“Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County,” published:  
Chicago;  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892.

CALVIN TAYLOR, deceased.  Nature, no doubt, intended Mr. Taylor for a 
long and more than ordinarily useful life, but, alas, for human hopes and 
expectations, he was cut down in the very zenith of his manhood and at a 
time when his nature was bright with promise.  He was born in Greene 
county, Illinois, December 2, 1831, and came to Dallas county, Texas, in the 
latter part of the ‘50s, and was married on the 14th of August, 1856, to 
Harriet Emeline, daughter of Thomas M. Ellis, a sketch of whom appears in 
this volume.  They first settled in Lancaster, this county, where they resided 
until December, 1859, when Mr. Taylor purchased a farm one mile from the 
village of Lancaster, consisting of 350 acres of which he settled and where 
he resided until his death, which occurred November 1, 1862, at Forest, 
Mississippi.  He was a farmer all his life, and a fairly successful one.  The 
place which he purchased in 1859 has enhanced in value, and now affords a 
comfortable home to his widow and children.  They had two children, a son 
and daughter: William, who married Ida, daughter of Irvin Lavender, and 
Eda, who was married to Charles T. Orr.

Mr. Taylor entered the Confederate service at the opening of the Civil war, 
enlisting in Captain Rawlins’ company, which was recruited from the 
vicinity of Lancaster.  After remaining in the service for a year he was taken 
sick and compelled to return home, and his brother Perry took his place.  It 
was while absent at Forest, Mississippi, to take his brother’s horse to him, 
that he was taken sick and died.  He was a man who possessed many 
estimable traits of character, and his untimely death was mourned, not only 
by his immediate and sorrowing family but also by all who knew him.

Submitted by: Justina Cook