William Irvine Taylor

  General Notes:

Kathy O'Hara (nee Taylor) writes:
Matthew Alben Taylor was born June 2, 1881 to William Taylor and Elizabeth Braught in Halifax, Dauphin, Pennsylvania
Matthew was educated at the local schools and on Sept 2, 1861 he enlisted in the U. S. Army at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as a Corporal. He was discharged from Company D 46th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry as a Sergeant in Atlanta, Georgia on Sept 12, 1864.
Info I obtained through a cousin indicates that Matthew served as a Union soldier in the Battle of Cedar Mountain, Virginia , where he received a serious gunshot wound that hospitalized him for 8 months, after which he returned to duty. He returned to duty in time to fight in Chancellorsville , Virginia in May 1863 and then on to fight at Gettysburg where he was again wounded, but apparently not seriously. Then the Company joined in Sherman's march through Georgia and the siege of Atlanta. Where he apparently remained until his discharge in September of 1864.
Following the war Matthew returned to Halifax, Dauphin, Pennsylvania where he married Mary Ann Lebo Oct. 12, 1865. (info from our family Bible). Sometime between 1865 and 1870 Matthew's family and his brother George Washington Taylor and possibly brother Hiram Webster moved to Squaw, Warren, Iowa. Matthew remained in Warren County Iowa until his death. Following the death of Mary Ann in 1910, Matthew moved in with his daughter and her husband Rebecca Taylor and James Garrison. He then moved between Rebecca's home and another daughter's Ada Taylor and Lloyd Reed's home. He was at Ada Reed's home when he died Dec 21 1926.

Although I have no photos of him, Matthew's brother George Washington Taylor was born July, 1843 in Halifax and enlisted prior to Matthew. George enlisted May 18 1861 and was attached to the 200 Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Company B CW as a private. He was wounded in the head in the Battle of City Point in March and was discharged at Alexandria Virginia May 25, 1865. He married Louise Margaret Hatfield in 1866 and in April 1866 bought land in Squaw Township, Warren County, Iowa. Either Louise or George is supposed to have (family legend) had two brothers "starve to death in Andersonville Prison". So far I have found that Louise had two brothers die in during the war: Alfred Hatfield who died at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Anne Arundal, Maryland, while in Company K 12th Cavalry Regiment Pennsylvania. John Hatfield died in the Confederate Salisbury Prison, Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina. He was a Private in Company D, 107th Pennsylvania Infantry. During the war Louise only had one other living brother and I have been unable to trace him so far. As for George's brothers....none of them died during the war. So , although I have continued to see this info posted to various family trees (the Andersonville story) I suspect that in fact the two brothers are Alfred and John Hatfield and the Andersonville part was just the typical evolution of word-of-mouth info.

William married Anne Caroline Arnold. (Anne Caroline Arnold was born in 1854 and died in 1911.)