The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-07-24
Biographical Sketches.
Col. 4. ID. Taylor, Of Ottawa.

business man at La Sale. afterwards living
at Mendoza and now enjoying the serene
hours of the evening of his life in Ottawa,
has left record of far more than usual in
terest behind him-one we'll worthy of emu.
lation and imitation by young men While
many citizens of La Sale county have won
a reputation which extends beyond her Dor
ders, mainly as residents of their county,
unlike them, Col Taylor long ago achieved
distinction in public life as citizen of the
state of Illinois. Reference to the records
at Springfield, some of which were made at
Vandali,, abundsntly prove that the Colonel
was an active and indefatigable worker in
the legislature in behalf of the great public
Institutions which have added so much to
the glory of our state. He was not merely
a laborer on the right side Of every public
interest, but an organizer and leader, and
for years power IN the land Col Taylor
is a scion Of old yirgia stock. His father,
Giles Taylor, and his mother, Sinai Stokes,
were born in that state, Of European origin,
belonging to that class Of liberty loving peo-
ple who could not and would not bear the
yoke Of tyrrany in the old country; and so,
for the sake Of free religion, free homes and
independence, abandoned the old world and
came hither to become the parents of pa
triols. Col Dick, the subject of our sketch,
was born October 18th, 1904, at Luasnburgh
Court House, Va, whick place is about GO
miles from Richmond. In 1907 or 3 his
parents, together with little Dick, moved to
Lexington, Ky, and thence. two or three
years afterwards, to Hopkinsville, Green
River, in the same state. About this time
southern Illinois had begun to fill up with
immigrants, especially from Kentucky. Her
extensive fertile prairies and evidences Of an
abundance of coal and salt springs at Ohio,
Saline; aud other inducements furnished in
vitation to immigration which the dense for.
ests of Kentucky could not overcome. The diff.
ference between prairie farm, already clear
ed by nature, and wilderness of trees to be
removed by slow and ex hsustive labor. was an
argument of irresistible force in favor of the
Sucker State" Mr.. Taylor removed once
Uore and settled in. Shawneetewn, ILL.,, in
April. 1914, He engaged in manufacturing
salt near that village. Being in rather limit
ed circumstances, he could not give his boy
,,f oc al nth ar hon
what was affored by the common schools,
and they were commonly very poor ones at
that. When Dick was about IL or IS, being
of an adventurous disposition and withsl
endowed with the spirit Of speculation, a
gentleman named Timothy Girard, who
rightly estimated young Taylors business
capacity, entered into partnership with him,
furnishing all the capital against the youths
skill-to We acquired-and his labor The
business was to buy goods and sell them to
the Indians, who were located hundreds of
miles away, near the apper waters Of White
and Arkansas rivers, which for some dis.
lance run parallel with each other. Equip
ped with varied assortm At Of such goods
rs the red men and dusky squaws prefer,
our Dick embarked in boats or packed on
mules, or carried as best he could, his wares
to that far off market, going hither in the
fall and returning in the spring, for three
successive years. He cleare about $4,000
in this enterprise The business, though
remunerative, was one of great uncertainty
and extreme danger. The country was a
vast swamp, fall Of venonous reptiles,
9 warming with musquitos and gnats, ague
and malaria, poison flle1 the air. and the
Indians, though peaceful, were linda still,
so that it was life full Of death. With his
$1,000 he thought he had enough to make
"start' in life. He went to Springfield in
1928 and entered into partnership with his
cousin, John Taylor, who was engaged in
general merchandising. Young Taylor was
an ardent democrat aud had already shown
much skill In caucuses, small meetings and |
the like. He was fair speaker, always
positive and pointed, and had already &C
CURED local reputation as debeter. In
1880 he was elected to the house Of repre-
sentatives, and took his seat at Vandalia,
then the capital Of the state. John Reynolds
was governor. The senate consisted Of &c
and the house of 55 members. He was re-
elected in 1892, and went to the senate in
1884, serving till 1887. During his legisla-
tive career there was much important legis-
la,ion. The canal question came up in 1927,
and for several sessions caused fearful
commotion. The population Of the state then
was almost entirely at the extreme south,
and for years Springfield was an unknown
point, somewhere towards the arctic circle,
though Galena had some name, and as lead
mining region as dimly known down in
Egypt" as the southern extremity of Illinois
was called, as old Kamskatka is to US in this
day and generation. Chicago was lowering
between myth and q possibility The
"solid south" of this state was almost a
unit in opposition TO the Glitch" from Chi.
cago, or "Skunk Swamp" on Lake Michi-