Taliaferro was born near Pine Ridge in Surry County, North Carolina but moved to Tennessee, where he was baptized two years later.

In Alabama, Taliaferro was highly regarded as a minister, and editor of a religious periodical, the South Western Baptist.

[4] Fisher's River Scenes and Characters is a collection of stories that accurately reflects the people of Surry County, North Carolina.

[5] Taliaferro's contribution to Southern humorist literature is unique due to the collection of other individual's stories and the accurate depiction of dialect.

[5] Taliaferro's writings employ southern dialect that creates a full image of not only the characters, but the culture in which the individuals reside.