John Taylor Papers, 1844-1895
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Not requestable
Scope and Content Note
The John Taylor papers document the activities of this Chelsea and Boston, Massachusetts, ship builder. Records include contracts to build ships, accounts, letters, certificates, leases, and bills of sale. Folder 16 contains an account by Captain S. P. Bray of the wreck of the ship Panay in the Philippines, dated 1890.
Dates
- Creation: 1844-1895
Restrictions on Access
This collection is open for research use.
Biographical Sketch
John Taylor was born in Scituate, Massachusetts, on October 13, 1807, the son of William Taylor, ship builder. He was the youngest of six children. As he approached adulthood he was apprenticed and served his time with Galen James, ship builder at Melrose and in 1831 married James' sister, Eliza James. They had three sons and three daughters.
Taylor first operated as shipbuilder as the junior partner in the firm of Foster & Taylor, his partner being Joshua T. Foster and they built their first vessel, the bark Pearl, in 1838. They built a number of ships before Taylor went solo in 1846. He became a prominent ship builder in Medford, Massachusetts, located on the Mystic River, across from Boston. He built about 25 vessels which were launched broadside to the river as the river was not wide enough to launch them in the regular manner. As tonnage increased it became necessary to have more room for launching, so in 1850 he moved to Chelsea, where he was the first builder of note to establish a ship yard. After the end of the clipper ship era, Taylor moved to East Boston (by 1861), where he built sailing ships with his son Justin (who later took over his father's yard). In Chelsea and Boston he built about 50 vessels.
Taylor was a member of the first Board of Alderman when Chelsea became a city and he served a term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He was a member and deacon of the First Congregational Church of Chelsea. He died in Chelsea on September 20, 1877.
Extent
0.25 linear feet (1 box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The John Taylor papers document the activities of this Chelsea and Boston, Massachusetts, ship builder.
Physical Location
Phillips Library Stacks
Provenance
This material was donated by John Taylor in March 1933 (acc #9125).
Processing Information
Collection processed by Tamara Gaydos, August 2016.
Subject
- Cummings, Josiah (Person)
- Goddard, Samuel (Person)
- Autocrat (Ship) (Organization)
- Benjamin Bangs (Ship) (Organization)
- Clare Wheeler (Ship) (Organization)
- Frederick Tudor (Ship) (Organization)
- Garnet (Ship) (Organization)
- Gazelle (Sloop) (Organization)
- George Washington (Ship) (Organization)
- Havelock (Ship) (Organization)
- Henry W. Pierce (Schooner) (Organization)
- John Taylor (Steamer) (Organization)
- Josiah Bradlee (Ship) (Organization)
- Kate Howe (Ship) (Organization)
- Lizzie D. Barker (Schooner) (Organization)
- Magnolia (Ship) (Organization)
- Matchless (Ship) (Organization)
- Panay (Ship) (Organization)
- Pericles (Bark) (Organization)
- President (Ship) (Organization)
- Robert (Bark) (Organization)
- Shakespeare (Ship) (Organization)
- Storm King (Ship) (Organization)
- Tiber (Ship) (Organization)
- Versailles (Ship) (Organization)
- Wilber Fisk (Ship) (Organization)
- Title
- JOHN TAYLOR PAPERS, 1844-1895
- Author
- Processed by: Tamara Gaydos; machine-readable finding aid created by: Rajkumar Natarajan.
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Phillips Library Repository