Charles P Taft
Early Biography
Charles Phelps Taft was born in Cincinnati, December 21st, 1843, and is the eldest son of Hon. Alphonso Taft. He prepared for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, entered Yale Law School in 1860, and graduated in 1864. Having decided upon law as a profession, he entered the Columbia College Law School, of New York, and graduated in 1866. Shortly after his graduation he engaged in the practice of law, with Sage & Haacke, the firm being known as Sage, Haacke & Taft. In the latter part of the same year he withdrew from the firm and went to Berlin, Prussia, where he remained about four months, studying German and attending the Berlin University.
In March 1867, he went to Heidelberg, and in December of the same year took the degree of "Juris Utriusque Doctor" at the University of Heidelberg.
In March 1968, he went to Paris, France, where he spent another year in the study of the French language and literature, and in attendance at the College de France. In 1869 he spent three months in Italy, and two months in England and Scotland.
In November of the same year he returned to Cincinnati, and formed a partnership with General E. F. Noyes, in the practice of law. The firm continued up to 1871, when General Noyes was elected Governor of the state, and he himself elected to the State Legislature. In 1873 Mr. Taft resumed the practice of law, in company with his father and brother, Peter R. Taft. The firm continued in the enjoyment of an extensive practice till 1876, when, by the appointment of Judge Taft as Secretary of War, it was dissolved. From that time to the present (1884) Mr. Taft has continued to practice alone.
In 1879 he bought a controlling interest in the Cincinnati Times. In June 1880 Mr. Taft made a proposition to the Daily Star, the only other evening paper of that city, to consolidate the two papers. His proposition was accepted, and the consolidation was effected. The paper has since been known as the Times-Star. Mr. Taft is also vice-president and stockholder in the Volksblatt Company, the most prosperous German newspaper in the country. He has been identified for several years with numerous public enterprises and interests, among which might be mentioned the Zoological Garden of Cincinnati, of which he was one of the founders and for several years of its directors.
Mr. Taft was married December 4th, 1873, to Miss Annie Sinton, daughter of David and Jane (Ellison) Sinton, of Cincinnati. Four children have been born of this union, viz: Jane Ellison, David Sinton, Annie Louise, and Charles Howard.
Contributed by
