TAYLOR, James Wickes, author, born in Starkey, Yates County, New York, 6 November, 1819. He was educated there and in Ohio, and in 1838 was graduated at Hamilton college. He was admitted to the bar of New York and Ohio, practised in both those states, and resided in the latter from 1842 till 1856, when he removed to St. Paul, Minnesota He was a member of the Ohio constitutional convention of 1849-'50, secretary of the commission to revise the judicial code of that state in 1851-'2, and was librarian of Ohio in 1852-'6. During the civil war, and for several years afterward, Mr. Taylor was special agent of the United States treasury, being charged with making inquiries into the reciprocal relations of trade and transportation between the United States and Canada. He was appointed United States consul at Winnipeg, Manitoba, 14 September, 1870, which post he has held ever since. He has engaged largely in journalism, published the Cincinnati "Signal " in 1847, and is the author of " History of the State of Ohio : First Period, 1620-1787" (Cincinnati, 1854); " Manual of the Ohio School System" (1857); " Railroad System of Minnesota and Northwestern Connections " (St. Paul, 1859) ; " Reports to Treasury Department on Commercial Relations with Canada" (Washington, 1860, 1862, and 1868); " Alleghania, or the Strength of the Union and the Weakness of Slavery in the Highlands of the South" (St. Paul, 1862); " Forest and Fruit Culture in Manitoba" (Winnipeg, 1882); pamphlets relating to the Indian question in relation to the Sioux war of 1862-'3 (St. Paul); and, with John R. Browne, "Mineral Resources of the United States" (Washington, 1867).