Taylor, Robert L.

The Rev. Robert L. Taylor arrived as an immigrant at the Port of Norfolk in 1803, and according to newspaper accounts, he was a minister in Richmond and ran a school for young girls. He married Mary Kaauth in Suffolk, Virginia, on January 16, 1813, and according to newspaper articles they had a young baby at the time of his 1815 trial. In August of 1815, he and his wife Mary held a public auction of their Richmond home, likely in response to his arrest, which was a well-known brickhouse adjoining the Capitol Square, formerly owned by Edmund Randolph, Esq. The following month, he was tried and convicted for (1) an assault with an intent to commit rape, and (2) for a mere assault of an eleven or twelve year old girl who was a student in his school. He invited his young pupil to his family home for tea, and at some point attempted to assault the young girl in a dark room, which was rebuffed. He threatened the child that he would slit her throat if she told anyone, but the child's parents brought this to trial with the young girl testifying against the Rev. Taylor. He was sentenced to a year in the penitentiary. News of this crime was covered in newspapers across the country.