He was a half brother to John W. Taylor, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who was dropped from the body and excommunicated for refusing to give up plural marriage, and a brother-in-law to George Q. Cannon.

William reported that while crossing the ocean with John on the Steamship Dakota[3] on the way to England, he had a dream in which Jesus Christ appeared to him, took him by the hand, looked in his face, and asked "Will you ever doubt again?

Within months, he was also elected assessor and collector of taxes for Salt Lake City in February 1884.

However, on a Saturday evening that summer, he was attacked with "bilious colic" and died from the effects within a week.

Given his meteoric rise in church and public office, one historian commented that Taylor would be much better known if his life hadn't ended at such an early age.