Horatio T. Taylor

Horatio Theodore Taylor (June 13, 1827 – April 27, 1905) was an American merchant, salesman, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was an early settler at Racine, Wisconsin, and represented the city in the Wisconsin State Assembly during the 1863 session. He also served as sheriff of Racine County, and was an early employee of the J. I. Case Company.

Biography Horatio T. Taylor was born June 13, 1827, in Batavia, New York. He was sent to study at an academy in Rochester, New York, and later at Clarence Hollow. When he was just 14 years old, in 1841, he traveled west to the Wisconsin Territory and went to work as a salesman for Lee & Dickson, the first mercantile house in Racine. He worked for ten years, then, in 1851, opened a grocery store, which he operated successfully for thirty years. He was appointed a deputy sheriff of Racine County in 1857, and simultaneously served as deputy U.S. marshal.

Rather than running for re-election as sheriff, in 1862, Taylor ran for Wisconsin State Assembly, and was elected to represent Racine County's first Assembly district—comprising just the city of Racine. He did not run for re-election in 1863.

He as an associate of Jerome Case through religious and political affairs, and in 1875 he went to work for the J. I. Case Company. He worked nine years as a traveling salesman for Case, and then worked in the stock department of the company for a number of years until his retirement.

He married Maria Campbell, the daughter of another Wisconsin pioneer, on November 28, 1850. They had three children together, though one child died young. His wife died in 1876.