Louise Taft

Louisa Maria "Louise" Torrey (September 11, 1827 - December 8, 1907) was the second wife of Alphonso Taft, and the mother of U.S. President William Howard Taft.

Background

She was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the first daughter of Samuel Davenport Torrey (1789-1877) and his second wife, the former Susan Holman Waters (1803-1866). Her three sisters were Delia Chapin Torrey (who married geologist Edward Orton, Sr.), Anna Davenport Torrey, and Susan H. Torrey. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College (then Mount Holyoke Female Seminary) in 1845.

Marriage and family life

She married Alphonso Taft, widowed in 1852, on 26 December 1853 in Millbury, Massachusetts, becoming stepmother to his two living sons by his first wife, Fanny Phelps, Charles Phelps Taft, who became the publisher of the Cincinnati Times-Star and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1895 to 1897, and Peter Rawson "Rossy" Taft.

They had five children, four of whom lived to adulthood. The first, who died aged 14 months of pertussis, was Samuel Davenport Torrey Taft. The second was President William Howard Taft; next was Henry Waters Taft, who became a lawyer in New York City; fourth was Horace Dutton Taft, founder of the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, and the last was Frances Louis "Fanny" Taft, who married surgeon William A. Edwards.

The family lived in Cincinnati during her husband's tenure as judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati, in Washington, D. C. when he was, successively, Secretary of War and Attorney General and in Austria-Hungary and Russia when he served as U.S. ambassador there.

Death

Louise Taft died at Millbury, Massachusetts aged 80 years, and was interred at Spring Grove Cemetery, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Just under 11 months later, her eldest surviving son was elected President.

References

• Gary Boyd Roberts, Ancestors of American Presidents, First Authoritative Edition, 1995, p. 60.
• Ishbel Ross, An American Family: The Tafts 1678 to 1964, World Publishing Co., Cleveland, 1964.

External links

• Louisa Torrey Hall, Mount Holyoke College

William Howard Taft
10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930) 27th President of the United States (1909–1913) 42nd United States Secretary of War (1904–1908) 6th Solicitor General of the United States (1890–1892)
Presidency	1909 inauguration Dollar diplomacy Income Tax amendment Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act Mann–Elkins Act Defense Secrets Act of 1911 Commission on Economy and Efficiency U.S. occupation of Nicaragua United States Chamber of Commerce Ceremonial first pitch State of the Union Address 1912 Cabinet Judicial appointments Supreme Court First Oval Office
Chief Justice, Supreme Court	Supreme Court career Judiciary Act of 1925 Creation of the Supreme Court Building Taft Court cases
Other actions	Taft Commission Insular Government of the Philippine Islands Philippines Civil Governor, 1901–1904 Taft–Katsura agreement 1906–1909 Occupation of Cuba League to Enforce Peace National War Labor Board
Life and legacy	Early life Birthplace, home, and historic site Woodbury Point Taft Bridge Bibliography U.S. Postage stamps
Elections	1908 Republican National Convention 1908 U.S. presidential election 1912 Republican National Convention 1912 U.S. presidential election
Family	Helen Herron Taft (wife) Robert Taft (son) Helen Taft Manning (daughter) Charles Phelps Taft II (son) Robert Taft Jr. (grandson) William Howard Taft III (grandson) Seth Taft (grandson) Alphonso Taft (father) Louise Taft (mother) Charles Phelps Taft (brother) Henry Waters Taft (brother) Horace Dutton Taft (brother) Peter Rawson Taft (paternal grandfather)
Related	Progressive Era
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