Life History

Notes

• There are two different sets of parents reported widely as the parents of Sarah Dabney Strother, who became the wife of Richard Taylor and the mother of Zachary Taylor, President of the USA.
  
  Many family sources have as her parents Anthony Strother and Frances Eastham.
  
  Anthony Strother was born in 1725 in Hanover County, Virginia. He died in 1810 in Hardy County, Virginia.
  One source gives birth as in Culpepper County, Virginia. Sources also differ on birth date: 1725, 1732, 1738. Death is reported to be in Hardy County, Virginia. Hardy is no longer a county name in Virginia.
  Frances Eastham was born on 3 Mar 1747 in Orange, Virginia, United States and died on 1777 in Hardy, Bedford, Virginia.
  Anthony Strother and Frances Eastham married.
  Daughter Sarah Pannill Dabney Strother was born on 14 Dec 1760 in Rapidan, Orange, Virginia. She married Richard Taylor on 20 Aug 1779 in Rapidan, Orange, Virginia.
  She died on 13 Dec 1822 in Louisville, Jefferson, Kentucky.
  
  Researcher Steve Taylor pointed out to me some formal sources that have different parents.  I also found that the Kentucky Historical Society research had earlier reported the parents Steve had discovered in sources, William Strother and Sarah Bailey (also spelled Bayley in some sources).
  
  Most sources give Sarah's full name Sarah Pannill Dabney Strother.  There are differences of date of birth among the sources.
  
  Many sources give Sarah four names, Sarah Pannill (or Pannell) Dabney Strother.  The Pannill/Pannell was her mother's first married name.  Sarah Bailey or Bayley had married William Pannill.  When he died she married William Strother, Sarah's father.  It seems a bit odd that her mother would have named her after her first husband.  Some sources give her name as Sarah Dabney Strother.
  
  Parents of Sarah Panill Dabney Strother
  -----------------------------------
  Wm. Strother "of Orange" was the second son of Francis Strother and Susan Dabney. In 1751 he married Sarah Bailey Pannill, widow of Wm. Pannill, who died in 1749.
  
  His wife's maiden name was Sarah Bailey, a lady of unusual intelligence and many other charms. She had several children by the first marriage. Feb. 20, 1752, she was assigned dower in the estate of her late husband, Wm. Pannill and Wm. Strother was appointed guardian of her children. By the marriage to Wm. Strother "of Orange" were the following children:
  Susannah Strother - Capt. Moses Hawkins.
  Wm. Dabney Strother - killed battle Guilford Courthouse.
  Sarah Strother - Col. Richard Taylor. ...
  
  Sarah Strother was the third and last of the children of Wm. Strother of "Orange," and Sarah Pannill. Her birth was in 1760 and she was only fourteen years of age when her mother died. She married Col. Richard Taylor, who was a son of Zachary Taylor, Sr., and Elizabeth Lee, and Zachary Taylor, Sr., was a son of Col. James Taylor, who came to Virginia in 1658.
  
  Col. Richard Taylor was a gentleman of culture and colonel of the 9th Virginia Regiment during the Revolution. Soon after the termination of hostilities he moved from Virginia to Jefferson county, Ky., with his family. They had several children. Their son, Zachary Taylor, Jr., was born in Orange county, Virginia, in 1786, and was an officer in the U. S. Army, distinguishing himself during the struggle with Mexico, which service made him available to the Presidency, to which position he was elected, but the duties of the office were so taxing that he died before the expiration of his term.
  
  He married Margaret Smith and their son, Richard Taylor, was a lieutenant general in the Confederacy, and skillfully and ably distinguished himself during the Rebellion. Other children of Col. Richard Taylor and Sarah Strother were Hancock, Wm. Dabney, George, Richard, Joseph P., Elizabeth, Sarah and Emily, all of whom have many descendants in Kentucky and other Southern states, who are prominent in social, political and business circles. This ends the line of Wm. Strother of "Orange" and Sarah Pannill.
  --  Register of Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 16 By Kentucky Historical Society, http://books.google.com/books?id=XXIUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA98&lpg=PA98&dq=Sarah+Pannill+Dabney+STROTHER&source=bl&ots=IH2pRPRYon&sig=mxYASGklFNYmchUOqOpp10etdfQ&hl=en&ei=PjbpTLm4EYOKlwfkrtC-Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB0Q6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=Sarah%20Pannill%20Dabney%20STROTHER&f=false
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  Taylor researcher Steve Taylor pointed out to me two errors in the above material from Kentucky Historical Society, regarding the dates for James Taylor, father of Zachary Taylor, father of Richard Taylor.  The book says that Col. James Taylor "came to Virginia in 1658."  Steve points out that according to Taylor Family Bible at the Library of Virginia, James Taylor was born in 1674.  So the historical society left out a generation.  Further Steve says James was not styled a Colonel.
  --  Steve Taylor, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 22 November 2010
  
  U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
  Sarah Dabney Strother
  Gender: Female
  Birth 1760 VA
  Spouse Name: Richard Taylor
  Spouse Birth 1744 VA
  Marriage 1779 VA

Sources

• 1. Famous Americans, Family Trees
  • http://www.ishipress.com/pafg74.htm
• 2. World Family Tree Vol. 149, Ed. 1
  • Name: Name: MyFamily.com, Inc.; Date: June-2004;;
• 3. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
• 4. Taylor -- Zachary and Margaret
  • Name: Name: http://dgmweb.net/genealogy/FGS/T/TaylorZachary-MargaretMackallSmith.shtml;
• 5. Minnesota Cemetery Inscription Index, Select Counties
• 6. The Union Army, vol. 8, cited Ancestry.com
• 7. Find a Grave Memorial Registry