The Taylor Branch
 

With a supplement written by Rev. B.S. Taylor Brought down to Oct. 1892 self-published.
 

To promote the building of a church at Willsboro Falls he acted as Building Committee, collecting subscriptions, letting contracts, hiring men, and working on the belfry when he could not get men to go in the cold weather. The Church was completed, dedicated by J.T. Peck, and many souls saved in it before Conference. At the dedication he had a visit ever memorable, from his mother and nephew, William E. Taylor. At the conference held in Albany, N.Y., in the spring of 1847 he was appointed to Isle La Mott, VT. Here a fine stone Church had been erected and enclosed but stood unfinished with a debt of about $400.00 upon it. By advice of the Preacher's Meeting of the
District, he undertook to pay off the debt and complete the church. Enough to pay the debt was  raised on the Island and he visited the principal charges of the district and raised enough to complete the church. It was while collecting the materials to finish off this church that the incident occurred, which was described by Rev. Ward Bullard, then laboring on Grand Isle, Vt., in the "Christian Advocate." and copied in "Stevens' History of American Methodism" and "Park's Troy Conference Miscellanies," as follows: "Rev. H. B. Taylor, one of our faithful itinerants, while laboring upon those Islands, was subjected to a severe trial. Like the Apostle of old he was a night and a day in the deep. He was crossing to the Isle La Motte in December, 1847, with two other men on a scow loaded with lumber for a new church. The wind capsized the scow and the falling snow prevented their being seen, while the roar of the waters hindered them from being heard. They secured a few pieces of their lumber on which they sat, or lay, and held on to the edge of the boat while the waves were breaking over them. Far away from the shore, a watery grave seemed inevitable. The capsizing took place about four o'clock in the afternoon, and the boat, by drifting reached the shore about three o'clock the next morning. After being eleven hours in the water, they gained the land in so chilled, frozen and exhausted a state that they could not stand. By locking arms and bracing against each other they managed to get to a house near by and aroused the  inmates. Bro. Taylor was at this time engaged in transporting lumber for a church that he was building. He had the privilege, too, of preaching                              faith to his two companions, who were irreligious and who expected to perish." After the dedication of the church, aided by Rev. S. D. Brown, he held a few days meetings; several were converted and added to the church. At the Conference held in Troy, May, 1848, he was moved by the appeals of his old principal and friend, Jesse T. Peck, to consent to act as traveling agent for Troy Conference Academy and conjointly with Dr. Peck to raise about $25,000 to pay its debts. While laboring on Burlington district in this work he received word that Dr. Peck had left to become President of Dickinson College, the trustees had been sued and the plan abandoned. For the remainder                               of the year he was employed in collecting up old subscription bills, etc., for Troy Conference Academy. February 1, 1849, he was married to Miss Julia M. Shedden, daughter of B.W. Shedden and Esther Rood, at Mooers, N.Y. At the conference held at Sandy Hill, May, 1849, the trustees asked his re-appointed him to Pleasant Valley in Albany District. After conference the trustees felt the need of his services so greatly that they induced Rev. J. Lindsey, Presiding Elder of his district to release him from his charge, and he went to Poultney and began housekeeping. The year was on of great labor involving constant travel over the whole extent of the conference to collect funds, get agreements with creditors, etc. By selling part of the real estate belonging to them, collecting up old accounts, subscriptions, etc., the long standing and crushing debts of the Institute were provided for, and at the conference of 1850 the Academy was pronounced out of debt. November 26 of this year, his eldest son, Bushrod Shedden, was born in West Poultney, VT. At Conference of 1850 he was appointed to Warren circuit, embracing the towns of Caldwell, Bolton, Warrensburg, Chester, Horicon and Athol, and Edward N. Howe was employed as his colleague. At that Conference he was elected and ordained an Elder, and presented a series of resolutions for taking Missionary Collection, which were adopted and formed the basis of the plan of the Discipline (see minutes of the Conference). At the Conference of 1851, held at North Adams, Mass., he was returned to Warren Circuit with H. H. Smith as colleague. From the seat of Conference he took a trip to Illinois on a visit to his sister, Jane J. Davis. Went by railroad to Buffalo, steamer to Detroit, rail to Michigan City, and steamer to Chicago, by canal boat to Laselle, Ill., then by steamer down Illinois River and the Mississippi River to Alton, Ill. There he hired a horse and drove out to the home of his sister, on the open prairie near Stanton, Ill. He took a land warrant for his brother-in-law to use in paying for his farm. After a short visit he returned by stage via Springfield, Ill., Indianapolis, Ind., to Dayton, O., where he took the Cincinnati and Cleveland R. R. to Lake Erie, the steamer to Buffalo, and through Lake Ontario to Ogdensburgh, thence by rail to Mooers, where wife and baby had been visiting. At the first quarterly Conference of the year he was put in charge of Johnsburg charge, and Lathrop Burge was employed as a supply. George S. Brown, a colored man who had been missionary to Liberia, was received by him into the church, Licensed to exhort and preach, and assisted him greatly in revival work. About 180 were added to the church. Large collections were taken for missions, two new churches dedicated, a new parsonage built at Johnsburg, and church and parsonage rebuilt at Warrensburg in those two years. At the Conference he was arraigned by his Presiding Elder, S. Washburn, for mal-administration of Discipline in receiving a man who had been expelled
on another charge. Fortified with a letter from E. Hedding, oldest Bishop of the church, he was after a trial in open Conference, acquitted by a nearly unanimous vote. He was then sent to Berkshire Circuit, with residence at Montgomery, Vt., and had to preach in Montgomery, Richford, Berkshire and Enosburg. His second son, William Uberto, was born at Mooers,  June 12, about the time of Conference. In that summer his nephew, William E. Taylor, died at his father's house at Pike's River, P. Q. In the fall, Rev. John Newman, the financial agent of the Troy Conference Academy, visited him at Montgomery with an invitation from the trustees to take charge of the financial affairs of the institution. This he accepted and moved about the first of December, 1852, to Poultney, and took charge as steward and financial agent, Rev. Jason F. Walker being principal. The Academy had again become involved, and it was thought he could work it out of its embarrassment. But Mr. Walker proved to be very impracticable and extravagant, and such difficulties arose about some things that the trustees were appealed to, but sustained the steward. His father and mother came to live with him in the Academy, and in the summer of 1853 his father died and was buried in the cemetery at Poultney. After the opening of the fall term in 1853, a terrible epidemic broke out in the Academy, several pupils died, many were sick, and the school was nearly destroyed, Mr. Walker made a proposition to the trustees to lease the Academy, and in consideration of the small number of pupils and the loss involved in maintaining a full faculty with Steward, etc., they accepted his offer, and Henry B. moved into a house in the village and devoted his time to collecting debts due the Academy, settlement of claims, etc.
etc. At that time great schools on the joint stock plan were exciting much attention and he visited Joseph E. King at Newbury, Vt., in the fall of 1853, and consulted him about taking a permanent lease of Troy Conference Academy, enlarging and improving it. But the neglect of Vermont to aid her Academies  was a great drawback, and Prof. King much preferred going to New York State, where the Academies had aid from the literature fund; so Pro. King made an engagement with an academy at Fort Plain, N.Y. In the winter Henry B. went to Richmondville and Charlotteville, in Schoharie County, N.Y. and was greatly impressed with the possibilities of such mammoth schools to use organized labor, with steam power and machinery in the boarding department and of large classed in all branches in the departments of instruction. Having been informed that the people at Fort Edward, N.Y., wished to established such a school at that place, he went to Fort Plain and laid plans of a building to accommodate about 500 boarding pupils before Prof. King. The plans impressed the Professor as better than any building known to him, and an agreement was made to seek a place for the erection of such a building. Prof. King agreed to see and
correspond with parties in western New York, and Henry B. was to see the people at Fort Edward. The way did not open into western New York, being blocked by the obligation of the Conferences to the Academy at Lim, N.Y. Henry B. found George Harvey of Fort Edward ready to take prompt action, and in a day an arrangement was made with the leading men  to call a public meeting and organize a company to build a mammoth Seminary. The meeting was held, addressed by Prof. King and H. B. Taylor, a subscription started, and about $12,000 subscribed.
An organization was effected the next day, trustees appointed and a contract made for the building to be erected December 1, following, and leased to King and Taylor for a term of ten years. Henry B. was employed to make plans, obtain subscriptions, collect funds and to oversee the construction of the buildings, buying furniture, etc. George Harvey was resident agent. It was a stupendous undertaking. To erect a brick building 300 feet long, 40 feet
deep, five stories high, with a wing 40x130, wash-house, barn, etc. Removing his family to a house in the village, Henry B. gave every hour to the work. He visited the Conference at Montreal, P.Q., and enlisted the members in the enterprise, raising some stock. It was soon found that he was required at the site to give direction to the building; and in its erection he could literally say he saw and tested every stick of timber in that vast building.
It was so far competed that it was opened as advertised, Dec. 7, 1854, with over 500 pupils in the boarding
department. Jan. 1, 1855, his third son, Henry Lewis, was born in the Institute. Until the summer of 1858 he remained in the Institute as "Financial Agent and Librarian." The school was larger the second year than the first, having over 550 boarders at the opening of the winter term. During the time he was in the Institute he furnished
plans for a State Agricultural College at Ovid, N.Y., for which he was paid the second prize of $100. He also went on invitation to Aurora, Ill., and furnished plans for Clark Seminary (now "Jennings,") a beautiful stone structure built at that place. During 1855-6, his mother lived in the Institute with him. In the summer of 1856 she was visiting old friends and relatives at Milton, Vt., when she sickened and died at the home of T.P. Phelps, Aug 5, 1856, and was buried in West Milton cemetery. In the fall Henry B. took an active part in the canvass for Fremont and Dayton, having a large map in colors to illustrate the conflict between slavery and freedom, and spoke in several towns in Washington and Warren counties. In the summer of 1858, he arranged with his partner to
leave his interest in the Institute lease, and went to Rockford, Ill., expecting to aid in building a large Seminary there. But, after the plans, contracts, etc., were well matured, the men of means among the Trustees refused to sign the bonds and the whole thing fell through. He then went to the seat of the Southern Illinois Conference, was admitted to it on certificate of location, and appointed to Jerseyville, Ill. His family, who had been visiting at Mooers, joined him and a happy, prosperous year was passed in that place. In the fall, "Jennie Love," 19 months old-- born in Fort Edward Institute, _ was taken home to Jesus. At the solicitation of R.F. Weston, he went to Lewiston, Ill., and entered into an engagement to take charge of Lewiston Seminary, which was to be enlarged and
controlled by him for ten years. A large farm was bought and laid off into lots, which Mr. Weston was to sell. L.F. Ross was joined in the enterprise to furnish needed capital. Believing it to be a good chance to build up a large and useful Seminary, Henry B. moved up across the country in the fall of 1859 and opened the school with a --appetent faculty. But it proved an ill-starred enterprise, several things conspiring to make it a disastrous failure. A railroad, nearly completed, which was relied upon to make the lots valuable, hung fire; and the rebellion, succeeding the election of Lincoln in 1860, with the low condition of schools in that part of the State, made success impossible.
He struggled through three years, then gave up in despair. All the means realized by selling his interest in Fort Edward, all his savings and patrimony were swallowed up and lost in that misadventure and he was heavily in debt. Charles Frederick and Carrie May were born in that Seminary. In the fall of 1861 he was called east to give testimony in a law suit about Fort Edward Institute matters, and visited Mooers and Pike River. Returning, he was invited by Capt. Frank Palmer, of the 16th N.Y. Vols., to go to the front and apply for the Chaplaincy of that regiment. He visited the regiment at Fort Lyon, near Alexandria, Va., and other camps but found no opening. Returning to Chicago, he visited the camp of the 55th Ill., where he met many friends. After reaching home at Lewiston, he heard that he had been appointed Quarter-master of the 55th, but all the efforts of his friends to notify him of the appointment had failed in a most singular manner. He then spent several weeks in raising recruits for the 56th Illinois, but on arriving in camp, found the regiment filled by consolidation with another, and so failed to get work in the army. In the summer of 1862 he was engaged to take charge of the public school at Greenville, Ill., and to serve as Pastor of the M. E. Church. He then moved down across the country and the family stopped at the farm until some repairs could be made on the parsonage. All but Henry L. were very sick with the fever and ague, so he hired a house, and removed to Greenville when all recovered. At the end of the year he was re-engaged, and Mrs. Taylor went to Mooers, N.Y., for a visit. Soon after her return he went with B.S. and W.U. one Saturday to gather some fruit at an orchard in Dudleyville, and there met with the terrible disaster of his life. Stepping from the wagon box to a limb of a tree to pick fruit, the limb broke, he fell a few feet to the ground, and his spine was permanently injured. On trying to rise he was pierced with dreadful pains and could not sit up. Who can describe the agony of that hour? Conscious of a terrible hurt, with the possibility of a life of helpless dependence before him, the thought of his family dependent on him for support, filled him with darkness and dismay. But soon the thought of Him in whom he had long believed and trusted, brought cheer and comfort to his heart. With great difficulty he was carried to his home and for several days lay helpless and unable to lift his head or move his lower extremities. The terrible conviction was growing in his mind that he should never sit up or stand again, when one night, while his brother, Moses T. Davis, was watching with him, he was overwhelmed with joy to find that he could move one of his legs. Soon he was able to sit up, and in about two months to walk a little on crutches. After New Year's holiday, he resumed teaching in the Graded School and preaching in his Sabbath appointments, which he continued till the end of the school and conference year. Slowly the conviction became fixed in the minds of his friends that he would never be able to do effective work again in school or church, so on a cordial urgent invitation from his father-in-law, B.W. Shedden, to come to Mooers and have a home with him, he sold his farm and, by a public auction his personal effects, and came East, arriving in Mooers, Oct. 1, 1864. Supplement to the personal memories of H.B. Taylor, by Bushrod Shedden Taylor, his eldest son, written November 26, 1889: The past twenty-five years of father's life have been marked by few events of interest, and there is little I can add ofimportance to this record as matter of history. After his removal to the old homestead in Mooers, New York, his life has been one of constant trial and suffering, and yet of constant victory and joy by reason of the abundant grace given him by the Saviour. To the children who have grown up and graduated, married and gone out into the world, his life has been a constant and living testimony to the sustaining grace of God. He has lived to see his family of children grown to maturity, and has been able to render them valuable assistance in education and religious instruction. Expecting to be dependent upon his relatives, he has nevertheless, by the good providence of God been able to support his family and assist his relatives; being of help to others on  whom he had expected to be a dependent. One of the providential lessons of these 25 afflictive years, has been the manifest calling of God to the work of "Pensions and Claims" for the soldiers of the late war. Not permitted by the providence of God to enter the army, it has been the evident will of God that he should be one of the chief factors and promoters of the liberal policy of the government toward the survivors and the wounded of the army that conquered the Rebellion. The great disaster of his life has been overruled for good to thousands who met with sad disaster on the battle-fields which he was not permitted to enter. Immediately on the close of the war in 1865, he began to prosecute claims for bounty, back-pay and pensions. He inaugurated a wide system of advertising his pension business, and by reason of the very helplessness of his physical condition-being for 25 years almost a total cripple- he has been accustomed to take up and complete cases abandoned by the other pension attorneys. By diligent use of the records of the war and Pension Office, by patient correspondence and wide advertising, he has developed an extensive business. Thousands of needy widows, orphans and wounded veterans will be forever grateful that he was afflicted for their comfort and wounded for their healing. For there is no doubt that some features of the present liberal system of pension laws are the result of his efforts before Congress and the pension office. No doubt hundreds of needy and destitute pension"cases" will rise up to call him blessed for the relief his labors and patience and care have brought them. Who otherwise would never have received their just rewards of the comforts which their valor on the field of battle deserved. For it has been the practice of his official life to take hold of all just "cased," no matter how intricate, difficult and wanting in evidence, without a retaining fee or guarantee of costs, beyond legal and equitable expenses. The cheerful, happy, Christian experience which he has enjoyed and manifested to the world during all these painful years of affliction, has been an inspiration to the church and to his family and affords a remarkable instance of daily answer to prayers, and of continued fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. The narration of these providential and spiritual victories for the past twenty-five years would make a volume of precious and inspiring biography, setting forth in an age of skepticism the direct and daily answers to prayer which Cod gives to his faithful and obedient servants. His life has been a constant victory over the Satanic temptations to murmur against God; and his joyful expressions of praise in the midst of fiery trials and grievous physical pain has been a standing rebuke to the wicked, the worldly and the unholy, who would fain deny the truths and comforts of the glorious gospel of the blessed Jesus. His ways have been the ways of wisdom, peace and joy in God. All his children, seeing the beauty of holiness and the light of life on his pathway, have followed his steps and are walking useful and active Christians. Their children are filling his later years with the sunshine of childish mirth. The evidence of all who have the inner life of this man of God has been a glorious testimony to the supporting grace of God in the midst of great trials. He has been a modern example of Job. "Though He slay me yet will I trust him," has been his glowing testimony to the grace of God.