His middle name, confirmed in contemporary genealogical research records of his grandson's wife, Helen Elizabeth (Merchant) Jones (1839-1928) and in possession of the manager of this memorial, honors Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730-1794), Prussian military genius who trained George Washington's bedraggled militia at Valley Forge, molding it into a powerful force that fought the mighty British to a draw at the Battle of Monmouth. In the Battle of Stony Point, American soldiers attacked with unloaded muskets and won the battle solely on Steuben's bayonet training. Many historians consider him to be the second-most-indispensable hero of the American Revolution after Washington. Steuben's ideas and techniques remained the foundation of the U.S. military protocol for 150 years.

He clearly made an impression on William's father, William Taylor Jr (1757-1835), who served under Steuben while encamped at Valley Forge, and at the Battles of Monmouth and Stony Point. In addition to William's middle name, he named a son after the "Baron": Steuben Taylor (1795-1824). The name appears frequently for generations thereafter among several descendant Taylor lines.

22 September 1807: married Nancy Wickham in Canton (known as West Simsbury bef. 1806), Hartford Co., Connecticut.

1808-1810: removed from Canton to Barkhamsted, Litchfield Co., Connecticut.

1814: following the death of his first wife, William Steuben Taylor left Barkhamsted with their three young children and established a farm in Jefferson, Schoharie Co., New York. The famed Taylor Farm, near what later became Stamford, Delaware Co., New York, remained in family operation through the late 20th century (today, a B&B!) as wonderfully recounted by his great-grandson, George Danforth Taylor (1888-1959) in "These Hills Are Not Barren, the Story of a Century Farm", Exposition Press, New York, 1950.

12 October 1815: married Nancy Agnes Rickey in Stamford, Delaware Co., New York.

15 September 1850: married Eunice M. Mallison in Stamford, Delaware Co., New York.