Bazaleel Taft, Jr., House and Law Office

Infobox_nrhp | name =Bazaleel Taft, Jr., also "Bezaleel"
House and Law Office
( Elmshade )
Uxbridge, Massachusetts
nrhp_type =

|thumb
caption = "Powerful political family - Taft family reunions, Georgian architecture"
location= 147 South Main Street

Uxbridge, Massachusetts
area =
built =1807
added = November 7, 1983
governing_body = Private
mpsub=
refnum=83004135 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] The Bazaleel Taft, Jr., House and Law Office is an historic structure in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. On November 7, 1983, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [ [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/MA/Worcester/state11.html National Register of Historical Places - MASSACHUSETTS (MA), Worcester County ] ] The House and Law office reflect the Georgian Architecture Style.

History

Elmshade, built in 1807 at 147 South Main Street was a gift for Bezaleel Taft, Jr from Bezaleel Taft, Sr., on his graduation from Harvard Law School. Bezaleel, Jr. was the grandson of Lydia Taft, America's first woman voter. Bazaleel Jr. was practicing law next door in a brick building. Like his Father, Taft Jr. also became a State Senator and a representative to the General Court. He also served on the State Executive Council. He served as President of the Blackstone National Bank, of which he was a founder, for nearly 20 years.

Gathering place for the Taft family

Five generations of the Taft family descendants lived at "Elmshade". A number of them had powerful political and legal careers, including George S. Taft, Bezaleel Jr's son. George was a lawyer, District Attorney and private secretary to U.S. Senator George Hoar in the 1880s. His influence probably led to the Lincoln Square, Worcester Court House being erected., The "Life of Alphonso Taft by Lewis Alexander Leonard", on Google Books, is a particularly rich source of the history of the Taft family in Massachusetts.cite book|last=Leonard|first=Lewis Alexander|authorlink=|title="The Life of Alphonso Taft" by Google Books|publisher=|location=|ISBN= cite web|title="Life of Alphonso Taft"|publisher=Google Books|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LCVCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA308&lpg=PA308&dq=%22the+life+of+alphonso+taft%22+by+lewis+alexander+leonard&source=web&ots=oPnSgqCCBA&sig=ItrjVR1tAeXtoOKUMZX4KXjKiy4#PPA230,M1|accessdate=2007-11-25] Elmshade was the site of Taft family reunions such as in 1874. cite web|title="Walking Tour"|publisher=Blackstone Daily|url=http://www.blackstonedaily.com/Outdoors&Nature/WTuxbridge.htm|accessdate=2007-10-23] Young William Howard Taft visited this home with his father Alphonso Taft, U.S. Secretary of War and founder of skull and bones at Yale. Alphonso Taft, who also served as United States Attorney General under President Ulysses S. Grant, delivered a powerful oratory on the Taft family and its roots in this area at this historic home during the reunion in 1874.. President William Howard Taft again visited this area, and this home, as a youth when he spent summers and even a term of school in Millbury. He would return here many years later as the American President to visit his kinfolk. "The New York Times" recorded President Taft's visits to his ancestral homes in Mendon and Uxbridge during his Presidency. cite web|title="Taft visits Home of His Ancestors"|publisher= New York Times|url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E01E0D91E39E333A25753C2A96E9C946196D6CF&oref=slogin|accessdate=2007-11-27]

Colonial style Georgian house and office

In the colonial period of America, the Georgian Architecture style was also built with wood and clapboard, though much of the construction was of brick. Wood clapboard is the style used for the Bezaleel Taft, Jr house. The office was a brick style building. The link for Georgian architecture notes these distinctions.

ee also

*List of Registered Historic Places in Uxbridge, Massachusetts Listing of other local historic sites
*Taft family, some of the family tree of the Taft family which originated here and includes Bezaleel Taft, Jr.
*The Tafts of Mendon and Uxbridge

References

External links

* [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/MA/Worcester/state11.html National Register listing]