A. B. Taylor

Born: 1796

Died: 1866

A. B. Taylor was one of only three men to ever be mayor of South Memphis before the two cities merged at Union Avenue.  A former keelboat captain, farmer and merchant Taylor served three terms as mayor of Memphis.  His tenure was during tough times nationally with the country teetering on Civil War and Memphians as conflicted as any other group of Americans.  All told he served during prosperous times with railroad progress and river trade moving along smoothly.

He did gain notoriety in 1854 when he called out the militia because 200 unarmed Irish men had arrived in the city looking for work on the railroad.  There was a high anti-catholic tide in the city at that time, but still it was enough of an over-reaction as to draw the ire of the local papers.  Taylor had been elected by a political group that styled themselves as the "Know-Nothings".  That group had run afoul of a number of Irish-catholics in St. Louis and this evidently prejudiced the mayor against a group of hungry men looking for work.

Taylor was a co-founder of Elmwood Cemetery and that is where he is buried.