Jonathan Taylor was an American pioneer and politician. He was a member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

. Taylor began his life in

Wabash, Indiana Wabash is a city in Noble Township, Wabash County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 10,666 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Wabash County. Wabash is notable as claiming to be the first electrically lighted cit ...

, before moving to the

Wisconsin Territory The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was ...

. In 1838, Taylor worked as an agent for a two-horse stage line operating between Mineral Point,

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

and

Fort Winnebago Fort Winnebago was a 19th-century fortification of the United States Army located on a hill overlooking the eastern end of the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers east of present-day Portage, Wisconsin. It was the middle one of three fo ...

, run by Colonel Abner Nichols. While working there, Taylor laid one of the first claims in

Sauk County, Wisconsin Sauk County is a county in Wisconsin. It is named after a large village of the Sauk people. As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,763. Its county seat and largest city is Baraboo. The county was created in 1840 from Wisconsin Territory a ...

near present-day

Sauk City Sauk City is a village in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States, North America. The population was 3,518 as of the 2020 census. The first incorporated village in the state, the community was founded by Agoston Haraszthy and his business partner, R ...

, along with Berry Haney and Solomon Shore. After Nichols died, Taylor purchased a two horse team and hauled goods between

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Milwaukee, and Madison. During the winter months, Taylor hauled sleds of

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

from Green Bay to

Galena, Illinois Galena is the largest city in and the county seat of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, with a population of 3,308 at the 2020 census. A section of the city is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Galena Historic District. The ci ...

and returned with supplies needed in

, Fond du Lac and Green Bay. He worked for a time as a contractor in Milwaukee, where he was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1857. He then moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with Charles Trainor, where he made a fortune laying block pavement.Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County. Madison, Wisconsin: Western Historical Association, 1909. OCLC 3347831. p. 164 Reprinted by La Crosse, Wisconsin: Brookhaven Press, 2000. , , ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Jonathan Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly People from Wabash, Indiana 19th-century American legislators Year of birth missing Year of death missing 19th-century Wisconsin politicians