PROMIXEXT PERSONS
139
sccund in command of over three hundred
men under Col. Bowman in an expedition
against the Indian settlement ui Chillicothe,
and in the summer of 178S he again conduct-
ed an expedition against the Xorthwestern
tribes ; he was a delegate to the convention of
1792 that framed the first constitution of
Kentucky, and to the second constitutional
convention of 1799; ^^"^^ also a representa-
tive in the Kentucky legislature for several
years; Logan county, Kentucky, formed in
1792, was named in his honor; he married
Ann, daughter of William Montgomery; he
died in Shelby county, Kentucky, December
II, 1802.
Taylor, Richard, father of President Tay- lor, was born in eastern \'irginia, March 22, 1744; a descendant of James Taylor, who came from England in 1682, and settled in Eastern Virginia. Richard's love of ad- venture carried him to the unexplored coun- try west of the Alleghenies, before he reach- ed his majority, and he crossed Kentucky to the Mississippi valley, thence to Natchez, a trading post, and from there northward through the trackless forest afoot and alone back to his father's home in \'irginia. He commanded a \'irginia regiment in the rev- olution, and was a field officer on Wash- ington's personal force. He was married, August 20, 1779. to Sarah Strother, then nineteen, and settled on a plantation near Orange Court House. They had three chil- dren. Zachary being less than one year old when they crossed the mountains into Ken- tucky and settled on the Beargrass Creek at the place known afterward as Springfield, six miles from the present site of Louisville, a point selected by the elder brother, Han- cock (a surveyor of wild lands'), who had preceded the family to the new territory.
President Washington made Colonel Tay-
lor collector of the port of Louisville, then
a port of entry, Louisiana being foreign
territory. He was a delegate to the state
constitutional convention, a presidential
district elector on the Madison ticket in
1813; elector-at-Iarge on the Monroe ticket
in 1817; district elector on the Monroe
ticket in 182 1, and elector-at-large on the
Henry Clay ticket in 1825. Col. Dick Tay-
lor died at "Springfield," Kentucky, 1826.
Sevier, John, was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, September 23, 1745, son of Valentine Sevier (originally Xavier), who came from London in 1740. He attended the Fredericksburg (Virginia) Academy, and married Catherine Sherrill. He founded New- market village, in the Shenandoah valley; later he removed to the Watauga country, and served in Lord Dunmore's war against the Indians. He rose to high civil and mili- t««ry positions in the Watauga country, and fiuight the Indians relentlessly. During the revolution he commanded a regiment at Uoyd's Creek and King's Mountain, saving the day in the latter engagement, .\fterwards, he became governor of the new state of Franklin, and when that scheme was aban- doned he was imprisoned by the North Caro- lina authorities, rescued, and took the oath of allegiance to the United States govern- ment. He was subsequently a congressman from North Carolina, governor of Tennessee, and a congressman from that state. A coun- ty in Tennessee bears his name, and a monu- ment to his memory stands in Nashville. He died September 24, 1815, near Decatur, Alabama.
Grymcs, John Randolph, born in Vir- ginia, about 1746, son of Philip Grymes and
Digitized by
Google
