Elizabeth was enumerated in the 1850 census in Lavaca County, Texas, with her parents, Henry and Rachel Long. Elizabeth was 18, birthplace Tennessee.
Elizabeth was married in Lavaca County on 23 March 1851 to Joel A. Taylor.
By 1860 this couple is in the Caldwell County census dwelling #381:
Joel A. Taylor 33 m Miss Elizabeth R 29 f Tenn Lafayett G 8 m Tex Leonidas O 7 m " Henry L 5 m " Harriett C 3 f " Cortura C 1 f " Josephine??On May 6, 1862, Joel A Taylor enrolled in Company K, Allen's Regiment, under Captain Samuel J.P. McDowell. He was discharged October 24, 1862. A note on his service record says he was "entitled to transportation from Tyler, Texas". Perhaps that is as far as his unit had travelled when he was discharged.
Joel A. Taylors' Certificate of Disability for Discharge reads:
...He was born in Wilkerson County in the State of Mississippi is 34 years of age 6 feet 4 inches high, light complexion, grey eyes, light hair, and by occupation when enlisted a farmer.Joel Taylor was discharged from the army in 1862, but lived less than two years longer. He died 6 June 1864, according to Elizabeth's pension application. Elizabeth stated that after discharge from Company K, Joel Taylor reenlisted in Terrells Regi-ment in October 1863 and served until February 1864. In her application, signed 14 August 1899, Elizabeth stated she was 68 years old, a resident of Hamilton County, Texas, where she had been living since July 24, 1889. She said she had never married since Taylor's death and was in very feeble condition.
During the past two months, Said Soldier has been unfit for duty, owing to a Rheumatic affection which upon exposure prostrates him, therefore would recommend his discharge form the service. Sam'l J P McDowell
...chronic rheumatism...under constant treatment for more than two months and still grows worse. D. Port. Smythe surgeon
A witness for Elizabeth's pension application, W Henry Dudley, stated that "Taylor and wife had one boy Henry and three girls when he went to the army." One boy and three girls are found with Elizabeth in 1870. The two oldest boys must have died between 1860 and 1862. The third daughter was born after Josephine. The youngest girl in the census, Frances, would have been born about the time Joel died, but not when he "went to the army". She is not named in Enid's Family Record. She might be the Fanny Taylor who married R P Dillard in Caldwell County on 7 December 1882. Enid wrote that Harriet Taylor married a Dillard and lived in Oklahoma, perhaps confusing Harriet and Frances. Enid also shows a child named Alonzo.
Elizabeth is found in the 1870 census of Caldwell County
1023/1044 Taylor, Elizabeth 37 f TN Henry 14 m TX Harriet 13 f " Josephine 11 f " Frances 6 f "The household next door, #1022/1043, is
McMullen, W. J. 40 m MS Melone, Martha 14 f TX Mary 17 f TX McMullen, J. 13 m TX John 14 m TXThis John McMullen, age 14, appears to be the future husband of Josephine Taylor. John's parents were Walter J. McMullen and Mary C. Martin. They were married in Caldwell County in 1854. Mary died before the 1870 census.
In the 1900 census, John was 45, born in February 1855, in Texas. Both his parents' births are given as Mississippi. John and Josephine McMullen stated they had been married 24 years. No record of their marriage has been found. Their eldest child in 1900 was 20, but two of their nine children had died.
The 1880 census of Caldwell County shows an Elizabeth Taylor, age 48, with a daughter Fanny, age 16, and a son, Alonzo, age 8. Enid's Family Record shows Betsy Long Taylor as having a son named Alonzo. If her husband died in 1864, he could not have had a son aged 8. Perhaps the census taker got the age wrong.
Further information on this family has been difficult to obtain. A descendant of Elizabeth's, De Alva Stevens was in correspondence with Evelyn Wade in 1982, but has been impossible to locate for several years.