Taft family

The Taft family of the United States hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, with 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.

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.