Eliza Ann Taylor (maiden name: Delancey) was born in Key West, Florida, on February 14, 1842, the oldest child of her free-born parents. Her father worked as a carpenter, a trade he passed along to her brothers before the young men enlisted to serve in the war. She married James Thomas Simmons Taylor on April 18, 1865, while he was serving in the 2nd USCT Infantry Regiment in Florida. According to a WPA interviewer in 1937, the couple had courted for six months before marrying at the White Episcopal Church in Key West, where Eliza taught Sunday school. Together, they had eleven children: Annie, born June 15, 1866; Fairfax, born November 23, 1867; Mary, born March 28, 1869; Ellen, born December 9, 1870; Louisa, born October 6, 1872; James, born June 9, 1874; John, born July 9, 1876; Lawrence, born June 10, 1878; Eva, born September 16, 1881; Allena, born July 10, 1882; and Broadie, born February 13, 1885. They settled in Charlottesville, Virginia, where her husband had been born. They briefly lived in Washington D.C., from 1883 to 1884 before returning to Charlottesville. They remained there for the rest of their lives. Her husband died on January 4, 1918, and she received a widow's pension soon afterwards. Her monthly pension increased from $25 to $50 due to pension legislation in 1926. She died of "cardis renal disease" on March 8, 1939, and is buried with her husband at Oakwood Cemetery in Charlottesville.
Documents:
Testimony of Dr. F. C. McCue and Dr. G. R. Ferguson on behalf of Eliza Taylor
| Name: | Taylor, Eliza Ann | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alternative names: |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Roles: |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gender: | F | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Race: | Black | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Branch of service: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence at enlistment: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank In: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank Out: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest rank achieved: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pensions: |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth date: | 1842-02-14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth date certainty: | Certain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth place: | Key West, FL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Death date: | 1939-03-08 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Death place: | Charlottesville, VA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Causes of death: | disease: cardis renal disease | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupations: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relationships: |
|
Pension Records for James T.S. Taylor, RG15, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; Interview of Mrs. Eliza Ann Taylor, March 5, 1937, “Virginia Writers Project: Life Histories,” Work Projects Administration of Virginia Records, 1939-1943, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia; Charles L. Perdue, Jr., Thomas E. Barden, and Robert K Phillips, eds., Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews With Virginia Ex-Slaves (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1976), 284-285.
