Samuel Taggart (March 24, 1754 – April 25, 1825) was a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Minister, an American politician and a U. S. Representative from

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 ...

Early life

The son of Matthew Taggart, he was born in Londonderry in the

Province of New Hampshire The Province of New Hampshire was an English colony and later a British province in New England. It corresponds to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America. It was named after the Englis ...

on March 24, 1754. Taggart completed preparatory studies, and graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1774. He studied theology and was licensed to preach.

Career

Ordained to the Presbyterian ministry on February 19, 1777, Taggart was installed as pastor of a church in Colrain, Massachusetts. He then journeyed as a missionary through western

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Taggart was elected as a

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to the Eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses, serving as a United States Representative for the sixth district of the state of Massachusetts (March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1817). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1816, but continued his service as pastor of the Colrain Presbyterian Church until October 28, 1818, when he resigned.

Death

Taggart died on his farm in Colrain, Massachusetts, on April 25, 1825 (age 71 years, 32 days). He is interred at Chandler Hill Cemetery.

Family life

Born son of James and Jean Anderson Taggart, he married Elizabeth Duncan in 1777 and they had twelve children: Robert, Samuel D., Daniel, Jean, Elizabeth Betsy, James, George, Mary Polly, Rufus, Esther, Lucy, and Moses. Elizabeth died on March 4, 1815, and he married Mary Ayer on March 25, 1816. They had three children: Catherine, Mary Ann, and William Ayer.

Bibliography

*Taggart, Samuel
“Letters of Samuel Taggart: Representative in Congress from 1803 to 1814: Part I, 1803-1807”
Edited by George H. Haynes. ''Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society'' 33 (April 1923): 113–226. *Taggart, Samuel
“Letters of Samuel Taggart: Representative in Congress from 1803 to 1814: Part II, 1808-1814"
Edited by George H. Haynes. ''Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society'' 33 (October 1923): 297–438.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taggart, Samuel 1754 births 1825 deaths People from Londonderry, New Hampshire American Presbyterians American people of Scotch-Irish descent Dartmouth College alumni Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts People from Colrain, Massachusetts 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives