Amos Leavitt Taylor (1877–1965) was a lawyer and a politician who was very active in the

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Personal life

Taylor was born in

Danbury, New Hampshire Danbury is a New England town, town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Danbury was first settled as a part of Al ...

, on February 22, 1877, to father Frank Leavitt Taylor and mother Nellie Jane (Martin) Taylor. Amos Leavitt Taylor attended college at

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

, graduating in 1901 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree, then earned an LL.B at

Boston University School of Law The Boston University School of Law (BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston. Established in 1872, it is the third-oldest law school in New England, after Harvard Law School and Yale Law School. Ap ...

. In Boston, he worked at Adams & Blinn, Counsellors at Law for the next 60 years. He married Myra Lillian Fairbank on June 16, 1906. Their son, Amos Leavitt Taylor, Jr., also went to Brown, graduating in 1935, then attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. After 30 years of marriage, Myra Taylor died in 1944. Amos remarried, to Caroline W. Dudley.

Notable legal cases

In the winter of 1912, Taylor and Robert Goodwin represented Marjorie Newell Robb against Oceanic Steam Navigation Company for the sum of $110,400.00, together with costs from the April 15, 1912, sinking of the ''Titanic''. The loss of the life of her husband for the sum of $110,000.00, and the loss of the luggage and personal effect in the sum of $400.00.

Political life

In 1924, he was a delegate (alternate) to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

from Massachusetts. For twenty-five years, from 1924 to 1949, he was a member of Massachusetts Republican State Committee, serving as its secretary from 1927 to 1928, and its state chair from 1929 to 1932. He was a delegate to the

1932 Republican National Convention The 1932 Republican National Convention was held at Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois, from June 14 to June 16, 1932. It nominated President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis for reelection. Hoover was virtually unopposed for ...

from Massachusetts. He was a member of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

, as well as Gamma Eta Gamma and the

Freemasons Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

. Taylor was one of the founders of

Phi Gamma Delta Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Phi Gam and sometimes written as FIJI, is a North American social fraternity with 139 active chapters and 13 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania ...

at Brown University, and an officer and life member of

The Bostonian Society The Bostonian Society was a non-profit organization in Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1881 as a historic preservation group. The Bostonian Society became part of the Revolutionary Spaces organization in 2020. History The Bostonian Society was f ...

. He was a Unitarian.

Later years

In his honor, the Amos L. Taylor Award for Excellence in Scholarship was established at the

New England School of Law New England Law Boston (formerly New England School of Law, and styled as New England Law Boston) is a private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded as Portia School of Law in 1908 and is located in downtown Boston near the Massa ...

for special part-time student which are awarded at the end of the J.D. program. Taylor died at his home in Belmont on June 2, 1965.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Amos Politicians from Merrimack County, New Hampshire People from Belmont, Massachusetts Massachusetts lawyers 1877 births 1965 deaths Massachusetts Republican Party chairs Boston University School of Law alumni Brown University alumni Danbury, New Hampshire