Robert Taft, 2nd

His oldest son, Robert III, had large transactions in real estate, and was popular, and held every office of trust and honor the town had to give, from fence viewer and tything-man, to selectman and representative in "the Great and General Court."^[2] He came upon the after his uncle Daniel Taft had become absorbed in the important duties which, at that time, weighed down a colonial justice of the peace.

Israel Taft, of Upton, Robert's second-born son, had nineteen children, one of whom was Samuel Taft. In 1789, Samuel was the proprietor of a tavern in Uxbridge. This tavern is now known as Samuel Taft House. The newly elected President of the United States, George Washington, stayed one evening with Samuel Taft and his family.^[3]

Robert Taft Jr. was a founder and the founding Selectman on the first Board of Selectmen, of the colonial town of Uxbridge, in Worcester County, Massachusetts.^[4] The town of Uxbridge was incorporated as a separate town from Mendon in 1727. Robert Taft Jr. was the first known elected political figure in the famous Taft family, a dynasty in American politics. A prominent citizen of Mendon and Uxbridge, Robert Taft Jr. died in Uxbridge, Worcester County, in 1748. His descendants number among well-known Americans and political figures, especially among the Taft family in Ohio. Robert Taft Jr.'s descendants include Royal Chapin Taft, Governor of Rhode Island, Ezra T. Benson, Utah Territorial Legislator and LDS Church Apostle, his great-grandson Ezra Taft Benson, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and thirteenth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and Kingsley Arter Taft, a U.S. Senator from Ohio and chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, among others.

• "Descendants of Robert and Sarah Taft". rootsweb. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
• Marvin, AP (1879). History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Embracing a Comprehensive History of the County from its earliest beginnings to the present time; Vol. lI. Boston, MA: CF Jewitt and Company. p. 146.