My Genealogy Hound

George P. Taylor enjoys the friendship of, perhaps, a larger number of personal acquaintances than any man in Eastern Arkansas. Of magnificent physical proportions, standing over six feet high and weighing above 195 pounds, he attracts attention in any gathering. He was born in Cooper County, Mo., October 13, 1850, and traces his ancestry back four generations to John Taylor, of Scotch and Irish descent, who was the founder of that branch of the family on this side of the continent. He came to America before the great “Stamp Act” and “Boston Tea Party” occurred, and settled among the colonists of South Carolina. He was loyal to the country of his adoption when the great conflict began which announced the birth of the greatest nation on the face of the globe, and gave one of his sons to the cause of freedom. Early in the history of Kentucky John Taylor emigrated to this new territory, and here was born and reared his son, upon whom was conferred the family name of John. He grew to manhood in a locality even then thinly settled, but being lured by the tales of the new region across the Mississippi, followed the train of emigrants westward, and among the prominent names in the early history of Cooper County, Mo., appears that of John Taylor. He was there married to Miss Cochrell. After remaining in that county until the breaking out of the war he moved to St. Louis. George P. Taylor spent his early life in his native State, and attended school at Boonville, conducted by the renowned Dr. Kemper. He was fourteen years of age when his father removed to St. Louis, and in 1867 removed to Arkansas, settling in Lee County, on a plantation, where he remained until 1873. Then he came to Forrest City and died here in 1879 of yellow fever, his wife preceding him about one year. George P. Taylor located as a citizen of St. Francis County in 1870, where he was engaged in farming, being married in February, 1873, to Miss Alice Koonce, a native of this county. She is the mother of six children: Edgar P., Walter R., Alva J., Alice N., Nannie and George P., Jr. In 1874, after the reconstruction act, Mr. Taylor was elected representative from St. Francis County, though at that time only twenty-four years of age; he was re-elected in 1878, and in 1880 was appointed county collector. In 1880 he entered into the real-estate business at Forrest City. In 1885 the “Forrest City Manufacturing Company” was formed, with Mr. Taylor as president, but a $5,000 fire shortly after caused the dissolution of the company. In 1884-85 he formed a partnership with Hatcher & Mann in the mercantile business, this remaining for two years. December, 1886, he was associated with James M. Stewart, as real-estate agents and brokers, then the only firm of the kind in the county. He is one of the organizers and is secretary of the Forrest City Hotel Company, a corporation with a capital stock of $24,000, and is also a stockholder and director of the Bank of Eastern Arkansas, located at Forrest City, which has a capital stock of $50,000. Both enterprises yield good returns, and their stock is quoted above par. Mr. Taylor also owns several large plantations in this county, and is conceded to be one of its most prominent citizens, especially having the esteem and confidence of the Democracy of this locality, as is shown by the fact that for eight consecutive years he has been chairman of the County Central Committee, and was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention of 1888. He was also a delegate to the National Farmers’ Congress, held at Montgomery, Ala., in November, 1889. Mr. Taylor is a member of the Masonic order, in which he holds the office of Master, also belonging to the order of Knights of Pythias. Besides these he is a member of the I. O. O. F., and of the Knights and Ladies of Honor. Mrs. Taylor is a member of the Baptist Church. Their home in Forrest City is one of the finest here, elegantly furnished, and contains one of the largest and best-selected libraries in the county, embracing the leading authors in poetry, science, history and fiction.