought to give enough information to disprove a link. Let me dig.

I’m not quite understanding how Edward is a likely child of Robert. Their stories and locations are quite different. At this era in N.J. there were many direct immigrants from England: the out migration from other American colonies was a bit later and in specific towns. And my own tree migration flow through New Jersey was from New Amsterdam/ New Netherland / New York, not from RI. Have you established that Edward was Quaker? More came from the North of England (Cheshire, Yorkshire ...) and arrived as Quakers. Quakers converted here in the generations after immigration seemed more from the West and South of England.

Yup, link disproved, assuming Matthew Taylor is a direct male-line relation to the Virginia Taylors:

Edward Taylor d. 1710:

G-M201 x 2, G-M3302 (same group)

Virginia Taylors (related to the London Taylors):

I-M253
E-M35

Erica Howton

'have you established that Edward was a Quaker' A: No. All I've been able to show for sure is that *ALL* of his sons were. What does that mean? Dunno, but seems like he at least leaned that way.

'I’m not quite understanding how Edward is a likely child of Robert. Their stories and locations are quite different.' Indeed they are. However, Robert apparently got around: he signed the land deal with the Indians in 1667 apparently for parts of New Jersey, and I thought I read that he did surveying work too. If web trees can be believed one of his daughters may have married in Philadelphia. I'm still digging into him but suffice it to say that a 1667 land deal would have been JUST about the time Edward married Catherine. Coincidence?

It's possible, of course, that we've got the wrong Robert. If so that's interesting too.

May I mention how very common the name Taylor is? :). Yes, absolutely coincidental. 1667 is already late.

FWIW, DNA seemingly disproves the Robert Taylor of Rhode Island parentage idea too - at least if I interpret the Geni groups correctly associated with him.

Erica Howton Taylor? Common??? Come now. ;-)

The DNA grouping is actually quite distinctively different for descendants of Edward than any other American Taylor. So he's unique and is not a male relative of anyone else we've been talking about.

I'll update his overview with this information. Can somebody with curator privs change his place of birth? Fields are locked.

Which group for Robert? I see Edward quite easily. Was re reading the Salters link.

Another point made about Edward was that he arrived with money & education. (Is that proven?) Robert emigrated 1646 • Massachusetts - would his kids have been educated to that level?

Fields unlocked. What would you like for a curator note update? And be sure and add the reference links to profile. This is good work.

Re: Robert: it's the standard pretty-much-everyone-in-Europe group. Just go to his Geni profile.

This is what I put in Edward's profile:

Matthew Taylor was a direct-line male relative of many of the Taylors who settled Virginia. So what does DNA say about any relationship between Virginia Taylors and Edward Taylor, d. 1710?

Edward's direct male descendants have the following closely-related groups:

G-M201
G-M3302
Descendants of the Virginia Taylors, on the other hand, are quite different:

I-M253
E-M35
In fact, Edward's Y-DNA is pretty much unique among Taylors who settled North America. The only other place it is found seems to be in Wales. This argues strongly that Edward had a Welsh origin. See:

https://www.familytreedna.com/public/taylorfamilygenes/default.aspx...

Re: Curator note update: should say "Link to Matthew Taylor, d. 1688 in New York, disproved"

One thing about pointing to Welsh origin is that by 1649 Welsh were well-settled in England, especially London - a likely embarkment site. Particularly for picking up a wife from Isle of Jersey. I’m not sure how substantial direct-from-Wales was in NJ at this point, but earlier ones in New England were commented on in contemporary records. The genealogist Asher Taylor was sure Edward was an Englishman.

ok, will revise

Revision made. Sorry for the delay, got very busy.

No worries. Locked fields and relationships.

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