Vincent Taylor

Vincent Taylor was born on December 22, 1839, in Jackson County, Michigan.

In 1850 there was one Vincent Taylor, age 11 years, living with the Hiram Fish (or Fisk) family in Sharon, Washtenaw County, Michigan. By 1860 Vinson was a farm laborer living with and/or working for Curtis Hawley, a “general dealer” (merchant) in Lyons, Ionia County.

He stood 5’8” with dark eyes, black hair and a dark complexion and was 21 years old and living in Grand Rapids or perhaps in Ionia County when he enlisted as Sixth Corporal in Company E on May 13, 1861, but was left behind sick in Grand Rapids on June 13, 1861, when the Regiment departed for Washington, DC.

Vinson returned to his home in Ionia County and was residing in Lyons when, on June 12, 1862, he wrote to Colonel Smith in the Adjutant General’s office in Detroit requesting instructions: “I report to you as not fit for service. I have been very sick with the inflammation on the lungs but am slowly [recovering] . My furlough runs out the 14th of this month but the doctor thinks that it will be best for me to stay here a few days longer. But if you think it is best to come there send me a pass and I will come.”

First Lieutenant Andrew Nickerson of Company E, wrote on July 26, 1862, that Taylor had been “absent from his regt since the regt left Mich having been left sick in the hospital at Grand Rapids when the regt left that place. Has reported regularly each month to his company by mail.”

Vinson was carried on the rolls as absent sick in Michigan in July and August of 1862, but was reported as having allegedly deserted on September 21, 1862, at Upton’s Hill, Virginia. He was in fact discharged on or about July 1, 1862, at Detroit, on account of typhoid pneumonia.

He gave his mailing address on his discharge paper as Lyons, and eventually settled in Portland.

Vincent married New Jersey native Sarah (1840-1917); she was probably married before and had a daughter Ida Earl (b. 1860) by her previous marriage.

By 1870 Vincent was working as a farmer (he owned $2000 worth of real estate) and living with his wife and stepdaughter in Portland. He was still living in Portland in 1890 and 1894, and probably lived in Portland the rest of his life.

Vincent was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Megarrah Post No. 132 in Portland. In 1890 he applied for and received a pension (no. 772973).

Vinson died a widower in Portland on November 1, 1918, and was buried in Portland cemetery: E-261-OS.