Marshall W. Taylor

Marshall W. Taylor, born July 1, 1846 in Lexington, Kentucky, the son of former slaves. His father died sometime in the 1850's and he was raised by his mother, who taught him some of the songs appearing in his hymnal. His mother wanted her children to be well educated. Marshall Taylor began teaching in Kentucky in 1866, was licensed to preach in 1868 and was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1870, serving churches in Texas, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. He was active in the Lexington Conference of the M.E. Church, living in Cincinnati during the early 1880's. He moved to New Orleans around 1886.

Dianne Shapiro, from "African American Song in the Nineteenth Century: A Neglected Source," by Irene V. Jackson-Brown from The Black Perspective in Music, 1976 in Readings in African American Church Music and Worship edited by James Abbington (Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2001)