Joseph Walters Taylor
Joseph Walters Taylor (July 12, 1820 – 1872), also sometimes mis-identified as Joseph Wright Taylor,[1] was an Alabama politician, newspaper editor, and lawyer.
Early life
Joseph Walters Taylor was born on July 12, 1820, in Kentucky. He was educated at Cumberland College (Princeton, Kentucky), graduating in 1838).
Career
Taylor served in the Alabama legislature from Greene County from around 1845 to 1849. In addition to serving in the Alabama legislature, Taylor also edited the Eutaw Whig newspaper and delivered a series of addresses on political and educational topics in both Alabama and Virginia.[2]
His addresses included A Plea for the University of Alabama in 1847,[3] The Young American: His Education, Duties, and Rewards: An Address Delivered Before The Adelphi and Franklin Societies of Howard College in 1849,[4] Henry Clay: His Life, Character, and Services in 1852, The Southern University: Its Origin, Present Condition, Wants, and Claims: An Address Delivered before the Belles Lettres and Clariosophic Societies of the Southern University, on Their Anniversary Occasion, July 2, 1861, and An Address Before the Literary Societies of Washington and Lee University in 1871.[5]
After the Civil War, Taylor purchased the Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor newspaper and renamed it the Tuscaloosa Times.[6] In the 1870s, Taylor also worked to raise money for Washington and Lee University.[7]
Death
Taylor died in 1872.
References
- ^ OCLC identifies him as Joseph Wright Taylor (1810-1880), though that is a different person.[1]
- ^ Alfred L. Brophy, The Law of Descent of Thought: Law, History, and Civilization in Antebellum Literary Addresses, Law and Literature 20 (2008): 343, 368 [2]
- ^ Joseph W. Taylor, A Plea for the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, M.D.J. Slade 1847).
- ^ Joseph W. Taylor, The Young American: His Education, Duties, and Rewards. An Address Delivered Before the Adelphi and Franklin Societies of Howard College, July 26, 1849 (New York, Lewis Colby 1849). The address was discussed in the Western Literary Magazine. See also Alfred L. Brophy, The Southern Scholar: Howard College Before the Civil War, Cumberalnd Law Review 46 (2016): 289, 296-302 (discussing Taylor's address).
- ^ Thomas Owen, A Bibliography of Alabama 1197 (1898)
- ^ Guy W. Hubbs, Searching for Freedom After the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag 51-52 (2015) [3]
- ^ Dan R. Frost, Thinking Confederates: Academia and the Idea of Progress in the New South 73 (2000).