Portraits of Yardley and Hannah Taylor n.d.

Access and use

Location of collection:
Thomas Balch Library
Thomas Balch Library
208 West Market Street
Leesburg, Virginia 20176
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Alexandra S. Gressitt
Phone: (703) 737-7195
Fax: (703) 737-7195

Summary

Extent:
3 items
Creator:
Lee Lawrence
Abstract:
Collection consists of 3 photographs; two reproducing daguerreotype portraits identified as Yardley Taylor and Hannah Brown Taylor, and a third reproducing an accompanying note identifying the portraits. Images and note are not dated. The original daguerreotype images were sold at auction in Pennsylvania and later purchased by Lee Lawrence. The original daguerreotypes and note remain in her collection.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of 3 photographs; two reproducing daguerreotype portraits identified as Yardley Taylor and Hannah Brown Taylor, and a third reproducing an accompanying note identifying the portraits. Images and note are not dated. The original daguerreotype images were sold at auction in Pennsylvania and later purchased by Lee Lawrence. The original daguerreotypes and note remain in her collection.

Biographical / historical:

Yardley Taylor (1794-1868), son of Bernard Taylor (1771-1848) and Sarah Smith (1769-1862) married Hannah Brown (1792-1880) in 1818 and had eight children. The Taylors lived in Goose Creek, now known as Lincoln, and, like many of their neighbors were members of the Society of Friends. Along with being a prominent member of the Quaker community, Taylor was a surveyor, mapmaker, letter carrier, nurseryman, and outspoken abolitionist. He was rumored to have helped several slaves escape Virginia, in violation of fugitive slave laws, and in 1824 served as the first president of the Loudoun Manumission and Emigration Society. His vocal opposition to slavery led one Loudoun County resident to publish a broadside against him, calling him the "chief of the abolitionist clan in Loudoun" and denouncing his anti-slavery actions as "Monstrous!"

Taylor is best known for his work as a surveyor and mapmaker. In 1853, he published a "Map of Loudoun County, Virginia, from Actual Surveys" and an accompanying Memoir of Loudoun County Virginia. The map identifies landowners, mills, and places of worship in addition to mapping watercourses and roads. Taylor's Memoir describes in great detail the physical features of Loudoun County, the value of its land and products, and comments at length about its population.

Many of the children of Yardley Taylor and Hannah Brown Taylor remained in Loudoun County and are buried at Goose Creek Burial Ground.

Acquisition information:
Lee Lawrence, Lincoln VA
Arrangement:

Item

Physical description:
.