Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

2838 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSLLOYD B. TAYLOR, M. D. From an early date in American history thenames of Taylor and Blaekwell have been interwoven and identified withthose events which have had an important part in the making of this country'sannals. The founder of the Taylor family was'George Taylor, who came toMiddletown, New Jersey, in 1662, and his descendants, in each generation,have had distinguished positions in military and civil life, in the marts ofcommerce and trade, in politics and in the professions. One of the early Taylorswas a general in the Continental army during the War of the Revolution, and another was George Taylor, a .signer of the Declaration ofIndependence.The founder of the Blaekwell family in America came to this country in1672, landing on Long Island, New York, and was given a crown grant to whatafterwards became known, as today, as Blackwell's Island. Representativesof the name fought in the war for American independence. A worthydescendant of the Taylor and Blaekwell families is found in the person ofDr. Lloyd Blackwell Taylor, one of the leading physicians and surgeons ofSavannah, Georgia. He was born on Long Island, New York, December 5,3878, and is a son of Dr. W. Rimson and Mary Lawrence (Blackwell) Taylor.Dr. W. Rimson Taylor was a noted practitioner of medicine and surgery ofAstoria, Long Island, and was a man of influence and wealth, having practiced at Astoria for thirty-eight years, or until his death in 1896. He marriedMary Lawrence Blackwell, who was born in April, 1841, and educated in thebest schools of New York and Europe, and a lady of refinement and culture.She still survives, at Greenficld, New Jersey. There were five children in thefamily: Mrs. Townsend Diekenson, of Plainfield, New Jersey; Miss Agnes R.,of Plainfield, New Jersey; Capt. W. 0., Third United States Cavalry, nowstationed in Texas; Ernest H., a member of the New York Stock Exchangeand a broker with offices in Wall Street, New York; and Dr. Lloyd B. Thefather of Dr. Lloyd B. Taylor was colonel of the Twenty-ninth Regiment,New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, with which he served bravely throughoutthe period of the Civil war, and an uncle also participated prominently inthat struggle, being staff surgeon of Pickett's Brigade, with the rank ofcolonel.Dr. Lloyd Blackwell Taylor attended the Rectory School at Hampton,Connecticut, as a boy, following which he entered the Polytechnic Institute,at Brooklyn, New York. His medical studies were begun in the College ofPhysicians and Surgeons, New York City, and while attending that institution the Spanish-American war broke out and he enlisted as a private in theNew York Volunteer Infantry, and with his regiment went to ChickamaugaPark and Anderson, Alabama. When the camp was stricken with the typhoidepidemic, his knowledge of medicine made his services exceedingly valuable,and as hospital steward he did much to alleviate the suffering of his comrades, but his constant and self-sacrificing labors finally terminated in hisbeing stricken with the same disease, and for many months he lay at thepoint of death.When he had recovered the war was over, and he resumed his medicalstudies, being finally graduated with honors from the University of Tennessee,at Nashville. In 1911 he came to Savannah and established himself in practice and here he has gained an enviable professional business and standing.He is at present serving his first term as city physician of Savannah. Hisprofessional connections are with the Chatham County Medical Society, theGeorgia State Medical Society and the Southern Medical Association, whilefraternally, he belongs to the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Alpha KappaKappa and the Theta Nu Epsilon. He has never lost his interest in militarymatters, and is at present captain and battalion surgeon of the Chatham Artillery of Savannah, having risen from the ranks. From his boyhood he hasbeen'a collector of rare and odd curios, and now has a wonderful collection