New-York tribune., 1902-05-20

DEATH OF BISHOP TAYLOR.
CALLED THE "NEsToR OF AMERICAN
METHODISM"

Bishop William Taylor. whose death at Palo Alto.
Cal. was briefly reported in The Tribune yester-
day, called the Nestor of American Method
ism" He had the distinction Of doing more i'm
pOrtant missionary work in distant fields than per-
haps any other man of his generation. He the
first Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church. having been elected in 1854 and until
recently he was actively engaged in his great work
in Central Africa. where with a corps of seventy
missionaries he established forty mission stations
in the Congo region and along the west coast He
was regarded as man of great executive ability
and intense zeal and was ranked among the great
est missionaries of the nineteenth century.
Bishop Taylor born i'm ROckbridge County,
Va May 3 1921. His grandfather came from
Ireland to this country i'm 1860. and with his four
brothers fought in the Revolutionary War His
father farmer and a currier of hides The
son spent his early years at farm work and
tended field school When he became of age he
began preach. having been converted in a Meth
odist revival The Baltimore Conference received
him trial in March 1913. and he regularly
ordained a circuit rider after he had pursued
the conference studies largely from books
red in his saddlehags. He in the itinerant
ministry in the East until 1919, when he sent
with the throng of gold seekers to California to
engage i'm missionary work. After years there
he went to Canada. where he was engaged in evan
geistic work until 1861 He returned to the North
Atlantic States the outbreak OF the Civil War
but in 1862 he went to Europe to engage in mis-
sionary work in Great Britain. meeting with much
success for seven months, and then going 10 the
Continent and to Egypt and the Holy Land. From
1865 10 1866 he in the antpOdes conducting
missionary enterprises In Australia Tasmania and
New-Zeaand. He then went to South Africa,
where by his labOrS many Kafirs induced
embrace Christianity He established successful
missions in Natal Cape Colony the TransvaaI and
the Orange River Colony. In 1861 he returned TO
London, where he conducted evangestic work in
many Wesleyan Methodist churches. In 1870 he
worked in the West Indies. and afterward
turned to Australia and also to CeylOn. In
1872 he began his great work in India which
suited in establishing many self-suppOrting mis-
sions. In 1873 he took charge of Methodist work
in Central and South America. establishing mis-
SlonS in Brazil Chilli. Peru Colombia. Costa RiCa.
Nicaragua and British Guiana.
The Methodist Episcopal General Conference in
1874 elected him Missionary Bishop and assigned
his field the Dark Continent. where he had already
tabllshed self-supportng missions in the Congo
Free State For twelve years. with the exception
of few months in 1883. he devoted himself this
crownng labor of his life, and when, by reason of
his advanced age of SeVenty-five years. in 1895
he was retired from active work he protested that
he was still able to preach and labor in the vine
yard OF the Lord.
Bishop Taylor was a man of large physique. with
long. full flowing beard. which after whitened
gave him a patriarchal appearance He the
author of many books published by the Method
tst Book Concern. among which these: Seven
Years of Street Preaching in San Francisco"
California Life Illustrated" The Model Preach
err Infancy and Manhood of Christian Life
Christian Adventures in South Africa -Four
Years Campaign in India our South American
Cousins Ten Years of SeIf-Supporting Missions
in InGa." Pauline Methods OF Missionary Work"
The Flaming Torch in Darkest Africa" and The
Story of My Life"