Rev Edward TAYLOR

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The Rev. Mr. Taylor who married Elizabeth Fitch and settled in the ministry at Westfield, Mass., had been a theological student in the family of rev. Mr. Fitch and through this connection developed an affection for the daughter of his teacher.

A curious love letter that Elizabeth fitch received from Mr. Taylor before their marriage has been preserved, (if not the original, at least a careful copy), which Miss Caulkins appropriately says, "displays in a striking manner the quaint and metaphorical taste of the age, - a taste, the decline of which can not be lamented, since it seems better adapted to the display of an elaborate fancy, than to express genuine feeling."

The address was accompanied with a crude sketch of a carrier dove with an olive branch in its mouth. Rev. Dr. Taylor then proceeds to show "that conjugal love should exceed all other love" but in illustrating this point he forgets the role of lover for that of the theologian and tunes into the style of a sermon which would not prove popular as a present-day love-letter. the drawing of the dove and olive branch, however, prove without doubt that the Rev. Dr. Taylor was pressing an ardent love suit in which he was successful. He was a man of great erudition and left a large number of MSS. to perpetuate his memory. After the death of his first wife, Elizabeth (Fitch) Taylor, whose daughter Hepzibah married Hon. Jon Pynchon, Rev. Mr.Taylor married Ruth Wyllis of Hartford. One of their daughters, by this marriage, was mother of President Stiles of Yale University, while their only surviving son Eldred, was the progenitor of a numerous and distinguished family.

Edward married Elizabeth FITCH on 05 Sep 1674 in Westfield, Hampden Co., Massachusetts. Elizabeth (daughter of Rev James FITCH and Abigail WHITFIELD) was born in Jan 1651/2 in Old Saybrook, Middlesex, Connecticut, USA; died on 07 Jul 1689 in Norwich, New London, Connecticut, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Anne TAYLOR was born in 1696; died on 05 Jul 1748.

Edward married Ruth WYLLYS on 2 Jun 1692. Ruth (daughter of Samuel WYLLYS and Ruth HAYNES) was born in 1656; died on 27 Jan 1730 in Westfield, Hampden Co., Massachusetts; was buried in Old Burying Ground, Westfield, Hampden Co., Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]