Military Wiki
Abner Taylor
Abner Taylor (Illinois Congressman)
Chicago Tribune, September 9, 1894
Member of the United States House of Representatives
In office
March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1893
Preceded by Ransom W. Dunham
Succeeded by J. Frank Aldrich
Member of the Illinois House of Representatives

In office
1884-1886
Personal details
Born (1829-01-19)January 19, 1829
Bangor, Maine
Died April 13, 1903(1903-04-13) (aged 74)
Washington, D.C.
Political party Republican

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

Born in Bangor, Maine, Taylor moved with his parents to Champaign County, Ohio, in 1832, thence to Fort Dodge, Iowa, and subsequently to Chicago, Illinois, 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. 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. Further, Taylor served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives 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.

See also[]

  • XIT Ranch

References[]

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Ransom W. Dunham
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 1st congressional district

1889–1893
Succeeded by
J. Frank Aldrich

PD-icon This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Abner Taylor and the edit history here.