Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

was a respected farmer, and an unblemished char-
acter, and much esteemed for integrity and piety.
He was father to Captain Daniel Taylor of Danbury
and the Rev. Nathaniel Taylor of New MU-
ford.
Daniel Taylor married (first)
Benedict; (second) Starr.
(IV) Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, son of
Daniel and (Starr) Taylor, was
born in Danbury, Connecticut. He was
graduated from Yale with class of 1745,
and shortly afterward began his prepara-
tion for the ministry. On June 29, 1748,
he was ordained pastor of the Congrega-
tional church in New Milford, and filled
this post until his death on December 9,
1800, at the age of seventy-eight years.
Rev. Nathaniel Taylor was one of the
leading divines of his day in Connecticut.
Portraits of himself and his wife, painted
by the English artist Earl are in the pos-
session of his descendants. One repre-
sents him in the pulpit, holding in his
hand his Bible, which he was never with-
out when preaching. Some of his sermons
have been preserved as originally
written, in a perfectly formed yet minute
hand on sheets of paper small enough to
fit within the covers of his Bible. Rev.
Nathaniel Taylor married (first) Tamar
Boardman, daughter of Rev. Daniel
Soardman, who died June 27, 1795, aged
seventy-two years. He married (second)
Zippora (Strong) Bennett, member of a
prominent Long Island family.
(V) Colonel Nathaniel (2) Taylor, son
of Rev. Nathaniel (i) and Tamar (Boardman)
Taylor, was born in New Milford,
Connecticut, in 1753. He married (first)
Anne Northrop, August 31, 1774. She
was born April 14, 1751, and died April
10, 1810, aged fifty-nine years. He mar-
ried (second) Susanna Gunn, widow of
Abner Gunn. He was the only son who
was not educated at Yale, preferring to
engage in business as an apothecary and
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
18
druggist, which business he followed during
the greater part of his life. He was
often called Dr. Taylor, and was an hon-
ored and respected figure in the life of
New Milford. His granddaughter, wife
of President Porter, of Yale, wrote of
him:
He died when I was too young to remember
him, and not residing in the same place my knowl-
edge of his life and character are limited. I only
know that he was respected and loved, and was a
kind and indulgent husband and father; and judg-
ing from his letters found among my father's
papers, he must have been a person of religious
principle, if not a professing Christian.
Large portraits of Colonel Nathaniel
Taylor and his wife, painted by Earl, are
in the possession of the family.
(VI) Rev. Nathaniel Williams Taylor,
D. D., son of Colonel Nathaniel (2) and
Anne (Northrop) Taylor, was born in
New Milford, Connecticut, June 23, 1786.
After graduating from Yale College in the
class of 1807, he lived for several years
with Dr. Dwight, acting as his secretary
and reading divinity under his directions.
As pastor of the First Church of New
Haven, 1812-22, he gained a great reputa-
tion as a preacher, and actively favored
revivals. Dr. Bacon described his sermons
as "solid and massive, full of linked
and twisted logic, yet giving out at every
point sharp flashes of electric fire." From
November, 1822, he was Dwight Professor
of Didactic Theology at Yale
College. He was the father and chief
apostle of "the New Haven theology"
which was the liberalism of his time and
communion—a modified Calvinism, developed
from Edward, harmonizing the
"exercise scheme" of Buxton, and insisting
on the freedom of the will. These
views as set forth in the "Christian Spectator,"
(1819-39), in his class lectures, and
especially in an address to the clergy in
1828, were strenuously opposed by Nen-