Taft, Thomas

Family/Spouse: Genery, Deborah. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Taft, Eleazur was born in 1697 in Mendon, Worcester Co., MA.

Other Events and Attributes:

• DAC Number: 14547

Notes:

From: New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of teh Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 4. 1914

The Taft families in America are descended from Robert Taft and a relative, Mathew Taft, who settled near Robert later. Both were Protestant Irish by birth. The name does not appear in Scotland in any form, and only in England apparently among the descendants of the Irish family. For some centuries the name has been spelled Taaffe. The families of Tifft and Tefft in England may have the same origin, and it is still in doubt whether the family is of English or Irish origin. It is true that the Tafts were associated with Scotch-Irish just as many of the English were. Sir William Taaffe or Taft, a knight of Protestant faith, was among the grantees at the time of the Scotch 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 three thousand nine hundred and ninety acres, of which Sir Thomas Ashe held one thousand and five hundred acres, and in 1619 he also held this grant of Taft's and one thousand and five hundred 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 William Taft's sons settled on this grant. Perhaps Sir William remained in Louth. At any rate, this is the only family who had any relations with the Scotch-Irish settlers, whom Robert and Matthew Taft seems to have been connected with in some way. County Louth, the Irish home of the Tafts, is on the northern coast, bounded by Armagh and Ulster, on the east by the British channel and on the south by the Boyne. It is in the province of Leinster, and was established as a county in 1210.

(I) Robert Taft, immigrant ancestor, was born in Ireland about 1640, died in Mendon, Massachusetts, February 8, 1725. He was first at Braintree, Massachusetts, where he owned a lot in 1678. He sold his land there November 18, 1679, to Caleb Hobart, and about the same time he bought his first land in Mendon, and became later one of the largest property owners in that section. He evidently was a man of property and influence at the outset. He was a housewright by trade. He was on the first board of selectmen of the organized town of Mendon in 1680, and the same year served on a committee to build the minister's house. He and his sons built the first bridge across the river Mendon, and in 1729 his sons built the second bridge also. He was one of the purchasers of the tract of land from which the town of Sutton was formed. He married Sarah , and their five sons all had large families and many descendants. Children: Thomas, born 1671, died 1755; Robert, mentioned below; Daniel, died August 24, 1761; Joseph, born 1680, died June 18, 1747; Benjamin, born 1684, died 1766.

married Taft, Sarah in 1668 in Braintree, Norfolk Co., MA. Sarah was born about 1640 in England; died on 08 Feb 1725 in Mendon, Worcester Co., MA; was buried in Mendon, Worcester Co., MA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Faun, Margaret. Margaret was born in 1620 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Nicholas married Milner, Margaret. Margaret (daughter of Milner, George) was born in 1588 in Radcliffe, Lancashire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]