"An Illustrated History of Whitman County, state of Washington." San Francisco:
W. H. Lever, 1901.  p. 294.
 
MINERVA J. TAYLOR
     is one of the most highly esteemed of Whitman county's pioneers, a daughter
of a prominent statesman of the east, Colonel James Sprott. She is the widow of
the late Joseph W. Taylor and the mother of nine children, namely : J. S., the
first sheriff of Whitman county; the late W. S., a former councilman of Idaho in
1884; A. E., now Mrs. Willoughby; Thomas W., who was taken prisoner at the
battle of Belmont, November 7, 1861, while in defense of his country, died June
28, 1862, at Macon, Georgia; Walter D., injured in battle at Kenesaw Mountain in
1864, died at Marietta, Georgia, July 4, 1864; both of the above were members of
Company E, Seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry; Renwick W., a real-estate dealer in
Tacoma; Jennie M., wife of G. W. Kite, a business man of Johnson ; Edwin A., who
died at Pullman in 1889 ; and John, who died in infancy.
     Mrs. Taylor was born in Darlington, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1821. She
enjoyed usually good educational advantages, taking a thorough public-school
course, then a supplementary one in The academy in her native town. On January
26, 1837, she married Joseph W. Taylor, and in 1845 they moved to Iowa, where
they engaged in farming.
     Mr. Taylor was for many years assessor in Lee county, Iowa. During the
Civil war Mr. Taylor was a member of Company C, Thirty-seventh Iowa Volunteer
Infantry, the Grey Beard Regiment; but a large part of that time was a clerk in
the provost marshal's office in St. Louis. He was over fifty-seven years of age
when he enlisted. In politics he was a Democrat, and voted for Stephen A.
Douglas, but in 1864 the Baltimore platform did not please him and he supported
Abraham Lincoln.
     He died while on his way west with his family, March 26, 1877, and his
remains were taken back to his old home, Summitville, for burial.
     Mrs. Taylor came on to Washington, and in due time filed on a quarter
section of land. This she afterward sold, and at present a portion of her
resources are invested in some good income-paying property in Tacoma, and in a
nice home in Johnson, where she resides. She is an active member of the United
Presbyterian church, to which her husband also belonged during his lifetime. She
and her family have always done what they could to help along church and
educational work in this county and elsewhere. Like her husband, she has always
had belief in the great west.
     She is now past eighty years of age, but says she likes Washington and the
good people here, and will pass her time among them until she is called up
higher.
 

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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in June 2008 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.