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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Portrait and Biographical Record of
Auglaize, Logan and Shelby Counties, Ohio
Publ.
Chicago: Chapman Bros.
1892.
O.
J. TAYLOR, one of the best known
and most successful business men of Sidney, has been
engaged in business in this city since 1854, and he is
not only popular in business, but in social circles as
well. His grandfather, Samuel Taylor, was
a native Virginian, but at an early date moved to
Champaign County, Ohio, near West Liberty, and entered
and bought in this county a large tract of Government
land, two miles west of Port Jefferson. He cleared
a small portion, erected a log cabin on this, and there
the family remained for many years. Mr. Taylor,
Sr., subsequently sold this farm and moved to
Sidney, where his death occurred.
Jason Taylor, father of our subject, was born in
Virginia, near Harper's Ferry, in 1801, and
remained there until 1824, when he moved with his
parents to the Buckeye State and settled in Sidney, when
there were but seven families there. He assisted
his father in clearing and developing the farm, but
afterward located in Sidney and was engaged in
merchandising for some time, thus obtaining a practical
knowledge of business at an early age. Later, he
embarked in the dry-goods business in New York, and
followed this for seventeen years in that city.
Returning to Ohio, he settled in Wapakoneta, engaged in
banking at that place, and there his death occurred in
1867. He married Miss Sarah Skillen,
a native of Pennsylvania, and the daughter of Judge
Skillen, of this State. Her death occurred
about seventeen years before that of her husband.
To this union were born nine children, four of whom are
living, as follows: Jane, Mrs. Jessup, of
La Porte, Lid.; O. J., of Sidney; William H.,
of Mansfield; and Aurelia, wife of Col. B. F.
Crawford, of Mansfield. The parents of these
children held membership for many years in the
Presbyterian Church, and the father was an old-line Whig
in politics. He was a great military man, was
general of the militia, and took great pride in its
organization.
O. J. Taylor was born in Sidney, Ohio, on the
26th of September, 1830, and here he received a good
education. After leaving the schoolroom, he
followed civil engineering for nearly four years,
accumulating in the meantime about $1,000. With
this he embarked in the hardware trade on his own
responsibility and first opened a store on Poplar
Street, afterward following business in the room that
the German American Bank now occupies. From there
he went into the Main Avenue Building in 1874, a fine
block, 50x122 feet, at the corner of Poplar Street and
Main Avenue, one of the best locations in the city, and
occupied the corner store, three stories high, the
second story being used for offices and the third floor
for the Masons' lodge. This store he has leased
for twenty years. He has erected a fine two-story
brick residence at No. 611 Main Avenue, and it is
surrounded with all the comforts of life.
Our subject selected his companion in life in the
person of Miss Sarah Harrison, of Sidney, and the
fruits of this union have been six children, of whom the
following are now living: Harry J.; Mrs. Mabel
Lyon; Jennie A., wife of J. E. Cummins,
of the Citizens' Bank, at Sidney; Willis B., of
Chicago; O. E., who is now attending school at
Terre Haute, Ind., and Charles J. The
mother of these children died suddenly in July, 1887,
after having retired. She was a member of the
Presbyterian Church, in which our subject also holds
membership, and he has been Treasurer in the same for
twenty-one years, having handled over $80,000 of the
church funds. His second marriage was to Miss
Helen C. Search, of Marion, Ohio, and a member of
the Sharpless family, of Pennsylvania, a very
prominent one
Source: Portrait and
Biographical Record of Auglaize, Logan and Shelby
Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Chapman Bros. 1892. -
Page 571 |
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