James Barnett Taylor
James Barnett Taylor [1]
a Baptist minister, was born at Barton-upon-Humber, England, March 19, 1804. He came to New York with his parents while an infant; removed to Virginia in 1817, having already, at the age of thirteen, made a profession of religion; began to preach at the age of sixteen, and was formally licensed at twenty. He performed, for a year or two, missionary labor in the Meherran District, Virginia; was ordained May 2, 1826, at Sandy Creek, and, the same year, was called to the pastorate of the Second Church at Richmond, where he remained thirteen years. He was elected chaplain of the University of Virginia in 1839, and in 1840 became pastor of the Grace Street Church, Richmond, where he remained until 1844, and then entered upon his duties as corresponding secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention, which office he held with distinguished ability for twenty-six years. During thirteen of these years he was pastor of the Taylorsville Church, and was also in the Confederate army as colporteur and post- chaplain. For a short time he was editor of The Religious Herald. The Southern Baptist Missionary .Journal and Home and Foreign Journal were established by him. He wrote also a Life of Lot Carey, a Life of Luther Rice, Lives of Virginia Baptist Ministers, and had prepared, in part, a History of Virginia Baptists. After the war he took a deep interest in the spiritual welfare of the freedmen. He died December 22, 1871. See Cathcart, Baptist Encyclop. page 1134. (J.C.S.)
