When James Taylor was born on 28 February 1731, in Goochland, Virginia, British Colonial America, his father, William Taylor, was 31 and his mother, Mary Hughes, was 27. He married Nancy Ann Owen on 3 December 1755, in Cumberland, New Kent, Virginia, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 5 daughters. He died in 1815, in Grainger, Tennessee, United States, at the age of 84, and was buried in Bethesda Cemetery, Morristown, Hamblen, Tennessee, United States.