Edward Thompson Taylor
| Edward Thompson Taylor | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 25, 1793 Richmond, Virginia |
| Died | April 6, 1871 (aged 77) Boston, Massachusetts |
| Buried | Mount Hope Cemetery, Mattapan, Massachusetts |
| Denomination | Methodist |
| Residence | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Spouse | Deborah D. Millett |
Edward Thompson Taylor (December 25, 1793–April 6, 1871) was an American Methodist minister. He joined the New England Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1819 and was an itinerant preacher in southeastern New England for 10 years. In 1829, the Port Society of Boston hired Taylor to be the chaplain of the Seamen’s Bethel, a mission to sailors. In Boston, “Father Taylor” became famous as an eloquent and colorful preacher, a sailors’ advocate, and a temperance activist.
Edward T. Taylor was born near Richmond, Virginia, on December 25, 1793, but he never knew his parents. Raised by a foster mother, he ran away from home at the age of seven to begin a career as a sailor. In 1811 he came to the port of Boston, Massachusetts. There, he heard a sermon by Edward D. Griffin at the Park Street Church and exclaimed, "Why can't I preach so? I'll try it." Not long after, Taylor heard the powerful preaching of the Methodist Elijah Hedding, and he began attending Methodist church services and prayer meetings.
During the War of 1812, Taylor shipped aboard the privateer Curlew, which was captured by the British ship Acasta and its crew held at Melville Island. Taylor's fellow prisoners asked the prison commandant to allow him to lead worship services in the prison.
After his release from Halifax, Taylor returned to Boston and attended the Bromfield Street Methodist Church. He was licensed as a lay preacher in 1813 and took a job driving a horse and cart for a Boston store, traveling through the countryside to sell tinware and rags. After a year or two, he settled in Saugus, Massachusetts, living in the home of a pious widow. The widow paid Taylor to work her small farm by teaching him how to read. He began holding prayer meetings and services in the widow’s house; when his audiences grew, he moved his services to a schoolhouse in East Saugus. Solomon Brown, a local shoemaker who was also a Methodist deacon, became Taylor’s supporter. In 1817, Amos Binney, Commandant of the Boston Navy Yard and a prominent Methodist layman, recommended that Taylor receive formal training. He sent Taylor to Wesleyan Academy in Newmarket, New Hampshire.
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