--Other Fields
NCHI: 1 @I172@ Source #164 Source #344

Captain Othniel TAYLOR (1719-1788); member
of the Committee of Safety of Charlemont, Massachusetts. Had six sons in
the Revolutionary War.345

Married his step-sister, Martha, daughter of Daniels Arms, she being then fourteen years and four months of age. Capt. Othniel TAYLOR was born on 27 Apr 1719 in Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts.705,706 He died on 27 Dec 1788 in Charlemont, Franklin, Massachusetts.707 He was buried in Old Cemetery, Charlemont, Franklin, Massachusetts.708 The History of Buckland 1779 - 1935 by Fannie Shaw Kendrick & Lucy Cutler Kellogg. Published by The Town of Buckland, Buckland, Mass. 1937. p. 642.
"Cleared land in Charlemont, 1742, and was one of the earliest settlers"; a trader in furs and deer leather from New England to Albany, N.Y.; made snow shoes in quantities. In the last French war, his house wit that of his brother Jonathan, was enclosed with palisades, and he was sergeant in command of a garrison. In 1759 he was a licensed inn holder, "there being no tavern between Deerfield and York Government." He was an active Whig and Captain of a company in the Continental army; tradition says he was near Boston, April 19, 1775 and rode homeward 100 miles, giving the alarm, without geeting off his horse.
Othniel Taylor's purchase of 1000 acres of land, Nov. 1, 1742 from Phineas Stevens "at the east end of Charleymount" included about five hundred acres within the present town of Buckland, He gave to each of his sons a farm, five of them being in Buckland, where he added by purchase in 1771, form Gardner Wilder, another five hundred acres to his original farm.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Buckland, like the rest of western Massachusetts, was originally incorporated as Hampshire County in 1662, while it was still inhabited by Indians.

Buckland was originally part of the towns of Charlemont and Ashfield. Its settlers had no established name for their town, and thus called it "No Town". Settlers arrived as early as 1742. Among the first settlers were the Taylor, Ward, Brooks, Carter, and Griswold families. Lt. William Putnam, Gardner Wilder, Lt. James Butler, Josiah Johnson, Col. John Ames, Enos Pomeroy and Daniel Trowbridge.

Othniel Taylor bought a large tract of land in the southeast section in 1742. With the help of Asaph White, he built and operated three sawmills on Clesson's River, the first of which was completed in 1769. Lumber from the original mill was used to build what may be the first house in Buckland, constructed in 1770, which was occupied by Taylor's son, Samuel, and Samuel's wife Esther (White). The house was located on a farm given to Samuel Taylor by his father in what is now Buckland center.

In 1779, residents of what is now Buckland found it inconvenient and sometimes hazardous to cross the Deerfield River to attend church, school and town functions in Charlemont, and therefore petitioned the General Court for incorporation as a separate township. The petition read in part, "Inhabitants of No Town being a Non incorporated State are in Consequence thereof Destitute of Gospel Ministry and Schooling and the means of providing and making Roads and all Other Town Privileges and Labour under the Inconvenance of being Taxed to Sundry Towns, and those of Charlemont being at the Extreme part of the Town some of which are about Six miles from Charlemont Meeting House, and all Separated from the main body of Deerfield River which is very Difficult to pass the greater part of the year and are therefore Destitute of Preaching and Schooling and other Town Advantages..."

The town of Buckland was incorporated April 14, 1779.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 15, page 448
Taylor, Othniel.Lieutenant and Adjutant, Col. Thomas Marshall's (10th) regt.; Continental Army pay accounts for service from Jan. 1, 1777, to Dec. 31, 1779; reported as serving 23 mos. 15 days as Lieutenant, 12 mos. 15 days as Adjutant; also, 2d Lieutenant, Capt. William Warner's (6th) co., Col. Marshall's regt.; list of officers in the Continental Army; commissioned Jan. 30, 1777; also, communication addressed to the Council, endorsed "March 27th 1777," signed by Col. Thomas Marshall, stating that said Taylor, 2d Lieutenant, Capt. Warner's co., and other officers in his regiment had not received their warrants, and asking that they might be issued as the men were ready to march; also, return of officers for clothing, dated Boston, Jan. 20, 1779; also, Lieutenant, Capt. Warner's co., Col. Marshall's regt.; muster rolls of field, staff, and commissioned officers for Jan. and March, 1779, dated West Point; appointed Nov. 6, 1776; reported ranked as 6th Lieutenant; also reported as serving as Adjutant; commissioned March 2, 1778; also, same co. and regt.; muster roll for April, 1779, dated West Point; also, Adjutant, same regt.; return of officers, dated West Point, Aug. 21, 1779; also, Lieutenant (also given Adjutant and Captain), Col. Marshall's regt.; Continental Army pay accounts for service from Jan. 1, 1780, to Dec. 31, 1780; reported as serving 10 mos. as Lieutenant and Adjutant, 2 mos. as Captain; appointed Adjutant Jan. 1, 1779, promoted to Captain Nov. 1, 1780; also, Lieutenant, Capt. William Park's (3d) co., Col. Marshall's regt.; muster roll of field, staff, and commissioned officers, for Oct., Nov., and Dec., 1780, dated Huts near West Point; appointed Jan. 1, 1777; reported as serving as Adjutant; commissioned March 2, 1779; also reported on furlough; furlough to expire April 1, 1779; also, letter from Benjamin Tupper, Colonel, 10th Mass. regt., to His Excellency John Hancock, dated Boston, Feb. 27, 1781, recommending certain officers for commissions; said Taylor, Captain Lieutenant, recommended for a Captaincy to date from Oct. 30, 1780; ordered in Council Feb. 28, 1781, that a warrant be issued; also, Captain, Col. B. Tupper's (10th) regt.; list of officers promoted in the Continental Army and for whom warrants were made out; warrant issued Feb. 28, 1781; also, certificate dated Phillipsburgh, July 11, 1781, signed by said Taylor, Captain, 10th Mass. regt., certifying that Perez Williams, of Deerfield, enlisted into his company subsequent to Jan. 1, 1781, and had received no bounty from "the Continent, State, or Town;" also, Captain, Col. Tupper's regt., commanded by Col. Thomas Marshall prior to Jan. 1, 1781; service from Jan. 1, 1781, 24 mos.