F. N. Taylor
(This biography is from Lee's 1912  History of Hamilton County Iowa, volume 2)

     F. N. Taylor, who has been postmaster at Jewell since the 8th of May, 1908, has been a resident of Hamilton County for thirty years.   He is a native of the state of New York, his birth having occurred in Wyoming County on the 1st of January, 1842, and a son of Alonzo and Diane (Barber) Taylor.   The father was from New Hampshire and the mother from Massachusetts, but they passed the early years of their domestic life in New York, whence they removed in 1850 to Illinois.   They first settled in Cook County, but three years later they removed to Carroll County, in Illinois, and there the mother passed away on February 25, 1870.   She was long survived by the father, whose death occurred on the 9th of March, 1896.

     F. N. Taylor was a child of eight years when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois, which state remained his home until 1882, when he came to Hamilton County.   He subsequently purchased a hundred and sixty acres of land in Hamilton Township, which he improved and cultivated until 1905, when he withdrew from agricultural pursuits and came to Jewell to live, selling his farm to his eldest son.   After removing to town he went to work at the carpenter's trade, continuing to follow this occupation until he was appointed postmaster in 1908.

     On the 24th of October, 1868, Mr. Taylor was married to Miss Alice A. Hinds, whose birth occurred on the 17th of November, 1848.   She is the eldest of the seven children born of the marriage of Alonzo and Laura (Greeley) Hinds, natives of Vermont.   The family removed to Illinois in 1866, and there the father passed away two years later.   The mother is still living, however, at the venerable age of eighty-eight years, and makes her home with our subjest.   Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have had eight children.   Laura D., the eldest, married George W. Davis by whom she had two children.   He passed away on the 16th of February, 1899, and on November 29, 1905, she became the wife of W. G. Seamonds, of Webster City, and they have become the parents of two children.   Hattie, the second member of the family, died at the age of two and a half years.   Frank F., who now (in 1912) owns and operates the old homestead, was married in December, 1905, to Alexis Neely of Webster City, and they have two children.   Myrtle M., the widow of J. S. Riley, who died on April 19, 1898, is the mother of four children and makes her home in Jewell.   Iva was married on the 28th of May, 1902, to L. G. Burr, by whom she has had five children and is residing in Illinois.   Fred G. died March 15, 1887, aged two years and eight months.   Ralph C. is acting (in 1912) as his father's assistant in the post office.   Vernon M., the youngest member of the family, resides at home.

     Mr. Taylor is one of those who reponded to the nation's call during the Civil War, and went to the front as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry.   He was in the Army of the Cumberland, but was on provost and detached duty during the greater period of his service, which comprised a year, having enlisted on the 9th of February, 1865, and received his discharge at Savannah, Georgia, on February 9, 1866.   He is (in 1912) a member of Winfield Scott Post, No. 66, G. A. R. of Webster City, and he also belongs to Jewell Lodge, No. 277, A. O. U. W.   His political allegiance he gives to the Repulican party, and while residing in Hamilton Township served for five years as assessor and for six as a member of the Board of Supervisors, having begun his duties in the latter connection in 1889.   Mrs. Taylor manifests her religious faith through her affiliation with the Christian Church, and numbers many staunch friends among the members of its congregation.


The biography printed above is from the following three pages of the 1912 Jesse W. Lee publication History of Hamilton County Iowa, Volume 2.