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Nathaniel Lane Taylor holds a Ph.D. in Medieval History from Harvard, where he taught history as a junior faculty member for several years, with visiting appointments at, among other schools, Brown University and the University of Kentucky. Since 2015, he has been Editor and Publisher of The American Genealogist. Genealogy and history publications range from medieval Spain, France, and Britain, to colonial New England and Virginia, with special topics including testamentary probate, medieval-to-modern descents, heraldry, and the history of genealogy. He is Registrar of the Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and serves some hereditary societies professionally as the genealogical officer, and participates in others as a member and (volunteer) officer. He was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists in 2011 and he was its Secretary from 2019 to 2022 and became Vice-President in 2022. He has spoken frequently on genealogy and heraldry in varied settings in the United States and abroad.

 

Memberships

 

Hereditary societies (member and volunteer officer) 

  • Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain (Herald/Genealogist; Archivist)

  • MOLLUS (Registrar, R.I. Commandery) 

  • Order of the Founders and Patriots of America (Registrar, R.I. Society) 

  • Society of Colonial Wars (past Historian, R.I. Society) 

  • Society of the Cincinnati (New Hampshire) 

  • General Society War of 1812 (Mass.) 

  • Sons of the American Revolution (RI) 

Hereditary Societies (genealogical officer)

  • Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain 

  • NSCDA in the State of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations 

  • Order of the Crown in America 

  • Order of the Three Crusades 

  • NSARD 

Other Organizations

  • Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (Registrar) 

  • American Society of Genealogists (Fellow, 2011–; Secretary 2019-2022; Vice President 2022-)

 

Authorships

 

  • The American Genealogist (Editor and Publisher; principal ongoing position since 2015) 

  • An American Taylor Family: Descendants of Richard Taylor (d. 1679) of Old Rappahannock County in the Northern Neck of Virginia for Seven Generations (the author: 1992-2022) 

  • A Roll of Arms Registered by the Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical Society: Eleventh Part (Boston: NEHGS, 2023)

 

Numerous articles and book reviews in journals including: 

  • The American Genealogist

  • The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 

  • The Genealogist 

  • Mayflower Descendant 

  • Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies 

  • Anuario de Estudios Medievales 

  • Haskins Society Journal 

  • Medieval Encounters

 

Other Notes

Dr. Taylor was born in Concord, Massachusetts, to the late Marvin Hunter Taylor and Elaine Doris Tucker Taylor. He resides in Rhode Island and New Hampshire, is married, and has four children. He is a musician by avocation and was formerly the organist and music director at an Episcopal church in Rhode Island.

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