Taylor, Hawkins

Born: 1811-11-XX Barren County, Kentucky

Died: 1893-11-06 Washington, D.C.

Flourished: 1836 to 1860 Keokuk, Iowa

Hawkins Taylor, a Republican politician, grew up in Kentucky, relocating to Fort Madison, Iowa, in 1836. Soon after, he settled in Keokuk, where he remained for many years. Taylor became a representative of the first Iowa Territorial Legislature in 1836 and served as sheriff of Lee County. While sheriff, he was sent to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he arrested Hyram Smith, the brother of Joseph Smith, for public disturbances during conflicts involving Mormons and the Illinois Militia. He also engaged in brick-making, building, and real estate sales in Keokuk. Taylor attended the 1860 Republican National Convention and moved to Washington, DC, upon Abraham Lincoln's election as president. In 1863, Lincoln appointed Taylor post office inspector of Kansas, a position he held until 1865.

Taylor married Melinda Walker in March 1834 in Sangamon County, Illinois. In 1860 the couple had six children.

Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 27 March 1834, Sangamon County, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 4, Keokuk, Lee County, IA, 145; The Evening Star (Washington, DC), 8 November 1893, 8:1; Sunday Davenport Democrat (IA), 12 November 1893, 4:2; The Council Bluffs Nonpareil (IA), 9 November 1893, 2:2; The History of Lee County, Iowa (Chicago: Western Historical, 1879), 175, 432, 438, 547.