Talk:William W. Taylor

Article title / requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the . Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

Move. Duja ► 08:38, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Shouldn't this page be moved to William W. Taylor? Almost all of the cited references seem to refer to him using this name styling. I can't move the page there so it will take admin action to perform. Rich Uncle Skeleton (talk) 23:25, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I believe he was more commonly known as William Whitaker Taylor. See for example (even though they got his father's name wrong). --TrustTruth 23:54, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

That's one example, and there's one other from the 1884 Deseret News. Both of these appear to be obituary-style articles, so it's not surprising they would refer to the person's full name.

But what about all the other cites referenced that use the initial?: the Junius F. Wells article (which is also contemporary with Taylor's life); the Quinn article on the Council of the Fifty; the Quinn Dialgoue article; the William O. Lewis reference; the Kent Davis reference? The Encyclopedia of Mormonism uses the initial in its appendix, which lists all past general leaders of the LDS Church. Considering the variability on the spelling of the middle name (two Ts or one—probably one, but even the Encyclopedia of Mormonism uses two), I find it unlikely that his full name was in common use during his lifetime. It certainly hasn't been since his death, if the citations are any indications. Rich Uncle Skeleton (talk) 23:56, 12 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I see your point but there's nothing conclusive. There is a different (although lesser-known) William W. Taylor (no relation) in Mormon history. (See this historical marker for example: .) Plus, there is yet another William W. Taylor, an African-American I believe, who edited the Utah Plain Dealer during the turn of the century (see ). He was also an elected official in Utah. While I'm not completely opposed to redirecting, keeping it at William Whitaker Taylor lessens the need for future disambiguation discussions, like the one going over at his brother's article. --TrustTruth 00:05, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
 * As far as the spelling, it's John W. Taylor who messed it up. Their mothers were sisters, and even their gravestone shows it with one T. --TrustTruth 00:05, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

No disambiguation notice would be currently necessary, and they are easily added if needed in the future. I think the policy is to use the name they are most commonly known by as the article title. I think the preponderance of evidence is pointing to the initialization. The other WWT who is a Mormon is unlikely to have an article. If the other article is created, there's no problem with adding a (Mormon) disambiguation. That's why they were invented.

I actually do think it's rather "conclusive" that the initial was more commonly used. The only use of full name that I can see that was referenced were in obituaries. Rich Uncle Skeleton (talk) 00:07, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I now agree it was probably commonly known as William W. Taylor. I don't oppose the move. --TrustTruth 00:20, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the . Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.