Final Years of A Distinguished Life
Taylor’s service in the Congress was brief, just over seven months. On February 17, 1777, when the Assembly appointed a new Pennsylvania delegation, Taylor was one of seven signers from Pennsylvania who were not among those re-nominated. Instead, in March, he was appointed to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Executive Council, which was formed to govern the province under its new constitution. Taylor attended all of the council’s daily meetings from March 4 through April 5, but fell ill and was bedridden for more than a month. He subsequently retired from the council, calling an end to his public career.
Taylor continued to oversee production of cannon shot and shells at Durham Furnace for the Continental Army and Navy. Not long after independence was declared, however, Joseph Galloway fled Philadelphia, first seeking refuge with British Gen. William Howe and later escaping to England. Galloway was subsequently convicted by the Assembly as a traitor, and his properties, including the Durham mill, were seized.
Taylor filed an appeal with the Supreme Executive Council that enabled him to finish out the first five years of his lease, but in 1779, the Commissioner of Forfeited Estates sold Durham Furnace to a new owner. Forming yet another partnership, Taylor leased the Greenwich Forge in what is now Warren County, New Jersey. In failing health, however, he moved back to Easton in April 1780 and died there on February 23, 1781, at the age of 65.
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