An Examination Of Why I Believe William Taylor Sr. (c.1740-c.1820) Is A Descendant Of The Monmouth New Jersey Taylors
The topic of who was the father of William Taylor Sr. has long been tossed around and argued among his descendants. Even renowned author, Ardis Taylor, who wrote six books about William and his descendants was never comfortable in accepting and naming Francis Taylor III as William’s father and George of Carlisle as the family’s immigrant ancestor. Now, in 2018, thanks to the advances of genetic genealogy and to a lesser degree, a preponderance of circumstantial evidence, we can safely name the father of William Taylor Sr. as being Joseph Taylor (b. 169? d. 1748) of Monmouth County New Jersey.
Considerations:
As a means to keep them separate, let’s designate a NJ William Taylor and a NC-GA-TN William Taylor.
Geography …. Historians wrote that NJ William Taylor, son of Joseph Taylor of Monmouth County New Jersey moved to North Carolina and was never heard from afterwards. The earliest record we have of NC-GA-TN William Taylor is when his first six (of nine) sons were each born in North Carolina over the years of 1763 to ca. 1780. To further support the argument of a NJ to NC migration, we know that NJ William’s sister, Eleanor, also moved to NC and married Edward Walker and we are able to locate a Tyrell Co. NC marriage certificate dated 1763 proving the marriage. This not only supports the geography aspect but also the timeframe since the marriage was in 1763 and NC-GA-TN William Taylor’s first son was born in NC in 1763.
Timeframe …. The NJ William Taylor and the NC-GA-TN William Taylor are of the approximate same age and both are in North Carolina at the same time.
Genealogical Information …. Descendants from both the NJ families and the TN families have extensive documentation and research to support their pedigree claims. The NJ clan has several published histories with one in the works. The TN clan has a series of books authored by Ardis Taylor which contain some inaccuracies (now identified by DNA testing) but still provides a very workable foundation.
yDNA …. Descendants from both the NJ families and the TN families have submitted to yDNA testing and the results indicate that they all are predicted to be in the G Haplogroup (HpG) also designated as G-M201. HpG only makes up about 1.5% of the Taylor population of the British Isles and is only slightly higher, at 2.5% of the entire world. Advanced yDNA testing can further narrow the sub-group within the haplogroup. Descendants of different branches of the family of Edward (the immigrant) Taylor d. 1710, of Middletown, Monmouth, NJ, have participated in Y-DNA testing. The results indicate that HpG-M3302 is currently the unique identifier common to the Monmouth NJ family of Taylors. Currently HpG M3302 is the unique identifier which separates the Monmouth Taylors from other Taylor families in America. As of April 2018 only one descendant from the TN clan has submitted to the advanced testing and my results indicate that I am HpG-M3302. Measures are now being taken to encourage other descendants from the TN clan to take the advanced test(s). Genetic Distance (GD) also plays an important role in identifying relationships. A GD of 0 means a 37/37 match in markers (i.e. a Y-37 test from FTDNA.com) between two men who share a common surname means they share a common male ancestor. A GD of 1 or 2 (i.e. <3) also means a shared common ancestor on a generation or two farther out. ALL of the male descendants who have tested with FTDNA.com have GDs of 0 to 2 with each other indicating that all share a common male ancestor.
Overall, our genetic markers are so similar that yDNA test results suggest a recent (within the last 5 to 7 generations) connection to a common ancestor linking the Monmouth NJ Taylors and certain Taylors from NC, GA, and TN. More importantly, it supports the evidence that William Taylor Sr. who died in DeKalb Co. TN is the same William who left his home in NJ and was “never heard from again” by his NJ family. And finally, this establishes William Taylor Sr. as being the “missing haplogroup G link” between the NJ and TN families as well as provides us with the name of William’s father, Joseph Taylor of Monmouth NJ b. 169? D. 1748! In addition, we can now identify our Immigrant Ancestor as Edward Taylor (b. unk, England – d. 1710, Middleton, Monmouth, New Jersey).
The history of the Monmouth NJ Taylor family, most likely due to their prominence in NJ and NY, was well documented and published by at least six genealogists and a new publication is scheduled to be released soon.
To familiarize yourself with the Monmouth line, I suggest you read online and/or download these two genealogies. They are in PDF form and the downloads are free. A word of caution … it is suggested that you not record [onto your tree] any of the family data earlier than our Immigrant Ancestor, Edward Taylor, who died in Monmouth Co. NJ in 1710. Almost all of these early publications had errors in Edward’s ancestory and this should be corrected when the new publication becomes available.
Historical and Genealogical Miscellany Vol 5 p47; John E Stillwell pub 1932 -https://archive.org/details/historicalgeneal05instil
CLICK HERE to view and/or download.
The Jerseyman Vol 8, 1902, Issue 1 and succeeding volumes, A Genealogy of the Taylor Family, Asher Taylor, author, Hiram E. Deats publisher – https://archive.org/details/jerseyman08deat
CLICK HERE to view and/or download.
Here’s an excerpt from Asher Taylor’s book. Note halfway down the page where it reads,
“William, went to North Carolina and not heard from.”
Family chart of the children of Edward Taylor the Immigrant. CLICK ON THE CHART TO ENLARGE IT.
To help you get started with the Monmouth line, I have posted above a family chart of the children of Edward Taylor the Immigrant. It can be downloaded HERE as a Word docx file and/or HERE as a pdf file.
(This article was written by Johnny B. Taylor thanks to much assistance and input from Timothy Franklin Taylor.)
© 2018, JOHNNY B. TAYLOR, MARSHALL, TX