Texas Legislators: Past & Present

Robert H. Taylor

Full Name: Robert H. Taylor
Birth date: July 5, 1825
Death date: May 10, 1889

Terms of Service

House, 16th ⁽¹⁾ ⁽¹⁰⁾ Legislature
1/14/1879 - 1/11/1881
Unaffiliated
House, 8th ⁽²⁾ ⁽⁵⁾ Legislature
11/7/1859 - 11/4/1861
Senate, 7th ⁽³⁾ ⁽⁴⁾ ⁽⁸⁾ ⁽⁹⁾ ⁽¹¹⁾ & 6th ⁽⁶⁾ ⁽⁷⁾ Legislatures
11/5/1855 - 11/7/1859
House, 5th Legislature
11/7/1853 - 11/5/1855
House, 4th Legislature
11/3/1851 - 11/7/1853

(1) Republican, 1/14/1879, p. 1. Galveston Daily News .
(2) [In late 1860 and early 1861] legislators Micajah Lewis Armstrong, John L. Haynes, and Robert H. Taylor mailed circulars to their constituencies defending their unpopular Unionist positions. They joined other Unionist legislators and convention delegates on February 6 in issuing an address entreating Texans to reject secession." "Origins of Early Texas Republican Party Leadership," Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 447. Journal of Southern History .
(3) Robert H. Taylor of Fannin, pp. 69, 96, 155. American (Know-Nothing) State Convention, January 21-22, 1856, in Austin (Delegate to National Convention); Radical Union Caucus, March 1866; Republican State Convention, August 19-20, 1873, in Dallas (Nominee for Lt. Governor). Platforms of Political Parties in Texas 1916.
(4) Listed in "Senators holding over: Opposition." Roster of 7th Legislature, "Texas Legislature Complete for 1857-8," Civilian and Gazette. Weekly. (Galveston, Texas), 9/8/1857, p. 2, crediting Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries) .
(5) Included in "Table II, Constitutional Unionists (Identified from newspapers) with Biographical Data," list of leaders of the Texas Constitutional Union Party in 1860. The party was formed in January of 1860. "The Constitutional Union Party in Texas," The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, Number 3, January 1979, pp. 238, 256-262, crediting Texas State Historical Association. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries) .
Table II, Constitutional Unionists
(6) Included "[a]mong 1855 legislators that this writer has positively identified as Know Nothings." The party was active in Texas at the state level between 1855 and 1857. "An Analysis of the Texas Know Nothings," The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, Number 3, January 1967, pp. 414, 416-417, crediting Texas State Historical Association. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries) .
(7) 6th Legislature, Regular Session - Roll of Senators elected since the last adjournment presented their credentials, and being qualified, took their seats, 11/5/1855, p. 2. Senate Journal .
(8) 7th Legislature - Roll of Senators (holdover Senator), 11/2/1857, pp. 1, 4. Senate Journal .
(9) Members of the Seventh Legislature, Biographical Notes - Members, April 1937 issue. Southern Historical Research Magazine 1937.
(10) Independent. Texas Legislative Manual, 1879-80 1879.
(11) 7th Legislature - Listed in "large cadre of returning senators," p. 276. The Texas Senate: Volume I, Republic to Civil War, 1836-1861 1990.

Biographical Notes and Resources

Resolutions and Journal entries

5th Legislature - Roll of Members, Robert H. Taylor, age 28, native state South Carolina, emigrated from Georgia in 1843, lawyer, postoffice Bonham, Fannin County. House Journal .

Photographs

Photograph. Robert H. Taylor, Texas Album of the Eighth Legislature

Other Resources

Mentioned in account of secession debates and vigilantism in the Sulphur Forks watershed counties of East Texas, pp. 35-41. Brush Men and Vigilantes: Civil War Dissent in Texas 2000.
Mentioned in "'Blessed with Peace!' War's Bitter Aftermath," pp. 102-136. Brush Men and Vigilantes: Civil War Dissent in Texas 2000.
R.H. Taylor, death date 6/10/1889, burial in Willow Wild Cemetery, Bonham, Fannin County. Includes portrait; reprint of obituaries in Dallas Morning News, 5/11/1889, and Fannin Guard, 5/17/1889; and biographical sketch of Col. Robert H. Taylor in Bonham News, 3/2/1909. Find a Grave .
TAYLOR, ROBERT H. (1825-1889). Handbook of Texas Online .
John C. Hays' 1st Regiment of Texas Volunteers, Captain, Company B, Mexican War. Confederate States Army, Colonel, 22nd Texas Cavalry. Handbook of Texas Online .
Mentioned in list of "Future Republicans . . . at one time or another championed Know-Nothingism." Baggett, James Alex, "Origins of Early Texas Republican Party Leadership," The Journal of Southern History, Vol.40(3), August 1974, p. 443. Journal of Southern History .
Included in list of "prominent Republicans who soldiered in the Confederate Army." Baggett, James Alex, "Origins of Early Texas Republican Party Leadership," The Journal of Southern History, Vol.40(3), August 1974, p. 452. Journal of Southern History .
Biographical sketch and portraits, "The remarkable life and times of Bonham native Robert H. Taylor," Tim Davis, 6/26/2007. North Texas e-News .
Biographical sketch and portrait. Texas Album of the Eighth Legislature 1860.
Robert H. Taylor. Texas Burial Sites of Civil War Notables: A Biographical and Pictorial Field Guide 2002.
Delegate to Constitutional Convention, 1866. Journal of the Texas State Convention: Assembled at Austin, Feb. 7, 1866. Adjourned April 2, 1866, pp. 3-5. Texas Constitutions Digitization Project (Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin) 2009.
Biographical sketch, pp. 27, 118. Texas in the War, 1861-1865 1965.
Biographical sketch, pp. 257-258. Elected as an Independent. Texas Legislative Manual, 1879-80 1879.
Biographical sketch, p. 261 - attorney, native of South Carolina. Confirms legislative sessions served; also served as Comptroller, and judge of Eighth District, ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor in 1873. The Texas Senate: Volume I, Republic to Civil War, 1836-1861 1990.
Biographical sketch, Col. R.H. Taylor, History of Fannin County, Texas, by W.A. Carter, 1885, pp. 127-128. "Before the war, he was a whig and strong Unionist, after the war, an active republican." Fannin County, TXGenWeb Project .