Charles Phelps Taft#External links

{{Infobox congressman

| name = Charles Phelps Taft

| image = Taft 5579668698 7d2741cb4a o.jpg

| caption = Taft, c. 1910–1915

| state = Ohio

| district = 1st

| term_start = March 4, 1895

| term_end = March 3, 1897

| preceded = Bellamy Storer

| succeeded = William B. Shattuc

| party = Republican

| birth_date = {{birth date|1843|12|21}}

| birth_place = Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1929|12|31|1843|12|21}}

| death_place = Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.

| restingplace = Spring Grove Cemetery

| education = Phillips Academy

| alma_mater = Yale University
Columbia Law School
University of Heidelberg

| parents = Alphonso Taft
Fanny Phelps

| spouse = {{marriage|Anna Sinton|1873}}

| relations = Taft family

|signature = Signature of Charles Phelps Taft (1843–1929).png

}}

Charles Phelps Taft (December 21, 1843 – December 31, 1929) was an American lawyer and politician who served as editor of the Cincinnati Times-Star, and owned both the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs baseball teams.{{cite web|title=TAFT, Charles Phelps - Biographical Information|url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000007|website=bioguide.congress.gov|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date=December 15, 2017}} From 1895 to 1897, he served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early life

File:TaftBeverlyGang.jpg

Taft was born on December 21, 1843, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the eldest child born to Fanny Phelps (1823–1852) and Alphonso Taft (1810–1891). His father served as the 34th United States Attorney General and 31st United States Secretary of War, both under President Ulysses S. Grant. Among his younger half-brothers was William Howard Taft (1857–1930), the 27th President of the United States and 10th Chief Justice of the United States, and Horace Dutton Taft (1861–1943), the founder of The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut,{{cite book|last1=Hudson|first1=David L.|title=The Handy Presidents Answer Book|date=2011|publisher=Visible Ink Press|isbn=9781578593583|page=289|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=igNlCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA289|access-date=December 15, 2017|language=en}} to which he donated $150,000 in 1929.{{cite news|title=C.C Tafts Give Taft School $150,000|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/02/07/archives/cc-tafts-give-taft-school-150000.html|access-date=December 15, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=February 7, 1929}}

His maternal grandfather was Judge Charles Phelps, of Townshend, Vermont, and his paternal grandparents were Peter Rawson Taft (1785–1867) of the Taft family and Sylvia (née Howard) Taft. He was the uncle of Robert Alphonso Taft and Charles Phelps Taft II, and the granduncle of Robert Taft Jr.

He was educated at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, graduated from Yale University in 1864, and from Columbia University's law department in 1866.{{cite book|last1=Cutter|first1=William Richard|title=New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation|date=1915|publisher=Lewis historical publishing Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/newenglandfamili02cutt_1/page/n616 1051]|url=https://archive.org/details/newenglandfamili02cutt_1|access-date=December 15, 2017|language=en}} In 1867, he received another degree from the University of Heidelberg.

Career

Following his graduation from Columbia Law School, he was admitted to the bar, and became a partner in the law firm of Sage, Haacke & Taft. He remained with the firm until he left to study abroad in Germany and France.

After returning from Germany, he resumed the practice of law in 1869 with General Edward F. Noyes, who later served as U.S. Minister to France and the 30th Governor of Ohio, at which point Taft was elected to the Ohio State Legislature. Ten years later in 1879, he became editor of the Cincinnati Times-Star, which would later be bought by the Cincinnati Post. This began the Taft media empire, which was his main claim to fame.

=United States Congress=

In 1895, he went to Congress as a Republican succeeding Bellamy Storer, but served only two years from March 4, 1895, until March 3, 1897. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1896 to the Fifty-fifth Congress, and his seat was taken by William B. Shattuc. After retiring from Congress, he returned to the newspaper business.

Taft was a presidential elector in the 1904 presidential election.{{Cite web |title=Index to Politicians: Taft |url=https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/taft.html#117.31.25 |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=The Political Graveyard}}

=Baseball team ownership=

In 1905, Taft became a minority owner of the Chicago Cubs when Charles Murphy purchased the club.{{cite news |title=Want to Control Baseball Affairs |work=The New York Times |date=July 30, 1905}} In 1909, Taft and Murphy funded Horace Fogel's purchase of the Philadelphia Phillies.{{cite news |last1=Conlin |first1=Bill |title=Up from the Cellar: Travesty, Tragedy, Triumph Have Visited Phillies |work=The Philadelphia Daily News |date=April 5, 1983}} The pair publicly denied that they had purchased a second club, but did acknowledge that Taft was the owner of Philadelphia's National League Park.{{cite news |title=Silent as to Philadelphia |work=The Boston Daily Globe |date=December 1, 1909}}{{cite news |title=Owes $16,500, Offers $5000: Fogel's Figure Doesn't Tempt Murray. Latter Prefers to Take Case to National Commission. C. P. Taft's Paper Explains Philadelphia Deal |work=The Boston Daily Globe |date=January 4, 1910}}{{cite news |title=Mrs C.P. Taft Buys Baseball Grounds |work=The New York Times |date=December 31, 1909}} After Fogel received a lifetime ban from baseball in 1912, Taft sold the Phillies to William H. Locke. In 1914, Murphy sold his stock in the Cubs to Taft, who named Charles H. Thomas, the secretary under Murphy, as the new club president.{{cite book|last1=Lee|first1=Andrew|title=Cubs Time|date=2017|publisher=Page Publishing Inc|isbn=9781635688467|page=33|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5vQDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT33|access-date=December 15, 2017|language=en}} Taft sold the Cubs to Charles Weeghman, with some financial backing from William Wrigley Jr., after the 1915 season. In 1916, Taft sold his interest in West Side Park and National League Park to Murphy.{{cite news |title=Murphy Buys Ball Parks |work=The New York Times |date=July 13, 1916}}

Personal life

File:Marguerite_Martyn_drawing_of_Mrs._Charles_Phelps_Taft_and_daughter_Louise_in_1908.jpg of Louise Taft (left) and Anna Sinton Taft (right).]]

On December 4, 1873, Taft was married to Anna Sinton (1850–1931), who was an heiress to a pig iron fortune, left by her father, David Sinton. Together with her husband, she began an art collection, which she opened to the public from their home. Today, their former home is the Taft Museum of Art. Anna and Taft had four children, who were:

Jane Ellison Taft (1874–1962): firstborn child and eldest daughter of Charles Taft and Anna Sinton;{{Cite web |last=Sharp |first=Barbara A. "Bobbie" |date=15 May 2010 |title=Jane Ellison Taft Ingalls (1874–1962) |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52425544/jane_ellison-ingalls |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250325172511/https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52425544/jane_ellison-ingalls |archive-date=25 March 2025 |access-date=25 March 2025 |website=Find A Grave}} married Albert S. Ingalls, the son of railroad executive Melville E. Ingalls, in 1929.
David Sinton Taft (1876–1891): second-born child of Charles Taft and Anna Sinton, and grandson of David Sinton; died in his Cincinnati home at the age of 15 due to typhoid fever.{{Cite web |last=Guy |first=K |date=20 June 2008 |title=David Sinton Taft (1876–1891) |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27706398/david_sinton-taft |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250325174513/https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27706398/david_sinton-taft |archive-date=25 March 2025 |access-date=25 March 2025 |website=Find A Grave}}
Anna Louise Taft Semple (1879–1961)
Charles Howard Taft (1885–1931).

Taft died on December 31, 1929, in Cincinnati, Ohio,{{cite news|title=C.P. TAFT DEAD; EDITOR, ART PATRON; Half-Brother of Chief Justice and Former President Was Leader in Cincinnati. NOTED AS PHILANTHROPIST Gave Art Collection, His Home and $1,000,000 to Institute--Began Career as a Lawyer.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/01/01/archives/cp-taft-dead-editor-art-patron-halfbrother-of-chief-justice-and.html|access-date=December 15, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=January 1, 1930}} where he was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery.{{cite news|title=C.P. TAFT'S FUNERAL TODAY; His Brother, the Chief Justice, on Way to Cincinnati.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/01/02/archives/cp-tafts-funeral-today-his-brother-the-chief-justice-on-way-to.html|access-date=December 15, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=January 2, 1930}}{{cite news|title=CINCINNATI MOURNS CHARLES P. TAFT; Notables at Editor's Funeral-- Chief Justice Taft Escorts Brother's Widow.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/01/03/archives/cincinnati-mourns-charles-p-taft-notables-at-editors-funeral-chief.html|access-date=December 15, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=January 3, 1930}} He left an estate valued at $6,367,374.{{cite news|title=Charles P. Taft Left $6,367,374.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/03/20/archives/charles-p-taft-left-6367374.html|access-date=December 15, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=March 20, 1930}}

=Descendants=

Through his daughter Jane, he was the grandfather of First World War flying ace David Sinton Ingalls (1899–1985), who married Louise Hale Harkness, daughter of William L. Harkness and granddaughter of Daniel M. Harkness, who was instrumental in the formation of Standard Oil.{{cite magazine|title=Milestones, Feb. 9, 1931|url=https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741041-2,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022205917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741041-2,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 22, 2012|access-date=December 15, 2017|magazine=Time|date=February 9, 1931}} He was also the grandfather of Anne Taft Ingalls, who married Rupert E. L. Warburton, "a scion of one of England's oldest families," in 1929.{{cite news|title=ANNE TAFT INGALLS WED IN CLEVELAND; Chief Justice's Great-Niece Is Married to Rupert E.L. Warburton. KEEPS "OBEY" IN SERVICE Audrie M. Meyer Becomes Bride Here of Werner A. Gunther, a German Flier in War.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/11/archives/anne-taft-ingalls-wed-in-cleveland-chief-justices-greatniece-is.html|access-date=December 15, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=April 11, 1929}} His nephew, Charles Phelps Taft II who served as Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio from 1955 to 1957 was named after him.

Legacy

Following his death, Annie (Anna) Sinton Taft donated $5 million to the University of Cincinnati in 1930 and established a memorial fund after his name.{{cite news|title=Mrs. Charles P. Taft Gives $2,000,000 to Aid 'Humanities' Study as Memorial to Husband|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B05E3DA1E39E43ABC4F53DFB366838B629EDE&legacy=true|access-date=December 15, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=May 7, 1930}} This fund was transformed in 2005 into the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati. The city of Taft, Texas was named after him in 1904.[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hgt01 Texas State Historical Association]

His art collection was said to be the most valuable in the West in 1908. He owned at least two works each of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Jean-François Millet and Ernest Meissonier, many pieces of fine Chinese porcelain, Portrait of a Man Rising from His Chair by Rembrandt, The Tompkinson Boys by Thomas Gainsborough, and The Cobbler's Apprentice by Frank Duveneck, as well as paintings by Anthony van Dyck, Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Meindert Hobbema, Francisco Goya, Joshua Reynolds and Rousseau.

Sources

External links

{{findagrave|11763}}
[http://www.nawcc.org/pub/articles/apr01/pritchard.htm Article mentioning him]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060821041040/http://ketupa.net/taft2.htm Piece on him]
[http://www.artsci.uc.edu/taft/ Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati]
[http://rave.ohiolink.edu/archives/ead/OhCiUAR0384 Finding Aid for Charles Phelps Taft Memorial Fund files], Archives and Rare Books Library, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
[http://gildedage2.omeka.net/exhibits/show/highlights/collectors/taft Documenting the Gilded Age: New York City Exhibitions at the Turn of the 20th Century] A New York Art Resources Consortium project. Loan exhibition catalog, exhibition catalog, and residence photograph.

{{US House succession box

|state=Ohio

|district=1

|before=Bellamy Storer

|after=William B. Shattuc

|years=March 4, 1895–March 4, 1897}}

{{s-ttl|title=Owner of the Philadelphia Phillies|years=1905–1913}}