Might we have reliable sources to support the link of President Taft to an ancestry across the pond?

Question

President Taft's immigrating ancestor is said Robert Taft, born, possibly England, Scotland or Ireland, about 1640, died in Mendon, Massachusetts Bay, 8 February 1724/5.

WikiTree associates him with a mostly English ancestry. It seems other user generated sites do also.

Hoping folks can assist--are there any contemporaneous records by which the parentage of this immigrant, Robert Taft is shown? In other words, are there historical records supporting his birth to particular parents? Has a will or other court document(s), either here or across the pond, been locatied by which we know of his ancestors, siblings or other relations?   

Any assistance you are able to provide is most appreciated.--Gene

Comments

The father listed on the profile has a middle name - a fairly sure sign that it's not correct for the period given.

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Thank you, Lois.

I'm with you on this!

Have spent parts of this week looking for some historical references ... just coming up dry. Hoping we'll have more luck if we work on this as a broader community. --Gene

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Gene, I've barely looked at this, but so far my guess is that we'll find two different individuals were conflated in this profile - a Richard who married Margaret in 1646 and a Robert.

If there's any real likelihood of the Ireland birth, you might want to add that to the tags.

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Thank you Lois. I did add Scotland, but not Ireland.

Other can chime in, but as I read an early Taft family association newsletter, they thought England or Scotland, only perhaps Ireland.

Thanks again, Lois. What would we without you!!! --Gene

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Gene - I looked at those minutes of the Taft family meeting attached to one of the profiles.  When I saw the story about the three brothers, I decided to have no faith in those family legends.

But there seem to be a number of records showing Robert T*fts born at about the right time for an immigrant and documenting his parentage, yet no way to determine which, if any of them, was the immigrant to Mendon. And this is how we end up with these problems - people find a record with the right name and investigate no further.

Without a Sarah, I can't hold out confidence.

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There ought to be a song just for us about "Three Bro Woes."

Likewise, as to the records of a marriage with, it seems, children's baptisms. As well, some possibility we might stumble onto a will or court document.

WikiTree is on the hunt! --Gene

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If there's a Will, Ann Browning will find it!

Unfortunately, we're looking for documents in the Civil War era, when records were often not kept or were lost. Or, if in London, burned.

All those Taft records in Stepney only show that there was a family living there, but not if it was the right one.

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Thanks Lois, I think your estimation of my finding abilities is exaggerated! Nic Donnelly  and Jo Fitz-Henry are the champions  in that area. I have learnt a lot from  both of them with regards to wills

Ann

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You may have seen this, Gene, but there's a record of a Sarah Simpson bp, 14 January 1640 at St Dunstan's Stepney.  Father William, mother Gartrude. No marriage for her, tho, at least so far.

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Thank you, Lois. Good catch and really interesting. 

I'm sure you saw this already, but for the benefit of all, our trigger for the Simpson clue is Robert's association with Savill(e) Simpson. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no knowledge of his origins. 

From Robert's profile, 

"NOTE: Robert Taft had many early dealings with Savill Simpson, it is thought that Robert Taft's wife may have been Sarah Simpson, but her maiden name is unconfirmed." 

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I came up empty on him in my search. btw - it seems that Someone had been adding incorrect information to Sarah's profile here on WT - now corrected. But that birthdate is intriguingly close.

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As you well know, Lois, every bit helps. Thank you.--Gene

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Lois and Ann, see related G2G (2022), Why is LNAB required if there is DNA evidence?

See especially the lengthy DNA related answer, including, Rick Petersen's comment, "...  your DNA matches could possibly be related through another line in which you may have matching DNA from a different more recent MRCA." 

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Oh Lordy, it’s no good my weighing in on that. Although I know how to run dna tests the dna with regards to ancestry I’m not sure about and honestly in my opinion a paper trail is far better evidence with an ancestor so far back.

Ann

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I'm with you on that one! --Gene

Answer 1

Gary Boyd Roberts in Ancestors of American Presidents (2009 edition) does not give any English ancestry of the Taft Family stopping at Robert Taft, born about 1640, with no place given. There is a comprehensive bibliography specific to the President. If the ancestry had been known there would have been one more Taft generation in the book.

Comments

Thank you George. This is very helpful.

It seems to me his ancestry is yet to be discovered/proven.

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Or may never be.

Answer 2

Gene, sent you an image via pm that might help or not !

Ann

Answer 3

This could be a possible 

First name(s) Robert

Last name Taft

Birth year 1642

Baptism year 1642

Baptism date 16 Apr 1642

Place Knutsford, St John the Baptist

County Cheshire

Country England

Mother's first name(s) -

Father's first name(s) -

Father's last name -

Record set Cheshire Diocese Of Chester Parish Baptisms 1538-1911

Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records

Subcategory Parish Baptisms

Collections from England, Great Britain

Comments

There are a bunch of Tofts there in Knutsford including Richard/Robert parentage. Looking for Sarah.

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If we could find a Sarah marriage, it would be worth the extra digging to see if a connection could be made. --Gene

Answer 4

Just looked up the relationship finder and he is my 15th cousin twice removed, both descendants of Margery Despenser Wentworth …

According to the relationship finder his father was Alphonso Taft. Not sure if this helps.

Comments

Cool, Megan. :-) Gene

Answer 5

I have found 3 sources....marriage, death, Census- 1880, 1820 and 1910, would you like me to put them onto his profile.

Regards,

Megan

Comments

Thank you for supporting WikiTree. 

In this case, we are trying to locate historical records that can be proven to be about the man, Robert Taft, who was born about 1640 and died in Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Bay, 2 February 1725. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Taft-88

Right now he is linked as the son of a "Richard Robert Taft" -- but there are no historical records to support that parent-child relationship. 

Since President Taft's profile is co-managed by a project, I recommend you add the sources in a profile comment. Then the project can decide how they want those sources to fit into the profile formatting. 

Thank you again for supporting WikiTree, and for collaborating on the G2G question

Answer 6

Well not sure it helps but I have Taft’s in my line from Solomon Taft who migrated to Australia in 1852.

There are obituary references to Solomon (aka Silas, Samuel) being a distant relative of President Taft.

My Solomon Taft (3x GGF) was born in Oneida around 1828 and died in Sydney Australia in 1865. Along this line the earliest ancestor uncovered by research is to Robert Taft I who’s birthplace is recorded as Leinster, Louth in Ireland circa 1640