1830 – born Paris, Bourbon County, KY
1850 – Census Montgomery Co, IN with father Rev. Samuel & step-mother Hannah (Crawford) Taylor
1851 – graduated from Hanover College, Indiana
1853 – Accepted at Princeton on certificate from New Albany Theological Seminary
1853 – Licensed to preach in Presbytery of Vincennes, Indiana
1854 – First charge at Batesville, Arkansas; health failed (“rupture of the lungs with severe hemorrhages followed“)
1855 – Synod of Texas w/father Rev. Samuel C. Taylor & b-in-law Rev. William C. Rice
1855 – ordained by Presbytery of Eastern Texas; father died on 9 June 1855
1856 – supply pastor for one year in Dallas, Texas; also preached at Lancaster, Texas
1857 – GA commissioner from Eastern Texas to Assembly at Lexington, KY
1857 – Constantine, Michigan (July – Nov)
1858 – Vernon, IN and Scipion, IN – Presbyterian Minister until May 1860, inadequate salary
1860 – June 25 – stated supply for Macomb, Illinois; resigned Oct 1 for health reasons (“again stricken by hemorrhage“)
1861 – Rochester, Minnesota until Aug 1862
1862 – Sept 1 – mustered in as Chaplain of 78th Illinois Infantry; single (not married). The 78th Illinois was recruited from western Illinois. The Lt. Colonel of the regiment, Carter Van Vleck, was a parishioner and elder in the Presbyterian church Robert served in Macomb, Illinois. The regiment’s surgeon Thomas M. Jordan, the adjutant Charles V. Chandler, and Major William Broaddus were also from Macomb. Company I was recruited from Macomb and surrounding areas.
1863 – counsel for 2 men hanged as spies
1863 – July 8 – resigned from Infantry due to health reasons
1864 – Nov, organized church at Colfax, Indiana. through Jan 1866
1866 – Feb; married Mary L. Babb in Cincinatti
1866 – 19 Dec died in Vernon, Indiana, of consumption
His wife Mary Babb was a sister of Rev. Clement E. Babb, D.D. The siblings were well-educated. Mary’s sister Harriet was a teacher at Ohio Women’s College, and her brothers Edmund and John both attended college. Their brother Clement attended Dickinson College and Law School, then Union and Lane Theological Seminaries, and Marietta College. Clement was an ordained Presbyterian pastor, and he performed Taylor and Babb’s marriage in Cincinatti. Clement was called to the pulpit of 2nd Presbyterian in Indianapolis (N.S.) vacated by Henry Ward Beecher in 1847. Babb was editor of, and contributor to, the “Christian Herald” and “The Herald and Presbyter,” Cincinnati, Ohio, fro 1853-1906, and editor of “The Occident,” San Francisco, 1875-80. He wrote for many other publications. Mary filed to have her marriage license re-recorded in 1890 in Cincinnati, as the original had been lost in a courthouse fire. She needed the official record to file for a pension from Taylor’s Civil War service.
Wilson, Joseph M. (1866-67). Presbyterian Historical Almanac, vol.9. Princeton, NJ. pp. 206-8. <http://books.google.com/books?id=LzFLAAAAMAAJ>Transcribed at: <http://indianagenweb.com/inmontgomery/bios/t/taylor-robert-francis.htm>
General Catalogue of the Alumni and Former Students of Hanover College. (1890). <http://books.google.com/books?id=-Xs4AAAAMAAJ>
Taylor is mentioned numerous times in letters Van Vleck wrote home. See: Van Vleck, Carter (2012). Emerging Leader: The Letters of Carter Van Vleck to His Wife, Patty, 1862-1864.