Salute to Col. George Taylor in Catasauqua

As we continue our year-long America250 celebration, we're going to pay special tribute on this day to Col. George Taylor, the only signer of the Declaration of Independence who lived in both Bucks County and the Lehigh Valley.

We'll tour the George Taylor House in Catasauqua at 1 p.m., which Taylor built and lived in from 1768 to 1774, then head across the road to his namesake microbrewery, the Taylor House, to raise a glass to the founding father.

Born in Northern Ireland, Taylor came to the new world as an indentured servant in 1736. He was indentured to Samuel Savage Jr., the ironmaster of the French Creek Iron Works in Coventry Chester County.

Taylor learned the ironmaking trade, eventually married Savage's widow after Savage died and managed the Warwick Furnace and Coventry Forge in Chester County, before leasing the Durham Furnace in upper Bucks County in 1755. Taylor became justice of the peace in Bucks County from 1757 to 1763 before moving north to Easton after his lease of the Durham Furnace expired.

In Easton, Taylor again became a justice of the peace in Northampton County and was elected to the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. In 1768, he built a home on 331 acres at Biery's Point in present-day Catasauqua. He lived there until 1774 until once again leasing the Durham Iron Works from prominent loyalist attorney and businessman Joseph Galloway. Durham Furnace, under Taylor's management, would become the first ironworks in Pennsylvania to supply munitions to the Continental Army in 1775. Taylor was commissioned as colonel in the third battalion of the Pennsylvania militia that same year.

The following July, Taylor became a replacement delegate to the Continental Congress after all five of Pennsylvania's original delegates were forced to resign because they remained loyal to the British crown. That Continental Congress drafted the Declaration of Independence, which Taylor signed on August 2, 1776. He was the only resident of either Bucks or Lehigh Counties to sign the Declaration as well as the only former indentured servant, the only ironmaster and one of just eight foreign-born signers of the Declaration.

Taylor ended up losing his lease on the Durham Furnace in 1779 after the fledgling US Congress seized it from the traitor Galloway. He returned to Easton in ill health in 1780 and passed away the following year. His final residence in Easton, known as the Parsons-Taylor House, still stands today, the oldest residence in Easton. It serves as the headquarters of the George Taylor Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Taylor is buried in Easton Cemetery.

We'll have a guided group tour of the Taylor House (in Catasauqua) at 1 p.m. A $10 donation is suggested. Then we'll head across the road to Taylor House Brewing to raise a glass to old George. Join us for any part of the day you wish.

See you there!