Robert Love Taylor (July 31, 1850March 31, 1912) was an American politician, writer, and lecturer. A member of the Democratic Party, he served three terms as the 24th governor of Tennessee, from 1887 to 1891, and again from 1897 to 1899, and subsequently served as a United States senator from 1907 until his death. He also represented Tennessee's 1st district in the United States House of Representatives from 1879 to 1881, the last Democrat to hold the district's seat.
A charismatic speaker, Taylor is remembered for defeating his older brother, Alfred A. "Alf" Taylor, in the 1886 gubernatorial campaign known as "The War of the Roses." The campaign involved storytelling, fiddle-playing, and practical jokes, standing in contrast to the state's previous gubernatorial campaigns, which typically involved fierce rhetoric and personal attacks. His father, a member of the Whig Party, had been defeated by Andrew Johnson in a campaign for Congress in 1849 but would win the seat in the mid-1850s. His mother's family supported the Democratic Party, and her brother, Landon Carter Haynes, was a prominent Democratic politician. Robert Taylor would adopt his mother's political leanings and become a Democrat, and his older brother, Alfred, would follow his father into the Whig (and later Republican) Party. The family moved to Washington in 1867 when Nathaniel Taylor was appointed as Commissioner of Indian Affairs by President Andrew Johnson. Robert Taylor took a position in the Treasury Department.
The remains of both Robert Love Taylor and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Halbert Taylor, were removed from the Old Gray Cemetery in Knoxville on October 5, 1938 and later interred at the Monte Vista Memorial Park in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Family
Taylor's great-grandfather, General Nathaniel Taylor (1771–1816), served during the War of 1812. Taylor's father, Nathaniel Green Taylor (1819–1887), served two terms in Congress (1853–1855 and 1866–1867), and published poetry and religious essays.
Taylor was married for a third time to Mamie St. John in 1904.