Samuel Penfield Taylor

Samuel Penfield Taylor (October 9, 1827 – January 22, 1886) was an American entrepreneur who made his fortune during the California Gold Rush. He is best known for building the Pioneer Paper Mill, the first paper mill in California. Taylor sailed from Boston Harbor in a schooner that he purchased with a group of friends, arriving in San Francisco ten months later.

Taylor's first business in California was a bacon and egg stand on the beach. "Upon arrival Taylor found a wooden cask of eggs floating near the shore. He cooked the eggs, overturned the cask, and set up a food stand on the beach."

There were many Sarahs in Washington Irving's family. His niece Sarah who lived with Irving until his death never married according to officials at his Sunnyside residence.

There is no record that Samuel P. Taylor ever claimed to be the grandson of the signer of the Declaration of Independence, nor that Sarah Washington Irving Taylor claimed to be the niece of Washington Irving. The earliest known written record of the claim is in Pioneering in Marin County, A Historical Recording by Bertha Stedman Rothwell, dated June 1959.