Key Dates in Taylor Genealogy

Hi,

We are going to have several posts authored by project co-administrator Ralph Taylor, with input from project head, Dr. Leigh Taylor, and from me. We start with some basics that impact every Taylor, key dates.

1066 AD: Norman Conquest of England , bringing the word “tailleur” for a maker of clothing into the language. One Taylor line claims descent from an officer in the victorious army.

1350 AD: The approximate time surnames came into general usage. Most Taylor families first used the surname then; before that, it was “Robert, the town tailor”, not “Robert Taylor”. (Similarly with Carpenter, Cooper, Plummer & Smith.)

1607 AD: Founding of Jamestown , Virginia , the first permanent English settlement on the American continent. This event began English Taylor migration to what would become the United States of America .

1700 AD: The beginning of Scots Irish migration to America , bringing Taylor families from Ireland , particularly the Ulster & Armargh provinces. Taylor descendants hail from the Cameron clan.

1709 AD: Beginning of Palatine migration to America . Some Germanic Schneider families anglicized their name to its English equivalent, Taylor .

1763 AD: France ceded most of its North American territory to Great Britain , opening the way for British migration to Canada . We begin to see Taylor spelled as pronounced in various areas of the county: Tayler, Tyler, Tolliver, Taliaferro (Italian), Tailor, Taler, etc.

1788 AD: Britain established its first settlement in New South Wales , Australia . Many of the early settlers were convicts from England .