Edward Robeson Taylor

Edward Robeson Taylor was born on September 24, 1838, in Springfield, Illinois, the only son of Henry West Taylor and the former Mary Thaw of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (he was descended on his mother's side from the early colonial merchant, Andrew Robeson, of Philadelphia). Taylor was a lawyer and a poet, who moved to California to escape the Civil War. In 1898, he published a book of sonnets based on the paintings of William Keith.

On July 16, 1907, Taylor was appointed mayor following the resignation of Charles Boxton, who served only eight days after the conviction and removal of Eugene Schmitz. At 68 years of age, he became the city's oldest mayor (a record he still holds as of 2020). Taylor was elected to a full two-year term that fall, defeating three other candidates (including future mayor P. H. McCarthy) with just over half the vote. He declined to run again in 1909, and would be the last member of the Democratic Party to lead San Francisco for over half a century (until John F. Shelley was elected in 1963).

Edward Robeson Taylor died in San Francisco on July 5, 1923. His remains are housed at the San Francisco Columbarium.[1] The political economist Henry George credits Taylor for influencing his work on Progress and Poverty, one of the most popular and influential books in American history.[2]

• Exhibition spotlights career...
• An Extraordinary Mayor for an Extraordinary City
• Edward Robeson Taylor (1898), Sonnets of Edward Robeson Taylor on some pictures painted by William Keith (Sonnets of Edward Robeson Taylor on some pictures painted by William Keith. ed.), San Francisco: Printed by the E.D. Taylor Co., OL 7056901M

• Edward Robeson Taylor at Find a Grave