Bezaleel Taft Jr.
{{short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bezaleel Taft Jr.
| image =
| caption =
| nickname =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1780|9|8}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1846|7|16|1780|9|8}}
| death_place =
| occupation = Lawyer
| spouse =
| children =
| parents = Bezaleel Taft Sr.
Sarah Richardson
| relatives = Taft family
}}
Bezaleel Taft Jr. (September 8, 1780 – July 16, 1846) was an American lawyer and member of the Taft family who served in the Massachusetts General Court and the Massachusetts Governor's Council.
Biography
Bazaleel Taft Jr. was the son of Bezaleel Taft Sr. and Sarah Richardson Taft. He was a descendant of Robert Taft Sr., the first American Taft. His grandmother, Lydia Chapin Taft, was America's First Woman Voter. His grandfather, Captain Josiah Taft, had fought in the French and Indian War. His father was a soldier and a Captain in the Worcester 9th Company, in the American Revolutionary War.{{cite book|last=Leonard|first=Lewis Alexander|title="The Life of Alphonso Taft" by Google Books}}{{cite book|last=Leonard|first=Lewis Alexander|title="The Life of Alphonso Taft" by Google Books}}{{cite book|title=Life of Alphonso Taft|via=Internet Archive|year=1920|publisher=Hawke publishing Company (incorporated)|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_LCVCAAAAIAAJ |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_LCVCAAAAIAAJ/page/n193 308]|access-date=2007-11-25}}
Taft graduated from Harvard College in 1804.{{cite book |last1=Mowry |first1=William |title=The Uxbridge Academy, a Brief History |date=1897 |publisher=The Everett Press Company |location=Boston |pages=147-148 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HpVPAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA148&dq |access-date=9 March 2025}} He returned to Uxbridge to practice law and became a political leader in the town. In 1807, Bezaleel Taft Sr. built a large home in Uxbridge for his son.{{cite book |last1=Wrona |first1=B. Mae Edwards |title=Uxbridge |date=2000 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |location=Charleston |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ErYeEdolwYYC&pg=PA46&dq |access-date=9 March 2025}} Taft married Margaret Spring, daughter of Rev. Samuel Spring of Newburyport, Massachusetts. They had three children. Margaret Spring Taft died on July 25, 1816. On November 30, 1817, he married her cousin, Hannah Spring. They had five children.{{cite book |title=The Chapin Book of Genealogical Data |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnThAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA678&dq |access-date=9 March 2025}} One of his grandchildren, George S. Taft, was district attorney of Worcester County, Massachusetts.
Taft served several terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, was a member of the Massachusetts Senate from 1825 to 1827, and a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council from 1828 to 1831.{{cite book |title=A pocket almanack, for the year of our lord 1825 |url=https://archive.org/details/pocketalmanackfo1825amer/page/16/mode/2up?q |access-date=9 March 2025}}{{cite book |title=A pocket almanack, for the year of our lord 1827 |url=https://archive.org/details/pocketalmanackfo1827amer/page/16/mode/2up?q |access-date=9 March 2025}}{{cite book |title=A pocket almanack, for the year of our lord 1829 |url=https://archive.org/details/massachusettsreg1829adam2/page/16/mode/2up?q |access-date=9 March 2025}}{{cite book |title=A pocket almanack, for the year of our lord 1831 |url=https://archive.org/details/massachusettsreg1831adam/page/n37/mode/2up?q |access-date=9 March 2025}}
Taft played an active role in the creation of the Worcester State Hospital and was the second president of the Blackstone Bank. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1820.[http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlistt American Antiquarian Society Members Directory]
Taft died on July 16, 1846 at Uxbridge, at age 65. His cause of death is listed as "Consumption" in the Uxbridge vital records.{{cite book|last=Baldwin|first=Thomas Williams|title=Vital Records of Uxbridge, Massachusetts to the Year 1850|publisher=Wright and Potter Printing|location=Boston|pages=[https://archive.org/details/vitalrecordsuxb00towngoog/page/n5 2]–450|year=1916|url=https://archive.org/details/vitalrecordsuxb00towngoog|quote=Samuel Taft of Uxbridge.|access-date=2007-11-02}}
Notes
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Category:Harvard College alumni
Category:People from Uxbridge, Massachusetts
Category:Politicians from Worcester County, Massachusetts
Category:Massachusetts state senators
Category:19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court