In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1909) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio .. (1901), Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio (1909)
DANIEL H. TAFT.
In mercantile circles in Columbus, Ohio, there is no name which more readily or unerringly suggests all those cjualities which characterize the honorable and successful merchant than that of Daniel H. Taft, of the firm of Dunn, Taft & Company, who not only occupies an honorable ' position in the business community but is descended from an old first-class Ohio family.
Mr. Taft was born March 23, 1850. a son of Daniel H. Taft, Sr. His father was a native of Massachusetts, born in 18 14, who came with his parents to Ohio early in life and settled at Reynoldsburg, a small village in Franklin county, where in due time he started on a mercantile career. In 1840 he married Miss Sarah Elizabeth Conine. Not long afterward he moved to Columbus, where for many years he had a dry-goods store at Broad and High streets on the present site of the Deshler bank, and later at another location on High street and still later at High and Gay streets. He retired from business after an honorable career of thirty years and died in 1876. His wife survived him until 1894, when she died in her seventy-fifth year; she was born in New Jersey, in 1819, and came to Ohio with her father's family in 1821. Jacob Conine, her father, was a pioneer in Franklin county, and her mother was Sarah Lawrence, born in New Jersey in 1778. Daniel Taft, father of Daniel H. Taft, Sr., and grandfather of Daniel H. Taft, the immediate subject of this sketch, was a native of jMassachusetts and was descended from ancestors who came to America from England about
Mr. Taft passed his boyhood and early school days in his native city and completed his studies in the high school. After that he assisted hi.i father in his store and later accepted a position in the dry-goods store of J. D. Osborn & Company and was a clerk in their establishment for fourteen years, until the business was closed out. After that he was with Green, Joyce & Company until 1889, when he formed a partnership with Joseph H. Dunn and Joseph A. Hartley, under the style of Dunn, Taft & Company, purchasing the stock of William G. Dunn, a retiring member of Mr. Dunn's old firm. The present store of Dunn. Taft & Company, at 84. 86 and 88 North High street, occupies a ground space of forty by one hundred and eighty-seven feet and is a four-story-and-basement building. All of the several floors are crowded with the company's goods and customers and the business requires the services of sixty employes. The stock is large and varied and the store ranks as the largest exclusive dry-goods store in the state.
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Mr. Taft is a man of much public spirit, influential to a great degree in political affairs, but to.o busy to be an active politician, a helpful, progressive citizen who has the welfare of his fellow citizens at heart and encourages every national means to its advancement.
As printed in A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio .. (1901). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
DANIEL HENRY TAFT.
Daniel Henry Taft is the president of the Dunn-Taft Company, owning and controlling what has been termed the most reliable store in Columbus. A native son of the capital city, he was born March 23, 1850. The ancestral history is traced back to 1680 when Robert Taft settled at Uxbridge, Massachusetts. He had five sons, the second one. Robert Taft, being a direct ancestor of our subject, while the fourth son was a direct ancestor of President Taft. For more than two centuries, however, the family has been distinctly American in its lineal and collateral branches. Daniel Henry Taft, Sr., the father of our subject, was a native of Massachusetts and arrived in Columbus in 1840. in which year he established business on Broad and High streets, forming a partnership with D. W. Deshler. the father of William G. Deshler, well known in business circles of this city. For a short time they conducted a dry-goods business, after which the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Taft, however, continuing in business for a long period. About 1875. however, he retired from active connection with mercantile interests on account of his health and died the following year. The business, however, was conducted under his name by his sons for many wars. He had an extended acquaintance and was a most highly respected man. his commercial integrity and undaunted enterprise constituting important features in his life record. He was quiet in manner, regular and exemplary in his habits and of becoming r'v. LL'.C LIBRARY modesty, yet lie exerted considerable influence from the fact that his friend* — and they were many — learned to esteem him for his genuine worth, learning that his judgment was sound and hi* sagacity keen and far-sighted. He married Sarah E. Conine, a native of New Jersey and a representative of an old colonial family. Her mother was a cousin of the famous Commodore Lawrence. The death of Mrs. Sarah E. Taft occurred in 1894.
At the usual age Daniel Henry Tuft was sent as a pupil to the public and high schools and afterward attended school to the age of sixteen years. He later went to work in his father's store, entering business life when eighteen years of age. As a salesman he became connected with the old and well known firm of J. D. Osborn & Company, dealers in dry goods and carpets, and was associated with them until the firm retired from business in 1882. In January of that year Mr. Taft entered the employ of Green, Joyce & Company as buyer and manager of the dress goods and silk department and for seven years thus represented that house. He was then offered a partnership in the firm of William G. Dunn tt Company, the senior partner retiring, at which time the firm became Dunn-Taft & Company. Joseph H. Dunn died in Junt; 1905, and the business was then under the control of the surviving partners until February, 1908, when it was incorporated under the name of the Dunn-Taft Company with Mr. Taft as president and general manager. When he became connected with this business they occupied a single floor, but now utilize the entire building, the business having increased steadily until it i. now one of the most i?portant commercial enterprises of the city. They have a most complete dry-goods store and the business management of the house is most thorough and methodical. There were twenty-five employes in 1889 and today there arc over two hundred people. There are no.sensational methods of advertising, for they regard satisfied patrons as their best advertisement and water only to a high-class trade, enjoying a reputation of absolute business integrity. Mr. Taft is also a director of the Columbus Malleable Casting Company and vice president of the Columbus Mutual Life Insurance Company.
In 1882 Mr. Taft was married to Miss Mary Ritson. of Columbus, who died in 1895, leaving a daughter Helen, who is now a senior in Vassar College, and a son. Lawrence R., who is a sophomore of the Ohio State University. Jn 1897 Mr. Taft wedded Miss Martha B. Hill, of Summit county, Ohio.
In his social relations Mr. Taft is connected with the Columbus Country Club and the Ohio Club. He has taken considerable interest in Masonry, attaining the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and has been very active in the First Congregational church, serving as a member of its board of deacons and on its l>oard of directors. He is likewise president of the board of control of the West Side Social Center, engaged in settlement work; is president of the Congregational Brotherhood of Columbus; and one of the bo;1rd of directors of the National Congregational Brotherhood. For a number of years he has been active in the council which is the governing board of the Godman Guild. He is likewise a director of the Young Men's Christian Association and a director of Associated Charities, and thus in various line.s he
[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]
As printed in Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio (1909). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Their biographies name Daniel Taft: Henry T. Sibel (b. 1842)
The printed record stops around 1901. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.