Abner Taylor (January 19, 1829 – April 13, 1903) was a U.S. Representative from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. Born in

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121). Modern Bangor ...

, Taylor moved with his parents to

Champaign County, Ohio Champaign County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,714. Its county seat is Urbana. The county takes its name from the French word for "open level country". Champaign County comprises th ...

, in 1832, thence to

Fort Dodge, Iowa Fort Dodge is a city in, and the county seat of, Webster County, Iowa, United States, along the Des Moines River. The population was 24,871 in the 2020 census, a decrease from 25,136 in 2000. Fort Dodge is a major commercial center for North C ...

, and subsequently to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, in 1860. He served the Union the American Civil War as a general's deputy, and later a colonel and United States Treasury Agent. As a business man, Taylor engaged in extensive contracting, building, and mercantile pursuits, and participated in the construction of the

Texas State Capitol The Texas State Capitol is the capitol and seat of government of the American state of Texas. Located in Downtown Austin, downtown Austin, Texas, the structure houses the offices and chambers of the Texas Legislature and of the Governor of Texas. ...

. In exchange for the construction of the Texas State House, Taylor was awarded three million acres of land in northwest Texas in 1882. He served as a delegate to the

1884 Republican National Convention The 1884 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held at the Exposition Hall in Chicago, Illinois, on June 3–6, 1884. It resulted in the nomination of former House Speaker James G. Blaine from Maine for president ...

. Further, Taylor served as a member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

from 1884 to 1886. Taylor was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses (March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1893). He married Clara Babcock, a daughter of business associate Colonel A C Babcock on September 9, 1889, in Cassopolis, Michigan. Clara was nearly thirty-two years his junior. The millionaire and his lively bride were well known in Congress. Clara made international news when she announced that rather than keeping Congressmen's signatures in an autograph book, she would have them embroidered onto a petticoat in silk to keep as a record of the 52nd Congress. Taylor did not campaign in 1892, he instead resumed the building and contracting business. He died in Washington, D.C. in 1903, and was interred in

Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. It is across the stre ...

References

* * * "Michigan, Marriages, 1868-1925," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NQ7T-VT2 : accessed 30 Sep 2012), Abner Taylor and Clara L. Babcock, 09 Sep 1889. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Abner 1829 births 1903 deaths Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Politicians from Chicago American construction businesspeople Politicians from Bangor, Maine Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery Politicians from Fort Dodge, Iowa Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois 19th-century American politicians People of Illinois in the American Civil War 19th-century American businesspeople

See also

References