Taft family

The Taft family of the United States has historic origins in Massachusetts; its members have served Ohio, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Utah, and the United States in various positions such as Governor of Ohio, Governor of Rhode Island, U.S. Senator (two), U.S. Representative (two), Attorney General, Secretary of War (two), United States Secretary of Agriculture, President of the United States, and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Overview
The first known ancestor of the Taft family is Robert Taft Sr., who was born about 1640 in England and died in 1725 in Mendon, Massachusetts. His wife Sarah was born in England, too; they married in 1668 in Braintree, Massachusetts. Robert Taft Sr. began a homestead in what is today Uxbridge and was then Mendon, Massachusetts, circa 1680. His son, Robert Taft Jr., was a member of the founding Board of Selectmen for the new town of Uxbridge in 1727. A branch of the Massachusetts Taft family descended from Daniel Taft Sr., son of Robert Taft Sr., born at Braintree, 1677–1761, died at Mendon. Daniel, a justice of the peace in Mendon, had a son Josiah Taft, later of Uxbridge, who died in 1756. This branch of the Taft family claims America's first woman voter, Lydia Taft, and five generations of Massachusetts legislators and public servants beginning with Lydia's husband, Josiah Taft.

The Tafts were very prominently represented as soldiers in the Revolutionary War, mostly in the New England states. Peter Rawson Taft I was born in Uxbridge in 1785 and moved to Townshend, Vermont circa 1800. He became a Vermont state legislator. He died in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. His son, Alphonso Taft, was born in Townshend, Vermont, and attended Yale University, where he founded the Skull and Bones society. He later was Secretary of War and Attorney General of the United States and the father of President William Howard Taft. Elmshade in Massachusetts was the site of Taft family reunions such as in 1874.

History
The American Taft family began with Robert Taft Sr. who immigrated to Braintree, Massachusetts circa, 1675. There was early settlement at Mendon, Massachusetts circa 1669 and again in 1680 at what was later Uxbridge, after the King Philip's War ended. Robert's homestead was in western Mendon, in what later became Uxbridge, and his son was on the founding board of selectmen. In 1734, Benjamin Taft started an iron forge, in Uxbridge, where some of the earliest beginnings of America's industrial revolution began. Robert Sr.'s son, Daniel, a justice of the peace in Mendon had a son Josiah Taft, later of Uxbridge, who died in 1756. Josiah's widow became "America's first woman voter", Lydia Chapin Taft, when she voted in three Uxbridge town meetings. President George Washington visited Samuel Taft's Tavern in Uxbridge in 1789 on his "inaugural tour" of New England. President William Howard Taft's grandfather, Peter Rawson Taft I, was born in Uxbridge in 1785. The Hon. Bezaleel Taft Sr., Lydia's son, left a legacy of five generations or more of public service, including at least three generations in the state legislature of Tafts in Massachusetts. Ezra Taft Benson, Sr, a famous Mormon pioneer, lived here between 1817–1835, and married his first wife Pamela, of Northbridge, in 1832. This family eventually became an American political dynasty

The first settler: Robert Taft Sr.

 *  Robert Taft Sr. (c. 1640-1725); The famous Taft family in America developed its roots in Mendon and Uxbridge. Robert Taft, Sr came here from Braintree. The original American Taft homestead was in western Mendon, which later became Uxbridge, and was built by Robert Taft Sr., the first immigrant, in 1681. Robert Taft Sr. had built an earlier home in 1669, but it was abandoned due to King Philip's War. Robert Taft Sr.'s descendants are a large politically active family with descendants who are prominent in Ohio, but live throughout the U.S.A.
 * Robert Taft Jr.; was born in 1674 to Robert Sr., and Sarah Taft at Braintree. He grew up in the western part of Mendon in what later became Uxbridge. He became a founding member of the Uxbridge Board of Selectmen in 1727. Robert Taft Jr. may have been the first American Taft to hold political office. His descendants included a Governor of Rhode Island, Royal Chapin Taft, a United States Senator from Ohio, Kingsley Arter Taft, and a U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft Benson II, among others.

America's first woman voter and her descendants

 * Lydia Chapin Taft; Noteworthy among early Uxbridge residents was Lydia Chapin Taft, a Mendon native by birth, who voted in three official Uxbridge town meetings, beginning in 1756. She was the widow of Robert Taft Sr.'s grandson, Josiah Taft, who had served in the Colonial Legislature. Josiah was the son of Daniel Taft of Mendon. Taft was America's First Woman Voter. This is recognized by the Massachusetts legislature. Her first historic vote, a first in Women's suffrage, was in favor of appropriating funds for the regiments engaged in the French and Indian War.
 * Hon. Bezaleel Taft Sr., Lydia's son, held the rank of Captain in the American Revolution, and answered the Battle of Lexington and Concord Alarm on April 18, 1775, while Lydia looked on. He went on to become a prominent Massachusetts legislator, and State Senator. At least 12 soldiers with the surname of Taft served in the Revolutionary War from the town of Uxbridge. Many more Tafts from throughout the former colonies also served in the War of Independence.
 * Hon. Bezaleel Taft Jr., the son, followed a legislative career in the Massachusetts General Court, the state Senate, and the State Executive Council.
 * Elmshade- Bezaleel Taft Jr. and five generations of influential Taft's lived in a historic home known as Elmshade which was a gathering place for Taft family reunions, and which is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Young William Howard Taft and his father, Alphonso Taft, Secretary of War and founder of Skull and Bones at Yale, visited this home on a number of occasions.
 * George Spring Taft, Bezaleel Jr.'s son, was the county prosecutor, and Secretary to U.S. Senator, George Hoar. George Spring Taft also lived at Elmshade.
 * The tradition of public service continued for at least five generations in this Massachusetts branch of the Taft family. The "Life of Alphonso Taft by Lewis Alexander Leonard", on Google Books, is a particularly rich source of the history of the Taft family origins in Massachusetts.
 * Other local Tafts Other local Tafts in political service in the Massachusetts legislature included Arthur M. Taft, Arthur Robert Taft, and Zadok Arnold Taft. Royal Chapin Taft, originally from Northbridge, became the Governor of Rhode Island. The number of Tafts in public service across America was extraordinary including New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Ohio, Michigan, Utah, and other states.

A Presidential visit
November 8, 1789.
 * First President's visit; Samuel Taft was an American Revolutionary War soldier, father of 22, an Uxbridge farmer and tavern keeper. President George Washington stayed at the Samuel Taft Tavern in November 1789, during the founding father's inaugural trip through New England.
 * Sir:
 * Being informed that you have given my name to one of your sons, and called another after Mrs. Washington's family, and being moreover very much pleased with the modest and innocent looks of your two daughters, Patty and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls a piece of chintz; and to Patty, who bears the name of Mrs.Washington, and who waited more upon us than Polly did, I send five guineas, with which she may buy herself any little ornament she may want, or she may dispose of them in any other manner more agreeable to herself. As I do not give these things with a view to having it talked of, or even to its being known, the less there is said about the matter the better you will please me; but, that I may be sure the chintz and money have got safe to hand, let Patty, who I dare say is equal to it, write me a line informing me thereof, directed to 'The President of the United States at New York.' I wish you and your family well, and am,
 * etc. Yours,
 * George Washington
 * – Letter to Mr. Samuel Taft, written from Hartford, Connecticut on November 8, 1789

Mendon-Uxbridge connections to the Ohio Tafts, Presidential ancestors
President William Howard Taft's grandfather, Peter Rawson Taft I, was born in Uxbridge in 1785 and grew up there. His father Aaron moved to Townshend, Vermont, because of the difficult economy, when he was fifteen. The story is told that Peter Rawson walked a cow all the way from Uxbridge to Townshend, a distance of well over 100 miles. The "Aaron Taft house" is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Peter Rawson Taft I became a Vermont legislator and eventually died in Hamilton County, Cincinnati, Ohio. Peter Rawson Taft's son, Alphonso Taft, founded Skull and Bones at Yale, served as U.S. Secretary of War, and his son William Howard became the U.S. President. The ancestry of U.S. presidents traces to Uxbridge and Mendon more than once, including both presidents bearing the last name Bush. President Taft, a champion for world peace and the only president to also serve as Chief Justice of the United States returned to Uxbridge for family reunions. He remarked as he stepped off the train there on April 3, 1905, "Uxbridge,... I think I have more relatives here than in any town in America." Young William Howard Taft had made other trips to Uxbridge, and Bezaleel Taft, Jr's home, "Elmshade", in his earlier years. It was at "Elmshade" that young William Howard Taft likely heard his father, Alphonso Taft, proudly deliver an oratory on the Taft family history and the family's roots in Uxbridge, and Mendon, circa 1874. President Taft stayed at the Samuel Taft tavern when he visited Uxbridge, as did George Washington 120 years earlier. The New York Times recorded President Taft's visits to his ancestral homes in Mendon and Uxbridge during his Presidency. William Howard Taft, as a young boy, spent a number of summers in the Blackstone Valley in Millbury, Massachusetts, and even attended schools for at least a term in that nearby town.

A Mormon apostle
Ezra T. Benson (to distinguish him from his famous great-grandson, Ezra Taft Benson), a Mendon and Uxbridge native, is famous as a key early apostle of the Mormons religion. His own autobiography states that he lived in Uxbridge between 1817–1835, or about 17 years, after his mother, Chloe Taft and father, John Benson, moved to a farm there. Young Ezra married Pamela Andrus, of Northbridge, on January 1, 1832, at Uxbridge. He had moved in with his family in an Uxbridge center Hotel in 1827. He and Pamela lived here in the 1830s, had children, and had a child who died, which is recorded in the Uxbridge Vital Records. He later managed and owned the hotel in Uxbridge Center before investing in a cotton mill at Holland, Massachusetts. He moved to Holland Mass in 1835. He later moved to Illinois, and became a Mormon apostle. Ezra joined the LDS Church at Quincy, Illinois in 1840, entered plural marriages, marrying seven more wives after Pamela. He was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles by Brigham Young in 1846, a high post within the LDS Church. He had eight wives and 32 children. He was a Missionary to the Sandwich Islands, also known as Hawaii. He served as a Representative to the Utah Territorial Assembly. He died in Ogden, Utah, in 1869.

Tafts in the Blackstone Valley's industrialization
Benjamin Taft started the first iron forge in the Ironstone section of Uxbridge in 1734 There was good quality "bog iron ore" here. Caleb Handy added a triphammer, and scythes and guns were manufactured here before 1800. The Taft family continued to be instrumental in the early industrialization of the Blackstone Valley including mills built by a 4th generation descendent of Robert Taft I, the son of Deborah Taft, Daniel Day in 1810, and his son in law, Luke Taft (1825) and Luke's son, Moses Taft in (1852). These woolen mills, some of the first to use power looms, and satinets, ran 24/7 during the Civil War producing cloth for U.S. military uniforms. The 1814 Rivulet Mill Complex was established at North Uxbridge by Chandler Taft. In 1855, 2.5 Million yards of cloth was produced in the mills of Uxbridge. Uxbridge is the center of the Blackstone Valley, the earliest industrialized region in the United States. It is part of the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor. Samuel Slater, who built his mill in (1790), at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on the Blackstone River, was credited by President Andrew Jackson as the father of America's industrial revolution.

Mayor Henry Chapin: an Uxbridge "Taft" story
In 1864, Judge Henry Chapin, a three-term Worcester Mayor, and Chief Judge, quoted a well known Uxbridge story as follows: A stranger came to town, met a new person and said, "Hello Mr. Taft". Mr. Taft said, "How did you know my name?" The stranger replied, "I presumed that you were a Taft, just like the other 12 Tafts I have just met!". This story was repeated in a poem form by Mayor Chapin, at a famous Taft family reunion here, recorded in the Life of Alphonso Taft.

Family tree
Prominent members of the Taft family include:


 * Robert Taft Sr. (1640–1724), the immigrant

Descendants of Joseph Taft

 * Joseph Taft (1680–1747), son of Robert Taft Sr.
 * Peter Taft (1715–1783)
 * Aaron Taft (1743–1808)
 * Peter Rawson Taft I (1785–1867), member of the Vermont legislature
 * Alphonso Taft (1810–1891), U.S. secretary of war (1876), U.S. attorney general (1876–1877); married first to Fanny Phelps, and second to his cousin Louisa Maria Torrey (see below)
 * Charles Phelps Taft I (1843–1929), U.S. representative (1895–1897), publisher (The Cincinnati Times-Star), U.S. representative, owner of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1905 to 1913 and Chicago Cubs from 1914 to 1916. Married Anna Sinton, daughter of David Sinton.
 * Jane Taft, married Albert S. Ingalls, son of Melville E. Ingalls
 * David Sinton Ingalls (1899–1985), flying ace in World War I, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Aeronautics from 1929-1932, candidate for governor of Ohio (1932). Married Louise Hale Harkness, daughter of William L. Harkness and granddaughter of Daniel M. Harkness.
 * Peter Rawson Taft II (1846–1889), m. Annie Matilda Hulbert.
 * Hulbert Taft Sr.: (1878–1959), Publisher, associate editor, and reporter for the Cincinnati Times Star.
 * David Gibson Taft (1916–1962), Businessman, Vice-Chairman of the board of Taft Broadcasting Company. Served as Executive Vice President of Radio Cincinnati, Taft Broadcasting's predecessor. In 1955 he was made manager of WKRC-TV. WWII served as captain in the US Army and liaison officer for General Joe Stillwell.
 * Hulbert Taft Jr. (1907–1967), Broadcaster (Taft Broadcasting)
 * Dudley S. Taft Sr. (born 1940): businessman, President and Board Chairman of Taft Broadcasting, Cinergy, Tribune Co.
 * Dudley S. Taft Jr. (born 1966): Blues musician, Sweetwater guitarist, Second Coming guitarist, Dudley Taft Band, Co-wrote "Unknown Rider" for 1999 film The Sixth Sense
 * Thomas Woodall Taft (born 1969): actor, writer, businessman, founder of Southern Star Interactive.
 * William Howard Taft I (1857–1930), U.S. president (1909–1913), U.S. chief justice (1921–1930), U.S. secretary of war (1904–1908)
 * Robert Alphonso Taft Sr. (1889–1953), U.S. senator from Ohio (1939–1953), three-time unsuccessful Presidential candidate (1940, 1948, 1952). Married Martha Wheaton Bowers, daughter of Lloyd Wheaton Bowers
 * William Howard Taft III (1915–1991), ambassador to Ireland
 * William Howard Taft IV (b. 1945), Deputy Secretary of Defense (1984-1989), chief legal adviser to the U.S. Department of State (2001-2005). Married Julia Ann Vadala Taft.
 * William Howard Taft V (b. 1978), lawyer, member of the International Commercial Disputes Committee of the New York City Bar Association
 * Robert A Taft Jr. (1917–1993), U.S. senator from Ohio (1971–1976)
 * Robert Alphonso "Bob" Taft III (b. 1942), governor of Ohio (1999–2007)
 * Lloyd Bowers Taft (1923-1985), investment banker in Cincinnati
 * Horace Dwight Taft (1925–1983), physics professor and dean of faculty at Yale University
 * John G. Taft (1954-), financier and writer
 * Helen Herron Taft Manning (1891–1987), professor of history and college dean, married Frederick Johnson Manning
 * Charles Phelps Taft II (1897–1983), Charterite Cincinnati mayor (1955–1957), Cincinnati city council member (1938–1942), Hamilton County, Ohio, prosecutor (1927–1928), candidate for governor of Ohio (1952), candidate for Republican nomination for Ohio governor (1958)
 * Seth Chase Taft (1922–2013), candidate for Ohio Senate (1962); candidate for mayor of Cleveland, Ohio (1967); candidate for Republican nomination for governor of Ohio (1982)
 * Peter Rawson Taft III, United States Assistant Attorney General Department of Justice; married to Diana Todd
 * Henry Waters Taft (1859–1945), candidate for justice of New York Court of Appeals (1898); New York delegate to Republican National Convention (1920, 1924); named partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (from 1919)
 * Walbridge Smith Taft (1885–1951), candidate for U.S. representative from New York
 * William Howard Taft II (1887–1952)
 * Horace Dutton Taft (1861–1943), author, founder of The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut

Descendants of Robert Taft Jr.

 * Robert Taft Jr. (1674–1748), Founding Board of Selectmen, Town of Uxbridge, Massachusetts
 * Robert Taft III (1697–1777)
 * Robert Taft IV (1724–1787)
 * Lovett Taft (1756–1837)
 * Aurin Post Taft (1788–1861)
 * Frederick Lovett Taft I (1811–1869)
 * Newton Archibald Taft (1843–1890)
 * Frederick Lovett Taft II (1870–1913)
 * Kingsley Arter Taft (1903–1970), U.S. senator, chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
 * David Taft, COO of Landec Corp., trustee of Kenyon College
 * Sheldon A. Taft, candidate for Ohio Supreme Court judgeship
 * Israel Taft
 * Jacob Taft
 * Jacob Taft, married to his 1st cousin once removed, Mary Taft
 * Orsmus Taft
 * Royal Chapin Taft, Governor of Rhode Island (1888–1889)
 * Eastman Taft, married to his 2nd cousin, Hannah Taft
 * Chloe Taft
 * Ezra Taft Benson I (1811 – 1869), Mormon apostle and Representative to the Utah Territorial Legislature
 * George Taft Benson Sr.
 * George Taft Benson Jr.
 * Ezra Taft Benson II, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Leader of the LDS Church 1985-94
 * Bonnie Amussen Benson
 * Mark Benson Madsen, Utah State Senate 2002-current
 * Mark A. Benson
 * Steve Benson (1954- ), Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist
 * Michael T. Benson (1965-), President of Eastern Kentucky University, Southern Utah University, and Snow College
 * Huldah Taft
 * Chloe Daniel
 * Anna Davenport
 * Samuel Davenport Torrey
 * Louisa Maria Torrey (1827 -1907), married to her 4th cousin twice removed, Alphonso Taft (see above)
 * John Taft
 * Jesse Taft
 * Hannah Taft, married to her 2nd cousin, Eastman Taft (see above)
 * Mary Taft, married to her 1st cousin once removed, Jacob Taft (see above)

Descendants of Daniel Taft Sr.

 * Daniel Taft Sr., Massachusetts General Court, Colonial Legislature
 * Daniel Taft Jr.
 * Nathan Taft
 * Zadok Lovell Taft
 * Don Carlos Taft
 * Lorado Zadoc Taft, sculptor
 * Emily Taft Douglas, Congresswoman, U.S. representative
 * Josiah Taft, Massachusetts General Court, Legislature-married to Lydia Taft, America's First Woman Voter
 * Hon. Bezaleel Taft Sr. Massachusetts General Court, Legislature
 * Hon. Bezaleel Taft Jr. Massachusetts General Court, Legislature
 * George Spring Taft, Secretary for U.S. Senator George Hoar

Collins family
The related Collins family tree:


 * Ela Collins (1786–1848), New York Assemblyman 1815, U.S. Representative from New York 1823-1825. Father of William Collins.
 * William Collins (1818–1878), U.S. Representative from New York 1847-1849. Uncle of Helen Herron, who married President William Howard Taft.

Lippitt family
The related Lippitt family tree:
 * Christopher Lippitt (1744–1824) Revolutionary War officer, legislator, manufacturer
 * Henry Lippitt (1818–1891), Governor of Rhode Island 1875-1877. Father of Charles W. Lippitt and Henry F. Lippitt.
 * Charles W. Lippitt (1846–1924), Governor of Rhode Island 1895-1897. Son of Henry Lippitt.
 * Henry F. Lippitt (1856–1933), U.S. Senator from Rhode Island 1911-1917. Son of Henry Lippitt and married Lucy Herron Laughlin, sister of Helen Herron, who married President William Howard Taft.
 * Frederick Lippitt (1916-2005), Rhode Island State Representative 1961-1983. Military officer, political figure and philanthropist.

Chafee family

 * John Chafee (1922–1999), Rhode Island State Representative 1957-1963, Governor of Rhode Island 1963-1969, U.S. Secretary of the Navy 1969-1972, candidate for U.S. Senate from Rhode Island 1972, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island 1976-1999. Grandnephew of Henry F. Lippitt.
 * Lincoln Chafee (1953-), Mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island 1992-1999; U.S. Senator from Rhode Island 1999-2007; Governor of Rhode Island 2011–2015 and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate. Son of John Chafee.

Others

 * Thomas Wilson (1827–1910), delegate to the Minnesota Constitutional Convention 1857, District Court Judge in Minnesota 1857-1864, Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court 1864-1865, Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court 1865-1869, Minnesota State Representative 1880-1882, Minnesota State Senator 1880-1882, U.S. Representative from Minnesota 1887-1889, candidate for Governor of Minnesota 1890. Grandfather of Martha Wheaton Bowers, who married Senator Robert A. Taft.
 * John W. Herron, delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention 1873, U.S. Attorney in Ohio 1889-1894. Father-in-law of President William Howard Taft.
 * Paul Douglas (1892–1976), Chicago, Illinois Councilman; candidate for U.S. Senate from Illinois 1942, U.S. Senator from Illinois 1949-1967. Husband of Emily Taft Douglas.