RICHARD TAYLOR, EXPLORER, PIONEER, FATHER OF A PRESIDENT
In 1769, he and his brother were in the first group of white men to travel from Pittsburgh, down the Ohio River, and then down to Mississippi River, all the way to New Orleans. He was a Revolutionary War veteran, who assisted George Washington at Valley Forge, a successful landowner and businessman, and he is the father of a president of the United States, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Taylor.
Taylor is remembered and revered by the town that bears his name, Taylorsville, in Spencer County, Kentucky. Spencer County is named after another hero, a man by the name of Spier Spencer, who was killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe, in 1811. Richard Taylor donated 60 acres for a town at the confluence of Brashears Creek and Salt River, where he operated a grist mill nearby. Richard Taylor is famous for many other things as well. He was a graduate of the College of William & Mary, and as mentioned above, in 1769, he and his brother Hancock were among the first white men to travel from Pittsburgh, down the Ohio River, down the Mississippi River, to New Orleans. They spent a ton of time exploring along the way.
After the expedition, Richard’s brother Hancock spent the next few years surveying Kentucky. This was a few years before the first official settlements of Harrodsburg and Boonesborough, when Kentucky was an absolutely untamed wilderness. Hancock was shot by Native Americans near modern day Carrollton, Kentucky. Daniel Boone had been sent into Kentucky to tell all the surveyors to get out, because the Shawnee were on the warpath. Even though Hancock was injured, he tried to make his way back through the Cumberland Gap, but unfortunately, he died and modern-day Madison County, Kentucky, where he’s buried today. In 1803, Richard visited his brother’s grave with Robert Rhodes of Boonesborough, and he marked the grave with some stones, and a small headstone.
Shortly after Hancock’s death, the Revolutionary War broke out, and Richard began his service to his country as a Second Lieutenant. By the end of his service, he had been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He served in the battles of White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine and Monmouth. He was also involved in the Valley Forge campaign by commandeering supplies for General Washington and his men.
For his service to his country, Richard Taylor was given, and acquired about 1,000 acres in Kentucky, and he moved his family to the area, in 1785. He built his first brick home in 1792, on land that he had bought from Isaac Shelby, the first governor of Kentucky, and that same year, he served in the Kentucky militia in a campaign against the Shawnee, Under Major John Adair. He was wounded in the battle near Fort St. Clair in Ohio.
In the late 1790s, Richard built his home which he named, Springfield. Springfield is on the eastern end of the modern-day Louisville Metro area. This was also about the time that he donated land for the town that bears his name Taylorsville. Richard died in 1829, and he is buried in the family cemetery that became the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. The cemetery is named after his son, President and Major General Zachary Taylor, the hero of the Mexican War, “Old Rough and Ready”. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Taylor is a name that few people remember today, and we’re proud to have a little part in keeping his legacy alive. Be sure to see the video below about him!
-Col. Russ Carson, Jr., Founder, Family Tree Nuts