This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: TAYLOR/SAWYER/WILLIAMS/SMITH Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/yIB.2ACE/43.409.1 Message Board Post: Cynthia, all I know about Benjamin Franklin Taylor, Sr was that he was an orphan and had a sister (could this be Annie/Anna?) were adopted by different families. They did not know each other through life and the two families are unknown at this time. Information obtained from Family Bible that Leon Taylor (grandson) of Benjamin Franklin Taylor, Sr. had. No one knew his sister's name, but perhaps you've come across something that might tie them together? Do you have any other clues? The little bit else I know is that Benjamin was instrumental in the building of the railroads. He used his slaves, and he owned considerable stock in the Illinois Central Railroad. Leon Taylor also stated that his grandfather went to Calif during the Gold Rush, and that his grandfather died two weeks after coming back to Mississippi from pneumonia in 1860 in Carrollton, Carroll Co, MS. Though he did have a mine, his claims were never located. I don't know his birth date, but Benjamin's wife, Otera Emiline Sawyer, was born June 25, 1831. Linda