Garrett moved his family to Steuben County, NY in 1836
and on to Illinois in 1844. In 1844 when he came here,
there was no railroad and the I amd M Canal had not been built.
 Garrett would have been 53 years of age at the time they made this trip,
his wife 52, unmarried children of 16, 14, 11 and 8 plus two married
daughters and thier famileis. All of Garrett's sons owned farms in 
Woodstock Township at the time of thier death, all having bought, 
or inherited from thier father, farms quite close to the original homestead.

From the Rushville Times in 1906 comes the following story about thier trip 
to Illinois: Sixty-two years ago this fall, Garrett Taylor, a farmer of 
Bourbon County, New Jersey, decided to go west with his children and 
grandchildren including Mr. Walters and Mr. McMurty, his sons-in-law, 
(19 in all). They loaded their wagons and drove to Buffalo, New York, 
and come by the lake to Chicago, where they again loaded the wagons and 
drove to LaSalle, Illinois. Here they took to the water again and came by 
river steamer to Frederick, Illinois. They then drove to the wilderness 
south of Rushville, which they helped clear and transform into pleasant homes.