Taylor descendants claim B. F. Taylor allowed the photos out of scientific interest.

Evidence

What a wonderful story, would love to help as much as I can with your research. I had an opportunity to meet Edmund Taylor, descendant of the Taylor family about two years ago; he invited me to his home to tell me more about the Taylor’s. We talked about everything except the elephant in the room. THE AGASSIZ PHOTOS. When I brought it up, he said B. F. Taylor was very much interested in science, so he allowed the photos. He went on to say [that the Boston politician Daniel] Webster visited South Carolina and saw how “well” the slaves were treated and it changed his opinion on slavery…. He also mentioned a slave named Sancho who was the only slave buried in the Taylor cemetery. He said he could read and write, and he was a minister. Going back to Colonel Thomas Taylor’s Will he leaves Sancho to his wife and after her death he would go to Benjamin Franklin Taylor. The Taylor family had plantations in South Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 402

Categorization

• QUESTION: The Webster anecdote and Sancho details are worth verifying; descriptive claim from a Taylor descendant colors the consent argument Harvard will later make.