US President Zachary Taylor

Here are some comments following up on the subject of the previous post. These are from fellow Taylor DNA project administrator, Leigh Taylor:

Have you ever been told that you were related to Zachary Taylor? If so, you’re not the only one! But this is only is true for a very few people. He is probably the best-known and most prominent Taylor in US early history. He is also the base of many myths for our participants.

It might be helpful to view the tree for Zachary Taylor at Rootsweb's WorldConnect. [See link in previous post.] As it turns out, Zachary had no living direct male descendants. His only two male grandchildren died very young. You have to look further up/down his tree to his siblings & cousins to find your connection to Zachary, if any. Most of those branches also "daughtered out". The short version is: If your surname is Taylor, you're probably not related to Zachary.

If you or members of your family have been told that you are related to Zachary Taylor, you might want to compare your markers with the markers for participants in group 2 and study their family trees. Members of Group 2 that claim to have a paper trail to Zachary are:

Kit# 54705 - 12 markers but no tree submitted

Kit# 58928 - 67 markers but no tree submitted

Kit# 24691 - 37 markers = Kit# N2079 - 12 markers

Kit# 48113 - 37 markers similar to above

from Kit# 48113:
1. James Taylor (1610 ENG- 1698 VA) +m2 Mary Gregory
2. John Taylor (1696 VA- 1780 NC) + Catherine Pendleton
3. Joseph Taylor (xxx VA - xxx xx) + xxx

from Kit# 24691 and Kit# N2079:
1. James Taylor (1610 ENG- 1698 VA) +m2 Mary Gregory
2. John Taylor (1696 VA- 1780 NC) + Catherine Pendleton
3. Edmund Taylor (1723 VA- 1808 NC) + Ann Lewis

Think You're Related to Zachary Taylor?

The answer is Yes, No, and Maybe!

If you were born a Taylor you may have grown up with a family story about being related to Zachary Taylor. Well, in one sense you are.

Just as you are related to Confucius, the Chinese Philosopher, or Cleopatra, the daughter of Ptolemy XII and ruler of Egypt. In that sense, as a member of the human race, you are cousins with Zachary Taylor, as well as cousins with Confucius and Cleopatra.

If you mean that you are a direct descendant of Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) the American military leader and the twelfth President of the United States, it is likely that you are not. The reason is that Zachary had only one son, Richard "Dick" Taylor (January 27, 1826–April 12, 1879), Confederate States Army General. Richard Taylor had two sons, Richard (born in 1857) and Zachary (born in 1860), who both died during the war after contracting scarlet fever.

Thus, there are no direct male descendents of Zachary Taylor, unless 150 years of public interest and genealogy has failed to locate another male heir.

If your claim to being related to Zachary Taylor, the 12th President of the United States, is based upon having the Taylor surname, you could still be related to him as a collateral relative. That is, your line could trace through his brothers, uncles, great-uncles, great-great uncles, and so forth. To check this go to the extensive list of his Taylor line, found at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=zachary-taylor&id=I1. Or see http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pmcbride/james/f061.htm.

But wait, there are still two other options. One is that you are a descendant of Zachary Taylor through the line of one of his daughters. Which you can investigate through the links provided. The other option is to be a biological relative of a heretofore unidentified line. That option would require DNA work to prove…

For more research:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary_Taylor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Taylor_(general)

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=zachary-taylor&id=I1

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pmcbride/james/f061.htm

Lalia Wilson, granddaughter of James Bentley Taylor, writing for the Taylor DNA Project