Taylor County, Iowa History 1881: page 323

TAYLOR COUNTY

Page 323

The county of Taylor is so named in honor of General Zachary Taylor, the one so famous in the war with Mexico. He was a native of Virginia and was born in 1784, shortly after the nation in which he was to form so conspicuous a part had gained a name and place among the empires of the earth. He was commissioned a lieutenant by President Jefferson in 1808, and had spent forty years in the military service of his country when he was chosen by the Whigs to lead them in the contest for the presidency in that year. When called to this important position he was without political experience, but he was a man of nerve and stainless integrity, of great firmness, a sincere patriot, and possessed of strong good sense. He was elected in the fall of 1848, over Lewis Cass, of Michigan, the Democratic (page 324) nominee, and Martin Van Buren, of New York, the candidate of the anti-slavery or Free-soil party. His inauguration occurred on Monday, March 5, 1849, since fourth of March fell on Sunday in that year. His success in the war with Mexico had made him both famous and popular, following which, his nomination and election to the highest office in the gift of the people seemed to place him very prominently before the American public. July 9th, 1850, the chief magistrate died, amid the grief of a whole country, and after an occupancy in the presidential chair of sixteen months. When, therefore, the General Assembly came to determine the limits of this county it was decided that it should have the name of the chief man in the nation, for the county's limits were fixed in 1849, during the life of Taylor. The name of the great soldier was destined to be honored again in war by heroes from the county which bore it.

The county is situated in the southernmost tier, sixty miles east of the Missouri River, and is the third in the order to the eastward. It is a little less than twenty-four miles square, and contains an area of some 343,680 acres, or about 537 square miles. It has the nominal sixteen congressional townships, but owing to the correction line which passes through this county, they are not all full townships. The townships are Nodaway, Holt, Grove, Platte, Dallas, Washington, Marshall, Grant, Mason, Benton, Clayton, Gay, Polk, Ross, Jackson and Jefferson, the four last named constituting the southern tier, and hence facing the State of Missouri, which bounds the county on the south. On the west it is bounded by Page county and on the north and east by Adams and Ringgold counties respectively. The south boundary line is not a due east and west line, but slightly oblique, hence this tends to diminish the area of the county. The correction line passes through the county in such a manner that Gay and Clayton townships are the two smallest, and Benton and Mason next them in size. The first is five sections by six; the next, Clayton, is five sections by five and one quarter; Benton, six by five and one quarter; and Mason, the same as the last.