Thomas Nicholls Taylor was born on July 18, 1868, to George Taylor and Eliza Nicholls. He attended Provo city schools and later Brigham Young Academy. Thomas began his employment with Taylor Brothers, the store founded by his father, at the age of ten, and was continuously connected with the company throughout his life. He was named president and manager in 1890 and continued in the president's position until his death. Taylor married Maud Rogers on September 18, 1889, in the Manti Temple. They had nine children. He served as counselor in the Provo Third Ward bishopric from 1891 to 1900, when he became bishop of the ward, which position he held for nineteen years. In 1919, he became president of the Utah Stake and served in that capacity until 1939, when the stake was renamed Provo Stake. In 1939, he was set apart as stake patriarch, serving until the time of his death. Throughout his adult life, Taylor carried on correspondence with his good friend President Heber J. Grant, and other prominent Church leaders as well as businessmen and politicians. Taylor was a director of the Home Fire Insurance Company and organizer of both the Provo Building and Loan Association and the Farmers and Merchant's Bank in Provo. He served as mayor of Provo from 1900 to 1903 and as vice president of the Utah State Council of Defence from 1917 to 1919. He was president of the Utah State Bankers Association in 1918. In 1920 he was the Democratic candidate for governor of Utah. Taylor served as a member of University of Utah's board of regents from 1920 to 1924. From 1921 to 1939, he also served as a member of the Brigham Young University Board of Trustees and as chairman of the executive committee for many years. He served a year as president of the BYU Alumni Association and received the association's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1947. Thomas Nicholls Taylor passed away in Provo, Utah, on October 24, 1950.