Joe Taylor

Capt. Joe Taylor. Clover bottom
Came to Lexington, June 17-1784. Then went a week to Robin Johnson’s fort at the crossings. John Hared, Geo. McDonald, Abraham Dale, Mrs. Singleton, my sister, and myself, and John Taylor, and a negro woman, came down in a pirogue. There was a fort at Limestone, and the Indians had driven away the people and burnt the fort, when we got there. My brother John hid $1800 worth of goods, in the woods, at Limestone. We were 14 days coming down. John Taylor’s family was then at Craig’s fort, within 4 miles of Genl. Ben. Logan. When we came down, we met a company of surveyors at Limestone, who bought our pirogue in 40 minutes, and went up to Pittsburgh. Capt. William Wright was the surveyor, and there were 12 or 13 men, chain carriers, Got $8.00 for the canoe.

from the Draper Papers, 1KC228

Lyman C. Draper (1815-1891) collected information on America’s first frontier and its notable figures and events, such as Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clarke, and The Battle of King’s Mountain. Draper’s papers include a treasure trove of information on the frontier settlers of the Carolinas, Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.

The original papers are held at the Wisconsin Historical Society. They include thousands of handwritten letters of correspondence comprising nearly 500 volumes of information not available anywhere else about the pioneer settlers of the trans-Allegheny West.