Taylor, Joshua

Taylor, Joshua a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born at Princeton, N.J., Feb. 5, 1768. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker, and continued in his employ three years, when the death of his mother awakened his mind to his spiritual condition. After a severe struggle against skepticism, he entered fully into communion with the Church in 1791; became an itinerant preacher, and was appointed to Flanders Circuit, N.J. The next year he went to New England, and labored in the circuits of Fairfield, Middletown, Granville, and Trenton, in Connecticut. In 1797 he was transferred to Maine, and appointed presiding elder of the newly formed district in that State. In 1798 he united with his duties as presiding elder the care of Readfield Circuit. In 1801 Mr. Taylor was appointed to the Boston District; in 1803 he was returned to the "District of Maine." and in 1804 was stationed at Portland, Me. He located in 1806, continuing to preach in Portland and vicinity, and teaching a private school. In 1824 he was chosen one of the presidential electors of Maine, and cast his vote for John Q. Adams. From 1826 to 1848 he confined his labors principally to Cumberland. In the latter year he re- entered the Conference, was entered as superannuated, and was appointed chaplain to the almshouse, where he attended to the duties of his office till June, 1852, when he was disabled by paralysis. He died at his home in Portland, March 20, 1861. About 1802 he was engaged in a pamphlet controversy with a Rev. Mr. Ward, a Congregational minister who attacked Methodist doctrines. "The Methodist party was entirely satisfied with the result of the controversy." See Zion's Herald, April 3, 1861.