Margarita Van Valkenburgh was born in 1742. She was a twin and the daughter of Albany carpenter Jacobus and Margarita Radcliff Van Valkenburgh. She grew up in a fair-sized family in a modest house in the first ward. Like her four sisters, she would marry an exceptional outsider.

In March 1764, she married newcomer John Tayler at the Albany Dutch church where she was a pewholder and occasional baptism sponsor. The marriage was childless but these Taylers adopted Margaret - the daughter of Margarita's sister, Eva Vernor.

These Taylers first lived north of the Mohawk River in Saratoga. By the outbreak of the war, they had relocated to the city of Albany where John Tayler had purchased a substantial home on State Street.

During the war, "Margery" was not in good health. In 1781, John Tayler thought his wife in danger and sought to send her to the safety of Poughkeepsie. But Margarita refused because, as Tayler told governor Clinton ". . . the enemy may kill me, I therefore, am to consider her as my bodyguard."

Margarita Van Valkenburgh Tayler died on July 16, 1796. She had lived only fifty-three years. Her husband lived until 1829.

Sources: The life of Margarita Van Valkenburgh Tayler is CAP biography number 1382. This profile is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.