Jefferson, Marion County
Ward Taylor, Sr. (1791-1871), and Nancy (Mathews) Taylor (1796-1879) came to Texas from Alabama in 1845. Several Taylor and Mathews relatives and children joined them in Marion County in that year and the years following, building homes and helping to settle the area. In May 1860, four-month-old Emmett, son of E. W. and S. E Taylor, was buried on this site on land belonging to Marion De Kalb (M.D.K.) Taylor. Emmett's grave remains the earliest marked burial in the cemetery, though family history indicates that the graveyard was in use before the Civil War. According to legend, the family buried several slaves outside the original fence to the north of the main cemetery. When M.D.K. deeded the land to his father, Ward Taylor, Sr., in 1868, the family cemetery was mentioned in the deed. Ward's wife Nancy inherited the property upon his death. She left the property, according to Ward's instructions, to their son J.M. Taylor, who willed it to his wife Amanda Maleson (Craven) Taylor. In 1961, a cemetery association was formed to care for the graveyard. Association members identified sixteen of those who are believed to have been buried in 32 unmarked graves. In 1998, there were 32 marked burials in Taylor Cemetery. The graveyard continues to serve Taylor descendants and all others who wish to be buried here. (1998)