Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1908-09-26
Of THE TAFTs
Sturdy Stock From Which the
Republican Candidate Springs.
First Ancestor I'm New England Was
Robert, a MISUNDERSTANDING
His Forebcars Were Ministers,
Teachers, Lawyers and
Statesmen.

|%S
who died recently devoted much OF
her time to compiling the history on
this side Of the water Of the Taft
family and OF her own family. the
Torreys. Mr.. Taft's first ancestor in
New England, according to data gath
cred by his father, the late Judge
Alphonso Taft, was Robert Taft.
Robert vas a housewright. who set
tied at Mention, Mass, in 1863, going
there from the province of Braintree.
Joseph, one OF his five sons, married
Elizabeth Emerson, who was the
granddaughter Of the first minister OF
Mention. Joseph's second son was
Captain Peter Taft, and his third son
a Aaron, who was born in 1743.
He prepared for Princeton, but al
though he established a reputation as
a scholar, he had to leave college be-
fore he graduated. Aaron lived at
Uxbridge, Mass, and Townshend, VT,
and married Rhoda Rawson, the
Observation-Disclosures of Edward
Rawson, secretary OF the Massachu-
sets Bay Colony from 1860 to 1855.
Peter Rawson, the third son of
Aaron, was successfully q school
teacher, a lawyer, judge of the COM
mon pleas, Judge OF the probate
court. judge Of the county court OF
Windham County, 81 a county COM
missioner and for many years q mem
Der of the Legislature. He removed
to Cincinnati, Ohio, In 1841, where
he died and left one son, Alphonso,
the father OF William H. Taft.
Alphonso Taft was born in Town
shend in 1910, and was graduated
from Yale In 1888. He taught In an
academy at Ellington, Conn, and was
a tutor at Yale. Following his ad-
mission to the bar in 1888 he went to
Cincinnati. One of his notable cases
was his appearance in the United
States Supreme Court, where he sue
cessfully argued the claim of the city
for a beQuest, which was the nucleus
OF the endowment fund for the Uni
versity of Cincinnati. He was United
States Minister to Austria and Russia,
| Judge OF the Superior Court of Ohio,
Secretary of War in Grants Cabinet
and an ardent ab%olitionist.
Judge Taft's first wife was a daugh-
ter OF Judge Charles Phelps, Of Town
shend, VT. When she died in 1851 she
left. two sons, Mr.. .sTaft's half-broth-
ers. Charles Phelps Taft is the pro-
prietor of the Cincinnati Times-Star.
The other son, Peter Rawson, died in
1888. Judge Taft's second wife was
Louisa Maria Torrey, whom he mar
ried in 1853. Her first son died in
infancy. william H. Taft was the
second son, being born in 1857.
Henry Waters Taft. Of New York. is
the third child; Horace Dutton Taft
the fourth and the fifth Fanny Louise,
wife of DIR. William A. Edwards, of
Los Angeles. Cal.
In closing her notes, Mrs. Taft
wrote OF her SOL William:
THE fact that Secretary Taft
throughout his long and honorable
public career has received promotion
continuously is ample evidence of his
capability and reliability and Of the
sterling Integrity of his character"
Mrs. Taft vas a direct descendant
from William Torrey, who went from
Somerset. England, to Weymouth,
Mass, in 1910. He was long a men,
Der Of the House Of Deputies, and
was invariably chosen as clerk of
that body. He was a magistrate and
a captain in the militia. Mrs. Taft's
grandfather, William Torrey, was the
fifth William In the line of descent.
He was a veritable son of Anak, ira
dition having it that he was six feet
seven inches tall, and proportional
accordingly. Samuel Davenport Tor.
rey was Mrs. Taft's father. Her
mother was Susan Holman Waters,
daughter of Asa Waters, who founded
the village of Armory. She was a
granddaughter of Colonel Jonathan
Holman, who raised a regiment dur
ing the Revolution, and fought gal
lantly at the Battle of Saratoga.
Mrs. Taft's father accumulated a for
tune in the West Indian trade, and
retired in 1881. to Millbury, Mass.
Mrs. Taft delighted in tracing in
William, and her other children, the
striking characteristics which had
marked their ancestors. OF her
mother, Mrs. Taft wrote:
Mrs Torrey was a woman of rare
endowment and character, well edu'
Gated for the period, and her highest
interest was always in the world OF
thought. She had an irresistible de.
sire to know the best that had been
written in literature and philosophy
and she had the courage to follow the
views OF truth, which her active and
progressive mind attained, to theiI
conclusions"
thAo was Wis tait CStAiildtiOA vi
Mr.. Taft's maternal grandfather:
"Mr. Torrey will be long remem
bered as a man of marked individual.
ity, OF thorough business methods
of inflexible integrity, with a decision
and type of character which left q
lasting impression wherever he was
known. 1t happened that he was
called upon to assist at the burial oil
many of his juniors.
" In q green old age,
He seemed like an oak, worn but steady,
Amid the elements, whilst the younger trees
Fell just around him.
Belonging to the heroic age Of
New England, he never for a moment
lost his bearing of a gentleman of the
old school. Without office, or the de.
sire for Office, he enjoyed the respect
of all. To an unusual degree he pos
sessed
!" That which should accompany old age,
As honor, love, obedience, troops o