Capt. Thomas Taylor, a son of Thomas and grandson of John, was a colonial captain and one of the grantees of Northfield. He was born in 1717 and learned the trade of a shoemaker. As a sergeant he was in command of seventeen men who were attacked in this town by twenty-six French and eighty Indians, July 14, 1748, while on a march from Northfield to Fort Dummer. After a desperate resistance Mr. Taylor was captured and carried to Canada, where he was kept in close confinement till September 2d, when he was released, arriving at his home on September 27th, and at once returned to his duties. In November, 1748, the general court of Massachusetts, in consideration of his bravery in this action, “voted Sergeant Taylor £50.” It is related by Dea. Shattuck, of Hinsdale, that after the action Taylor was seated upon a log between two Indians. One of them, an acquaintance, said to him: “Tom, I am going to kill you, because you killed my brother.” “But,” replied the Sergeant, “he shot first.” The Indian, dropping his head. remained silent a moment, and then replied, “So he did.” The captive’s life was spared. Captain Taylor settled on land in Hinsdale, where he died, March 24, 1778. He kept a tavern on the Charlestown road, which his widow continued and made quite popular for many years after his death. His son Hollis, born in 1758, settled in Hinsdale and married Christian, daughter of Paul Field. He died September 3. 1845, and she died June 1,. 1833. They were the parents of thirteen children. Lewis, son of Hollis, was born here in 1793, and is still a resident of the town. In 1874 he erected a monument near the spot where his grandfather was captured, in 1748, and he is located on his grandfather’s old farm. He was elected to the state legislature in 1859, and in 1854 and 1856 was town treasurer and selectman. He married Lois Webster, of Northfield, November 8, 1820, who died May i, 1864. Mr. Taylor is the father of children as follows: Prentice W., born April 25, 1822, married Eveline M. Wellman, of Hinsdale, December r, 1846, is a farmer residing upon and owning the old homestead, and has been selectman two years; Caroline S., born August 4. 1823, graduated at Mrs. Willard’s seminary, Troy, N. Y., went South to teach, and died in Oakland, N. C., July 3, 1847; Hollis, born March 4, 1826, married Mary A. Johnson, of Northfield, Mass., May 17, 1849, was a land surveyor, selectman several years, member of the state legislature two terms. and died August 25, 1865; William M., born December 1, 1827, married Eleanor J. Guion, of Jackson, Miss., December 11, 1856, graduated at Dartmouth, a lawyer, and died at Galveston. Tex., March z6, 186o; Susan H., born November 26, 1829, married, July 17, 1854, Frederick T. Kemper, of Muscatine. Iowa, who was proprietor of the celebrated school for boys in Boonville, Mo., and who died in March, 1881, now resides in that place; Emily M. born July 30, 1831, married Rev. Moses H. Wells, of Hinsdale, May 1, 1857, and now resides in Dummerston, Vt.; Edwin H., born October 25, 1833, graduated at Dartmouth, went to Mississippi as a teacher, and just before the Rebellion went to Boonville, Mo., where he married Bessie McCarty, April 23, 1863, was captured by the rebels, robbed of his watch, coat and boots, and left fifteen miles from home to make his way back as best he could, and his present wife, Emogene Eveleth, he married August 8, 1881, and is now a merchant in Peterboro, N. H.; Julia E., born September 20, 1836, educated at Meriden. N. H., went to Hansboro, Miss., as a teacher, was there about a year after the breaking out of the Rebellion and was obliged to escape in a rowboat at night-died at Hinsdale, September 25, 1863; and Henry M., born April 21, 1838, married Nancy McCarty, of Boonville, Mo., and is a farmer residing in Parsons, Kan.
