Charles S. Taylor Papers

Collection

Identifier: A-0031

Staff Only

testing

Go to file

Scope and Contents

Correspondence, invoices, tax receipts, field notes, deeds, powers of attorney, and other legal documents, Confederate warrants, notes, and orders for food to be supplied to Confederate soldiers' families, and genealogical material on the Taylor and Ruoff (Ruff, Roff) families of Nacogdoches.

Dates

Creation: 1810-1930

Language of Materials

The bulk of the collection is in English. There are also documents in Spanish and French.

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Biographical or Historical Information

Charles Stanfield Taylor was born in London, England, in 1808. He came to Texas in 1828, settling at Nacogdoches where he opened a mercantile business. The business was soon abandoned in favor of other pursuits.

Charles S. Taylor served as a member of the Nacogdoches ayuntamiento in 1832 and fought in the Battle of Nacogdoches. In 1834 he was elected Alcalde of San Augustine, and was appointed San Augustine Land Commissioner in 1835. Taylor represented the District of Nacogdoches at the First Convention at San Felipe de Austin in Oct. 1832 and was elected as a delegate from Nacogdoches to the Constitutional Convention, where he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836. He was appointed as Chief Justice of Nacogdoches County in 1837 by Sam Houston. Mr. Taylor served two terms as County Treasurer, 1850-54. After having been licensed to practice law in the Republic of Texas in 1839, Taylor remained very active in the profession for the remainder of his life, and was elected Chief Justice of Nacogdoches County in 1860, until his death on Nov. 1, 1865.

(Hudson, Linda Sybert. "Taylor, Charles Stanfield." The New Handbook of Texas. Vol. 6. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996. p. 215).

A great many documents associated with Charles S. Taylor still survive. The Dallas Historical Society has a collection called the "Taylor family papers, 1831-1921," which consists of 251 items (for description of this collection see the East Texas Research Center). The Catholic Archives of Texas at Austin also has some of Taylor's papers (Also available in the East Texas Research Center). Presumably, these are the papers given to the Catholic Archives by a Taylor descendant when the old Taylor home was dismantled in the late 1950s.

Extent

3.00 Cubic Feet

Additional Description

Arrangement

The bulk of this collection is described in 179 folders and was originally housed in nine clamshell boxes. Boxes 1-6 were consolidated into a single banker's box. the original folder numbering for boxes 1-9 remains in place. There are also two oversize bundles in the collection.