USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 9 > Part 36
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27, 1919, in his eighty-third year. For some years in early life, after leaving home, he was employed as a farm hand for what would now be considered extremely moderate wages. He was active and en- terprising, burned charcoal and engaged in any occupation that promised a return for industry. For some eight years he was employed in a factory at Winthrop, Connecticut, and later became a member of the firm of Bogart, Davis & Company, which cut out timber to be used in the construction of wagons. After some five years of successful business, he was obliged to abandon it because of a crip- pled hand. He sold out his interest and returned to his native town, where he purchased the interest of other heirs in the paternal farm, which he continued to till for several years. After selling out his interests in Killingworth, he invested in tenement houses in Middletown. Like his forebears, he was attached to the Dem- ocratic party in politics, and filled various minor offices in his native town. Among these were those of selectman and repre- senative in the State Legislature, where he served in 1880-81, and was a member of the Committee on Agriculture. At the time of his removal from Killingworth, he was selectman of the town. He was among the founders of Killingworth Grange and continued his membership as long as he lived in the town. He was a member of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Middletown, as was also his wife.
Mr. Davis married, January 28, 1858, Mary Augusta Nettleton, who was born March 19, 1840, in Barton, Tioga county, New York, daughter of Heman and Jerusha (Norton) Nettleton. Heman Nettleton was born November 16, 1802, in Killingworth, and died September 25, 1882, in Killingworth, having returned to that town after his retirement from active life. Jerusha (Norton) Nettleton, born August 11, 1799, died March 1, 1867.
(IX) George Brighton Davis, eldest son of Sidney Talcott and Mary Augusta (Nettleton) Davis, was born February 27, 1863, in Killingworth, and passed his early years in that town attending the district schools. A youth of enterprise and cour- age, he left home before attaining his majority, and went to Durham, Connecti- cut, where he was employed for some years on a farm. In 1887 he purchased a farm in Middlefield and continued to make his home in that town until his death, March 12, 1896. For many years previous to his death, he was engineer at the Trap Rock quarry between Middlefield and East Wallingford.
He married, June 23, 1887, Ida Abigail Wolcott, a native of Wallingford, and they were the parents of five children.
(X) Frank Talcott Davis, eldest child of George Brighton and Ida Abigail (Wolcott) Davis, was born May 6, 1888, in Middlefield, Connecticut, and attended the public schools of that town and the grammar school of Meriden, Connecticut. At an early age he left school and learned the trade of machinist in Middletown. For some three years he was employed as a locomotive fireman on the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, and about 1910 became associated with the Middletown Electric Light Company. Subsequently he was nearly three years in the service of the Noiseless Typewriter Company, of Middletown, and about 1913 entered the employ of the Connecticut Power Company, which he is now serving as chief engineer at its Middletown plant. Mr. Davis' home is in South Farms, a suburb of Middletown, and he is con- nected with Christ Episcopal Church of that section. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, and, unlike his an- cestors, adheres to the Republican party in political matters.
Mr. Davis married, April 28, 1915, Sarah Ann Stannard, daughter of Newton
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and Elizabeth (Stewart) Stannard, of Middletown, descendant of an old Con- necticut family. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have two children: Olive Elizabeth, born March 28, 1917, and Leah Ida, born April 3, 1919.
TAFT, Charles Ezra, M. D.,
Man of Many Professional Activities.
Charles Ezra Taft, M. D., graduate of Harvard, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and of the New York Academy of Medicine, was a surgeon of wide experience and research in the branch of medical science relating to the diseases of women, and became well re- garded, both professionally and as a cit- izen, during the almost three decades in which he practiced in the city of Hart- ford, Connecticut. He was born in Ded- ham, Massachusetts, July 11, 1863, the son of Josephus Guild and Anna Eliza (Shaw) Taft, and a descendant of Robert Taft, progenitor in America of a leading branch of the ancient Irish family of that name, which has had place in colonial and Republican American records since 1678.
Robert Taft was born in Ireland, but in the northern part, and, being a Protes- tant, it is doubtful whether the family was originally Irish ; more probably it was Scottish, as Sir William Taaffe, or Taft, a knight of the Protestant faith, was among the grantees at the time of the Scottish emigration and settlement in Ulster province, Ireland, by order of King James. In 1610 he received a grant of one thousand acres of land in the parish of Castle Rahen, in County Cavan. The total grants in this parish amounted to 3990 acres, of which Sir Thomas Ashe held 1500 acres ; in 1619 he also held this grant of Taft's, and 1500 in the adjoining parish of Tullaghgarvy. On Taft's land
there was "an old castle new mended, and all the land was inhabited by Irish." It seems reasonable to suppose that Sir Wil- liam Taft's sons settled on this grant. Perhaps Sir William remained in Louth, but his is the only Taft family identified with the Scotch-Irish settlers with whom Robert Taft's parents were connected. County Louth, the Irish home of the Tafts, is on the northern coast, bounded by Armagh and Ulster, on the east by the St. George's Channel, and on the south by the Boyne.
(I) Robert Taft, progenitor in Amer- ica, was born in Ireland, about 1640, and died in Mendon, Massachusetts, Febru- ary 8, 1725. He was first at Braintree, Massachusetts, where he owned a lot in 1678. This he sold November 18, 1679, to Caleb Hobart, and almost simultaneously purchased land in Mendon, where he eventually acquired a considerable estate. Apparently he was possessed of means at the outset, and was a leading pioneer of Mendon, for colonial records of that place show that Robert Taft was a member of the first board of selectmen at its organ- ization in 1680. He was a housewright by trade, and in 1680 was a responsible member of a committee constituted to build a house for the minister. He and his sons also built the first two bridges that spanned the river Mendon, the sec- ond being built in 1729. He was one of the purchasers of the tract of land whereon the town of Sutton was located later. He and his wife, Sarah, had five sons: Thomas, born 1671, died 1755; Robert, of whom further; Daniel, died August 24, 1761 ; Joseph, born 1680, died June 18, 1747; Benjamin, born 1684, died 1766.
(II) Robert (2) Taft, son of Robert and Sarah Taft, was born in 1674. He was apportioned a part of the paternal estate, his section being where Uxbridge
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later developed. He lived there until his death, and was a man of consequence in the community. He was chosen select- man in 1727, at the first March meeting, and was reelected many times. In his will, dated February 17, 1747-48, he makes reference to his wife Elizabeth and chil- dren. The children born in Mendon were : Elizabeth, January 18, 1695-96, died young ; Robert, December 24, 1697 ; Israel, of whom further; Mary, December 21, 1700; Elizabeth, June 18, 1704 ; Alice, June 27, 1707; Eunice, February 20, 1708-9; John, December 18, 1710; Jemima, April I, 1713; Gideon, October 4, 1714; Rebecca, March 15, 1716.
(III) Israel Taft, son of Robert (2) and Elizabeth Taft, was born April 26, 1699. His will was made in 1752, and allowed September 19, 1753. He married Mercy Aldrich, daughter of Jacob and Huldah (Thayer) Aldrich. Children : Huldah, born January 28, 1718; Priscilla, August 15, 1721, married Moses Wood; Israel, April 23, 1723; Jacob, April 22, 1725; Hannah, November 16, 1726; Elisha, May 3, 1728; Robert, February 14, 1730; Samuel, February 18, 1731 ; Mercy, April 7, 1733; Stephen, August 21, 1734, died September 14, 1741; Samuel, of whom further; Mary, January 23, 1737, died June 12, 1738; Margery, May 14, 1738; Silas, December 13, 1739, died May 10, 1741 ; Stephen, April 1, 1741 ; Rachel, June 18, 1742, died December 30, 1747; Silas, November 5, 1744; Amariah, April 18, 1746, died September 9, 1746; Phila, died young.
(IV) Samuel Taft, son of Israel and Mercy (Aldrich) Taft, was born Septem- ber 23, 1735, died August 16, 1816. He married (first), Mary Murdock, born Jan- uary 3, 1743, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Hyde) Murdock, and granddaugh- ter of Robert and Hannah (Stedman) Murdock ; (second), January 9, 1806, Ex-
perience Humes, born May 27, 1750, died January 14, 1837. He was a noted tavern- keeper in his day, during and after the Revolution. He had the honor of enter- taining Washington and his staff on one of his journeys north, and so pleased was "The Father of His Country" with the attention he received at Uxbridge during his stay, that he sent to Mr. Taft's two daughters each a handsome dress, as a token of his appreciation of their kindness and attention. Samuel Taft was the father of twenty-two children, and avail- able records give the names of seventeen : Frederick, of whom further; Lyman ; Sybil; Mercy, died in youth; Willard; Mercy; Porter; Washington, died in youth ; Parla; Merrett; Otis; Phila; George Washington; Danbridge; War- ner ; Experience ; and Polly ; the four last named being the children by his second wife.
(V) Frederick Taft, son of Samuel and Mary (Murdock) Taft, was born in Uxbridge, June 19, 1759, and died there on February 10, 1846. He was a surveyor by profession, and executed most of the principal commissions in the southern part of Worcester county. For twenty years he was a deputy sheriff of the county, and was a popular and respected citizen. He lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven years, and his wife attained the age of ninety. In 1782, he married Abigail, born August 29, 1761, daughter of Ezra and Ann (Chapin) Wood. The Chapin line traces to Deacon Samuel Chapin, "the Puritan," a Huguenot, who is believed to have come from England in 1631, or 1632, in the "Lyon," was a con- temporary of Pyncheon in the settlement of Roxbury, Massachusetts, later de- scribed as "Pynchon's right-hand man," and was one of the "founders of Spring- field." The Wood line traces to Thomas Wood, who came to New England prob-
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ably soon after 1650, from Yorkshire, England, and married Ann Todd (or Hunt), in 1654. The generations to that of Abigail, wife of Frederick Taft are: Ebenezer, son of Thomas and Ann (Todd or Hunt) Wood, born in Rowley, December 29, 1671, married, April 5, 1695, Rachael Nichols, died in Mendon in 1736; Jonathan, son of Ebenezer and Rachael (Nichols) Wood, born in Row- ley, November 2, 1701 (1702 in pri- vate records) married (first) Margaret, surname unknown, (second) Dorothy Crosby ; Ezra, son of Jonathan and Mar- garet Wood, born in Mendon, about 1725, married Anna Chapin, of Uxbridge. Ezra Wood was a Revolutionary soldier, cap- tain of the Upton Company, Worcester Regiment. Of his ten children, Abigail was his sixth born, and his fifth daughter. She bore to her husband, Frederick Taft, ten children : Samuel, Murdock, Calista, Frederick Augustus, Naba, Harriet, Parla, Ezra Wood, of whom further, Mary Anna, and Margaret.
(VI) Ezra Wood Taft, son of Freder- ick and Abigail (Wood) Taft, was born August 24, 1800, died September 26, 1885. After a public school education obtained in Uxbridge, his native place, he became associated in business with his brother, Frederick A., owner of the Dedham Man- ufacturing Company, with mills at Ded- ham, Massachusetts. When he was twenty years old he hired a small mill in the adjacent town of Walpole, and began business independently. Within three years he had manufactured forty thousand yards of "negro" cloth, for the southern trade. In 1823 he went to Dover, New Hampshire, where he aided in establish- ing the Cocheco Mills, in a department of which for three years he was overseer. He then returned to Dedham, and for six years thereafter was agent for the Ded- ham Manufacturing Company. In 1832
he took similar capacity with the Norfolk Manufacturing Company of East Ded- ham. He built the stone mill which still stands, and for thirty years thereafter con- tinued at the head of the Norfolk Manu- facturing Company's East Dedham plant, of which he became principal owner. When Mr. Taft began to manufacture it was customary to spin only the yarn at the mills, this product being delivered to the weavers to be woven into cloth by hand at their homes. But with the ad- vent of power looms, the weaving became an important department of the mill, and during his long connection with the spin- ning and weaving industry, Mr. Taft wit- nessed the development of cotton and woolen mills from small spinning mills into great cloth factories employing many thousands of hands in various parts of New England. He was one of the leaders in the development of the industry. In 1864 he retired from business, and the remaining twenty-one years of his life were mainly devoted to participation in public affairs. He held honored place in the civic affairs of Dedham; for more than forty years he was justice of the peace ; for thirty years he was a member of the school committee, and did much to elevate the standard of education; for thirty-one years he was a director of the Dedham Bank, and from 1873 until his death was its president. He was prom- inent among the organizers of the Ded- ham Institution for Savings, and for many years was a trustee and member of the investment committee. No citizen of Dedham in his time was more prominent in business, financial affairs and public life. For fourteen years, consecutively, he was a selectman, and for twelve years chairman of the board ; for four years he represented his district in the General Court. He was one of the organizers of the old Norfolk Insurance Company, and
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a director of the Dedham Mutual Insur- ance Company. Politically a Republican, and religiously a member of the Orthodox church, he always labored zealously to advance the interests of the town of Ded- ham, whether along material, religious, or educational lines, and was a prime mover and leader in matters of public in- terest.
He married (first), May 2, 1825, Min- erva Wheaton, born May 2, 1801, died January 26, 1829; (second), September 8, 1830, Lendamine Draper Guild, born Sep- tember 29, 1803, died October 24. 1897, daughter of Calvin and Lendamine (Draper) Guild, and descendant of John Guild, who came to America in 1636, and was admitted to the church at Dedham July 17, 1640, in which year he purchased twelve acres of upland in that locality. He married June 24, 1645, Elizabeth Crooke, of Roxbury, and the succeeding genera- tions of the particular line connecting with the Taft genealogy were: Samuel, son of John and Elizabeth (Crooke) Guild, born in Dedham, November 7, 1647, married, November 29, 1676, Mary, daughter of Samuel and Ann (Herring) Woodcock, of Dedham, served in King Philip's war, was freeman at Salem in May, 1678, subsequently selectman, and deputy to General Court; Joseph, son of Samuel and Mary (Woodcock) Guild, born at Dedham, September 13, 1694, be- came wealthy, married (first), October 31, 1723, Abigail Fisher, of Dedham, (second), December 4, 1732, Hannah, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Curtis, granddaughter of John and Rebecca (Wheeler) Curtis, and of Samuel Lyon (third), October 17, 1745, Beulah Peck; Joseph (2), son of Joseph and Hannah (Curtis) Guild, born in Dedham, May II, 1735, died December 28, 1794, was cap- tain of minute men during the Revolution, married, June 28, 1758, Miriam Draper.
born March 26, 1739, died September 26, 1831, daughter of Ebenezer and Dorothy (Child) Draper, granddaughter of James and Abigail (Whiting) Draper, and of Joshua and Elizabeth (Morris) Child. Elizabeth Morris was the daughter of Edward and Grace (Betts) Morris; Joshua Child was son of Benjamin and Mary (Bowen) Child; Abigail Whiting was daughter of Nathaniel and Hannah (Dwight) Whiting; James Draper was son of James and Miriam (Stansfield) Draper. Joseph (2) and Miriam (Draper) Guild had seven children; among them Calvin. Calvin, sixth child of Joseph and Miriam (Draper) Guild, born in Ded- ham, July 6, 1775, was a hatter, merchant, auctioneer, and eventually county sheriff. He married (first) Lendamine Draper, born March 30, 1780, died October 26, 1823, daughter of Major Abijah and De- sire (Foster) Draper, granddaughter of James and Abigail (Child) Draper, and of Ebenezer and Desire (Cushman) Foster. Desire Cushman was a daughter of Sam- uel and Fear (Carver or Corser) Cush- man, granddaughter of Thomas and Abi- gail (Fuller) Cushman. Ebenezer Fos- ter was a son of John and Margaret (Ware) Foster, grandson of John and Mary (Stewart) Foster, and of Robert and Sarah (Metcalf) Ware. Lendamine Draper Guild, daughter of Calvin Guild by his first wife, Lendamine (Draper) Guild, became the second wife of Ezra Wood Taft.
The children of Ezra Wood Taft by his first wife were : Ezra Josephus and Edwin Wheaton, both of whom died in infancy ; by second wife : Josephus Guild, of whom further; Edwin Wheaton, Cor- nelius Abbott, Minerva Lendamine, Louisa Adelaide, Ezra Fletcher. A not- able family gathering was held on Sep- tem 8, 1880, when Ezra Wood and Len-
Conn-10-17
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damine (Guild) Taft celebrated their golden wedding.
(VII) Josephus Guild Taft, son of Ezra Wood and Lendamine D. (Guild) Taft, was born in Dedham, June 18, 1831. He received public and high school education in Dedham, and early in life engaged in business as a saddler. Later he was ap- pointed cashier of the Shawmut National Bank of Boston. Politically a Republi- can, fraternally a Mason, and religiously a Congregationalist, Mr. Taft was a con- scientious man, whose upright life gained him much respect in the communities in which he lived. He married, in Uxbridge, May 17, 1860, Anna Eliza Shaw, born January 19, 1834, died January 8, 1899, daughter of Franklin King and Catherine (Pollock) Shaw. The Shaw family was from Ware, Massachusetts. Her father was born November 23, 1805, died May 22, 1845; her mother was born July 14, 1804, died aged sixty-nine. Catherine Pollock was a daughter of John Pollock, born April 6, 1770, died November 8, 1843, who married Anna Lynd, born October 25, 1770, died July 14, 1857. The children of Josephus Guild and Anna Eliza (Shaw) Taft were: Charles Ezra of whom further ; Adelaide Shaw, born June 21, 1865, died December 10, 1867; Arthur Guild, born July 12, 1869, died in 1889. Josephus Guild Taft died March 5, 19II.
(VIII) Dr. Charles Ezra Taft, son of Josephus Guild and Anna Eliza (Shaw) Taft, was born in Dedham, July 11, 1863, and died February 10, 1922. He was graduated from the Dedham high school in 1880, and then for further preparatory tuition went to the Chauncey Hall School, Boston. The next year he became a medical student at Harvard College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1886, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. As an undergraduate he ob- served clinical work in Boston hospitals,
and in 1885 became an interne in the Boston City Hospital. He was house physician of that institution for eighteen months, during which time he gained con- siderable practical knowledge, and much special understanding of the branch of medicine he hoped to follow, eventually becoming an authority of the diseases of women. For gynecological research, Dr. Taft left the Boston City Hospital, and took a position as house surgeon at the Women's Hospital in New York City, where he remained until 1888, when he took a post-graduate course in obstetrics and gynecology, in order to become a spe- cialist in those subjects. Also while in New York City, Dr. Taft, by competitive civil examination, secured appointment, in 1887, as medical inspector to the Board of Health of New York City. After com- pleting the course at the Women's Hos- pital of New York, in March, 1888, Dr. Taft opened an office for private practice in general medicine and surgery, in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, where for eight years he was associated in practice with Dr. Jarvis. His research in connec- tion with the treatment of diseases of women and abdominal surgery continued, and in due course of time it became well recognized that he was master of his specialty.
Dr. Taft also held professional connec- tion with many public institutions; he was visiting surgeon at St. Francis Hos- pital, Hartford, for many years; was as- sistant surgeon of the First Infantry Regiment, Connecticut National Guard, during the years 1894-96; and was county examiner and medical director of Hart- ford county for the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company; also medical director for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York ; the Northwestern Life Insurance Company, and the Provi- dent Life and Trust Company. He was
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identified with several leading profes- sional organizations, including the New York Academy of Medicine, of which he was a Fellow; the State Medical Society ; the American Medical Association ; and the alumni associations of the Boston City, Hartford City, and the New York Women's hospitals. He was secretary, vice-president and president, and one of the censors of the Hartford City Medical Society and was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Taft affiliated with the Republican party, but did not enter actively into its affairs ; he was a communicant of Trinity Church. He was a member of the Twen- tieth Century Club, the Hartford Golf Club, and the Harvard Club.
On November 22, 1892, Dr. Taft mar- ried Martha Louise Jarvis, born February 26, 1869, daughter of Dr. G. C. Jarvis, of Hartford, Connecticut. They were the parents of: George Jarvis, born Septem- ber 9, 1893, educated at Berkshire School, Sheffield, Massachusetts, and Yale Col- lege, New Haven, Connecticut ; Elizabeth, born June 12, 1895; married John R. Larus, Jr .; Eleanor, born January I, 1901, educated at the Ethel Walker School, Simsbury, Connecticut, and Vas- sar College.
ACKLEY, William K.,
Tobacco Grower and Packer.
The name of Ackley has held an hon- ored place in the annals of Connecticut from the earliest days of settlement there. It is a surname, derived from the location of the ancestral home, being formed of two words: "ack," old form of oak, and "leigh," meaning land, so that the name literally translated is "Oakland," and thus signifies that an early ancestor lived in or near land where many oak trees grew.
Nicholas Ackley, was a native of Wales, and was among the early settlers of Mid- dletown, Connecticut. In 1655 he was one of the shareholders of the town mill of Hartford, Connecticut. In 1666 he agreed to settle his family at Thirty Mile Island, Haddam, Connecticut, which he did in 1667, and died in Haddam April 29, 1695. Thomas, his son, died January 16, 1703, but there is no record when his son Job, died, but Stephen, his son, died Jan- uary 3, 1823, and his son, Elijah, died February 14, 1807, and his son, Elijah, Jr., died July 11, 1829, living in Providence, Rhode Island, at the time of his death, leaving a son, Elijah (3), the father of William.
The widow of Elijah, Jr., with the young son, then but six months old, came to East Hartford, Connecticut, to live with her brother, Jonah Williams. Elijah (3) there attended school and made a life business of general farming, starting early in life in the tree nursery business, and many trees in East Hartford and Hartford to-day came from his nursery. Later he took up the growing of tobacco and con- tinued growing it until he died in May, 1901. He was very active in public af- fairs, a public-spirited citizen, and repre- sented the town of East Hartford in the Legislature, serving in the same session with the late P. T. Barnum. He also served as an assessor, and was chairman of the First Ecclesiastical Society of East Hartford for many years, and was active in the Grange, having served as its treas- urer many years and up to the time of his death. His wife, Mary Jane Kil- bourne, daughter of Alfred and Jerusha W. (Roberts) Kilbourne, died six weeks previous to his death, and left two chil- dren : Jennie, wife of L. D. Greene, of New York City ; and William K.
William K. Ackley was born in East
The founder of the American family, Hartford, Connecticut, March 6, 1868, and
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was educated in the public schools and attended the Hartford High School for two years, also Hannum's Business Col- lege.
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