Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-18
| TAFT'S BOYHOOD HOME
Annual Visits Made by the Sec
rotary to MiIIbury, Mass.
KNOWS MANY TOWNSPEOPLE
Some of the Bolder Ones Dare to Call
Him Bill"
HISTORY OF FAMILY TRACED
characterized by Good Work-No
Brilliant Political Careers-An-
cestry Of President Garfield.
HISTORY OF FAMILY TRACED
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

| the home of his ancestors in the little
village of Mllbury. founded in 174O. half
| an hour by trolley cars from Worcester.
| His mother lives there with her sister, Miss
Della Torrey. In the old homestead, which
| has been in the family for several genera
| lions. She has made Millbury her home
| ever since the death Of her husband, and
| spent most of her summers there during
| his lifetime. as the climate is much more
| agreeable than that of Cincinnati. Hence
| the Secretary OF War is we'll known in
| Millbury, and has a large acquaintance
among the citizens of his own age, with
| whom he spent his childhood. The village
| historians tell of base ball team composed
| of college whose families spent their
| summers at Millbury. ana relate how they
used to go out and slaughter all the local
organizations for miles around. with the
Secretary of War upon first base. With
| these recollectons the people of Millbury
| look forward to the annual pilgrimages of
| Secretary Taft with quite much inter-
| est his mother. and after he has been
| around and shaken hands with them and
! inquired after their wives and babies there
is a general uplifting of soul an.ong the
| natives. Some of the older ones still call
| him Bill. but public opinion considers that
| "owdacious" Nevertheless. if President
| Hadley of Yale College can call him Bill
| from the commencement platform, his old
playmates at Millbury should certainly be
| allowed a similar privilege.
| If any one should take the trouble and
| the time to go about here and make in
| quiries he could collect a great deal of in
| teresting information about Bill Taft
| The late Judge Alphonso Taft of Gin
| cinnati was twice married. His first wife
| was Fanny Phelps Of Townshend, VT. by
| whom he had two sons. Peter Rawson Taft
| and Charles Phelps Taft-the latter being
editor of the Cincinnati Times-Star and
| author of the presidential boom of his half
| brother. In 1852 having been a widower
nh "a Rod n1t-
| lisa Maria Torrey of Millbury, and William
| Howard Taft was her eldest Harry
| w. Horace B. and Fanny Louise were the
| names of her other children.
| Louisa Maria Torrey was the daughter
| of Samuel Davenport Torrey, for forty-six
| years one of the most prominent citizens
! of this part of Massachusetts. He was
| man of affairs and great influence His
| father even more prominent, and twice
| declined the presidency of Harvard College.
| The family widely scattered and well
| known. and famous for their large
| physical proportions. It is said that
| Torrey was ever less than six feet in height.
The Waters Mansion.
| The Torrey mansion is of the show
| places in this section and is second in in
| terest only to house which stands across
| the way, the home of Mrs. Isabella Waters,
whose husband was a cousin of Secretary
| Taft and also a cousin of the wife of Prof.
| Edwin A. Grosvenor of Amherst College.
| Mrs Grosvenor and Secretary Taft had the
| same great-grandfather.
| The Waters homestead is of Corinthian
architecture and noble proportions. 1t has
been used as model for many other man
| sions not only in this part of the state, but
| throughout the country. 1t was built by
| Asa Waters, who was a great man in this
section, an inventor and manufacturer of
large wealth and wide fame and for half
| century the first gentleman Of Worcester
| county The architect of the house was
| q Boston
| well.
| Mr.. Waters used to entertain all the
| England At least two Presidents and DAN
lei Webster and Henry Clay have been his
guests. and the oldest inhabitants grow en-
thusiastic even now when they recall the
| reception that was given to Henry Clay in
| the early thirties Mr.. Waters made a spe-
| cial demonstration In his honor the
| champion of a protective tariff Many ia
| nous scientific m enhave also been his
guests from time to time. The house Is still
an object of great interest 1t is an ideal
country mansion.
The Taft side of the family originally
came from Uxbridge little town a few
miles east of Mllbury, but the Secretary's
father was born in Townshend. VT. in 1914,
where his family emigrated after the revo-
lutiorary war.
History Of the Tafts.
In August. 1874. all the Tafts in the United
States were invited to meet at Uxbridge
where Alphonso Taft afterward Secretary
of War and judge Of the United States
circuit court. delivered an address. giving
the history and achievements Of the de-
| scendants Of Robert Taft. who settled the
! town Of Mendon. near Uxbridge. in the year
| 1850. Robert Taft was a carpenter and
joiner and came from England about 1870
Judge Taft in his address said: "Of his
| birth we have no record that 1t was hum
| BILE but respectable I cannot doubt. He
died on the Sth Of February, 1925, at an age
as 1 think, of not less than eighty-five
years. The date of his birth cannot be
shown conclusively to have been born about
| that date. Who she was before the merger
Of her name into that of her husband we
know not. Every effort hitherto to trace
her family beyond herself has failed. OF
Roberts antecedents we have no direct evil
dence.''
Taft owned house and lot In Braintrea,
| Mass. In 1873 sold 1t in 1879 and pur-
chased another in Mendon for ESQ. Men
don was organized in 1877 and Robert Taft
| was one Of the earliest settlers. The Taft
family, therefore, sprang from that little
village with a population of OIL people. by
the last census. to the east Of Uxbridge
and on direct line drawn from Worcester
| to Providence. He was a. man of I'm
portance in the community. for. at the first
general town meeting held in Mendon, jan
| uary g. 1880. he was chosen one of the
selectmen and was appointed on two COM
| mittees one of them being instructed Ito
take care that tho building Of the minis
| ter's house be carried on and finished at or
before the 25th of December next" and the
| other was instructed Ito view the streams
Of the town and select q. place for corn
mill" Secretary Taft traces his lineage
direct from this practical man.
Achievements of the Tafts.
| In reviewing the achievements Of the
/ Taft family in his address at Uxbridge on
the occasion named Alphonso Taft said:
The defendants of Robert Taft have done
their share at cultivating the earth. We
find among them good ministers. physi-
clans. lawyers. engineers. scholars, mer-
chants bankers men who know how to get
rich and men who dare to be poor. and If
I should yield to the Chapins in the num-
Der of deacons, 1 could not venture to yield
anything even to them on the of
business enterprise. industry. intelligence.
integrity and good morals Our family have
not embarked much upon national politics
except when they have shared In the bat
ties of the country, when national indie
pendence was to be won. AID also when the
union was at stake. Brilliant political ca
reers have not been characteristic of the
! Tafts In the past. But exceptions may