Biography

"Benjamin Ogle Tayloe was an American businessman, bon vivant, diplomat, and influential political activist in Washington, D.C. during the first half of the 19th century. Although he never held elective office, he was a prominent Whig and influential in presidential electoral politics in the 1840s and 1850s. His home, the Tayloe House, became a salon for politically powerful people in the federal government and socially influential individuals in the United States and abroad (like W.H. Seward). Tayloe was also a party in the important 1869 contract law case, Willard v. Tayloe, 75 U.S. 557. Frances Seward mentions that she is living, while staying in Commodore Roger's old mansion, to the south of Ogle Taloe's house in 18600800FMS_LMW1.