Royal Chapin Taft Sr. (February 14, 1823June 4, 1912) was a US politician and businessman, whose served as the 39th

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

from 1888 to 1889. He was a member of the Taft political family; as a descendant of Robert Taft Sr., he was a distant cousin of

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

Biography

Taft was born in Northbridge,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, on February 14, 1823, and was educated at

Worcester Academy Worcester Academy is a co-ed private boarding school in Worcester, Massachusetts serving grades 6-12. It is the oldest school founded in Worcester, Massachusetts, and one of the oldest day-boarding schools in the United States. A coeducation ...

. His parents were Orsmus Taft and Margaret (Smith) Taft; on October 31, 1850, he married Mary Frances Armington. They had four children. He served as the treasurer of Central Congregational Church in Providence from 1855 to 1856. He belonged to the Republican Party, and was an elected member of

Rhode Island House of Representatives The Rhode Island House of Representatives is the lower house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, the upper house being the Rhode Island Senate. It is ...

from 1880 to 1884 before his term as governor. Taft was a member of the firm Bradford & Taft,

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

dealers, from which he retired in 1885. He was also president of the Merchants National Bank from 1868 president of the

Boston & Providence Railroad The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the first rail lines in the United States - with ...

, and a director of the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated principally in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

(which took control of the B&P in 1893). In 1890 he became a charter member of the Rhode Island Society of the

Sons of the American Revolution The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), formally the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR), is a federally chartered patriotic organization. The National Society, a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Louisvi ...

. He served as the Society's president from 1897 to 1898. He died June 4, 1912, at his home in Providence, Rhode Island. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living ex-governor of Rhode Island. He is interred at

Swan Point Cemetery Swan Point Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Established in 1846 on a 60-acre (0.24 km2) plot of land, it has approximately 40,000 interments. History The cemetery was first organize ...

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in some religions * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Legacy

He was a patron of the arts, with a large private collection; parts of his collection are now part of various institutions such as the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

. Taft Hall at the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

is named after him, as well as the Royal C. Taft Outpatient Building (1891) at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.Mentioned i

which is otherwise irrelevant

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taft, Royal C. 1823 births 1912 deaths American people of English descent American people of Scotch-Irish descent Republican Party governors of Rhode Island Republican Party members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives People from Northbridge, Massachusetts Businesspeople from Massachusetts Worcester Academy alumni Taft family Burials at Swan Point Cemetery 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century members of the Rhode Island General Assembly

Biography

Legacy

See also

References

External links