Richard Taylor (colonel)
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Richard Taylor (1744 - January 1829), was a colonel for the American forces in the American Revolutionary War, and the father of the 12th President of the United States, Zachary Taylor.
Richard Taylor was born in Orange County, Virginia in 1744 to Zachary and Elizabeth (Lee) Taylor. He was a graduate of the College of William and Mary. After graduation, he toured the Ohio River and Mississippi River in 1769 with his older brother Hancock Taylor, starting from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. Once the American Revolutionary War began, Richard Taylor became an officer in the Virginia Continental forces, and fought in the battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, Trenton, and White Plains, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel.[1]
He married Sarah Dabney Strother in 1779. They initially lived at his estate of Hare Forest, but the estate failed to sufficiently compensate economically. He had already acquired 8,000 acres throughout Kentucky, and in 1783 started clearing the land for his family to move to Kentucky in 1785. By 1790 he had built a permanent house he called "Springfield", which is known in the present-day as the Zachary Taylor House.[2] [3]
He would be injured in a skirmish against Indians near Eton, Ohio in 1792. Taylor prospered enough to increase the size of Springfield to 700 acres by 1800. For the rest of his life he became active in Louisville and Kentucky politics.[4] [5]
He donated sixty acres for the creation of Taylorsville, Kentucky, which was named to honor him.[6]
Richard Taylor died in January 1829, and was buried at the family cemetery, now part of Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.
