Taft, Robert^{[1, 2]}

1640 - 1725  (85 years)

• Name	Taft, Robert
  Birth	SAY 1640	United Kingdom   [1]
  	see notes -- maybe Ireland or Scotland, but his ancestry was from England
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1680	Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts   [1]
  	housewright
  Will	4 Mar 1724	Suffolk County, Massachusetts   [3]
  	file 5045; probated 4 May 1725
  _COLOR	13
  _UID	A2E5CEB34DBE4D7292C9FCF3F85FE67BD4AA
  Death	8 Feb 1724/5	Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts   [2, 4]
  Person ID	I14364	Tree_1
  Last Modified	6 Jul 2023

  
  

  Family	[--?--] Taft, Sarah   d. 1725, Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts
  Marriage	BY 1671	Massachusetts Bay Colony, British North America   [5]
  Residence	1679	Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts   [1, 2]
  Children	1. Taft, Robert Jr.,   b. 1674   d. 1748 (Age 74 years)
  Family ID	F4865	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	11 Dec 2023

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - SAY 1640 - United Kingdom Marriage - BY 1671 - Massachusetts Bay Colony, British North America Residence - 1679 - Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts Occupation - housewright - 1680 - Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Will - 4 Mar 1724 - Suffolk County, Massachusetts Death - 8 Feb 1724/5 - Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  "Hon. William Howard Taft" (NEHGR. v84) ...Robert Taft, housewright, who settled at Braintree, Mass., before 1679, moved about 1680 to Mendon, Mass., where he owned many acres “near the pond” and on each side of the Mumford River, served as selectman there in 1680, and in 1704 was one of the ten men who purchased from the Indians title to the town of Sutton, Mass. Taft Family Gathering (1874) pg. 15 The first of our progenitors in this country was Robert Taft. Of his birth we have no record; that it was humble but respectable, I cannot doubt. He died on the 8th of February, A. D. 1725, at an age, as I think, of not less than eighty-five years. The date of his birth cannot be placed later than 1640. Sarah, his wife, is shown conclusively to have been born about that date. Who she was before the merger of her name in that of her husband by marriage, we know not. Every effort, hitherto, to trace her family beyond herself, has failed. It is to be hoped that someone may be more fortunate, hereafter. Of Robert's antecedents,we have no direct evidence. His first appearance in America, as far as we have been able to trace him, was in connection with his house and lot in Braintree, which we find him owning in 1678. In the year 1679, he made arrangements to move to Mendon, first purchasing a "house lot" in Mendon, and then selling his house and lot in Braintree.     pg. 16 There is a tradition, that he was an adherent of the Common- wealth, a Scotch Puritan, disgusted with the Cavaliers, and that in the troublous times consequent upon the rule of Charles the Second, he sought refuge from civil and religious tyranny, in the forests of New England — that he had been in the country longer than any extant records show, and had even been in Mendon before the Indian war. All this was possible. He was of age, in 1660, when Charles II. gained control of the British government, and had opportunity to be disgusted, and perhaps terrified, by the misgovernment and tyranny, civil and religious, of that monarch. The agitation in Scotland, between the years 1660 and 1676, was full of annoyance and alarm. All that can be said of the tradition is, that no record has been found showing that Robert Taft was in this country prior to 1678. The distance in time is not so great as to take away all the force of statements handed down from fathers to sons, and so far as this tradition makes Scotland the place from which Robert first came, it is probably correct. And here, I must be permitted to quote from an interesting letter written by the late Frederick Taft, Esq., of Uxbridge, to his grand-nephew, Henry W. Taft, Esq., of Pittsfield, dated April 10th, 1838. He says, "How long since I cannot tell, three brothers by the name of Taft, left Scotland in troublous times, and came into England. One of them settled in Ireland. One of his descendants came over and settled in Upton, bringing three or four sons. They were formerly called 'the Irish Tafts.' One of the three brothers settled in England, some of whose descendants have settled in South Kingston, Rhode Island. Yet, I never heard of them till lately, when a young man from there worked for me, whose mother was a Taft. The name there was numerous and wealthy. "The third brother, who was my father's great-grandfather, came Pg. 17 to America and settled, I suppose, in Mendon, in this State. His given name I never learned. His children, and grand-children, and descendants, were very numerous, and some of his descendants are probably settled in almost every State in the Union. My grandfather, Israel Taft, settled in Mendon, and when Upton was incorporated, was set off to Upton." Mr. Frederick Taft, the writer of this letter, was born in 1759, two years before tire death of the first Daniel Taft, and nine years before the death of Benjamin, sons of the first Robert; and Samuel Taft, the father of Frederick, was born in 1731, when all the five sons of the first Robert were in active life. He had failed to learn, or to recollect the name of the founder of our race, on this continent. But the tradition coming down so directly, ought to be valuable as to the nationality of the family. I have made some effort to test the truth of these statements. So far as the temporary settlement of one branch of the family in Ireland, is concerned, we find confirmation in the fact, that in 1728, about fifty years after Robert Taft came to Mendon, Matthew Taft did come from the north part of Ireland, and settled in that part of Hopkinton, which is now in Upton. Some of the descendants of Matthew Taft reside still in Upton; some reside, and have resided for many years, in the State of Vermont, and some have emigrated to, and live in the State of New York. They all have a tradition, that they came from Scotland, and tarried but a few years in Ireland.

  
  

• Sources

  [S2266] Taft Family Gathering 1874, 2 July 2023; pg 14-17. [S2267] Taft, Hon. William Howard Taft - NEHGR 84:243, 3 July 2023; notes on Robert Taft, Sr. [S2265] Suffolk County, Massachusetts: Probate File Papers, 1630-1841, 1 July 2023; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2735/i/48704/5045-co2/69477365. [S2012] Mendon, MA - VR, 1 July 2023; 1:502. [S2498] New England Marriages to 1700 (Torrey), 3:1483; Robert Taft; 1 July 2023.