WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
TAFT, WILLIAM HOWARD, LL.D., United States secretary of war, is a man of character and achievement, and a worthy example for imitation by the young. In youth, and especially during his college days, he laid broad and deep the foundation upon which he has built with remarkable success. The keynote of his life may be stated in one word, fidelity. Wherever he has been, whatever the position he has held, he has always placed principle before preference, and devotion to duty before either pleasure or gain. However exalted the stations he has filled it is unquestionably true that his influence has been due in much larger measure to his personal character than to his official position.
He was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, September 15, 1857. His parents were Alphonso and Louise M. (Torrey) Taft, His father was a lawyer whose high attainments and character had secured him a large and profitable practice. He was a man of strong purpose, and in a remarkable degree had the power of concentrating his energies upon the work in hand. Liberality and kindness of disposition were among his marked characteristics, and he took a broad view of men and events. For six years he was judge of the Superior Court in Cincinnati. Although he found his chief pleasure in the development of his own intellectual life and the practice of his profession, yet he held it to be the duty of every American to set aside personal preferences and, when needed, to give his services to his country in public life. He was secretary of war 1875-76, attorney-general 1876-77, and United States minister to Austria 1883-85, and to Russia 1885-87.
Mr. Taft's earliest known ancestor in this country on his father's side was Robert Taft, who landed at Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1679, and settled at Mendon. One of his descendants, Edward Rawson Taft, was secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The ancestors of the mother of Mr. Taft came over at a still earlier date than those of his father. William Torrey, a representative of her family, held the office of clerk of the General Court of Massachusetts—the state legislature.
