Representative Samuel Taggart

Samuel Taggart (March 24, 1754 – April 25, 1825) was a Presbyterian minister, an American politician, and a United States Representative from Massachusetts. The son of Matthew Taggart, and born to James and Jean Anderson Taggart, he entered the world in Londonderry, in the Province of New Hampshire, on March 24, 1754, in a community heavily influenced by Scotch-Irish Presbyterian traditions. He completed preparatory studies locally before pursuing higher education at Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1774. His early life unfolded against the backdrop of the approaching American Revolution, and his education and religious upbringing prepared him for a dual vocation in the ministry and public life.

After graduating from Dartmouth, Taggart studied theology and was licensed to preach, embracing the Presbyterian faith of his family and community. He was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry on February 19, 1777, and soon thereafter was installed as pastor of a church in Colrain, Massachusetts. From this base in rural western Massachusetts, he also journeyed as a missionary through western New York, reflecting the broader late eighteenth-century movement to extend Protestant religious institutions into the expanding American frontier. His pastoral work in Colrain would remain a central element of his life for more than four decades and established him as a respected religious leader in the region.

Taggart’s career as a clergyman preceded and then overlapped with his entry into politics. As a settled minister in Colrain, he became a figure of local influence, and his education and public standing made him a natural candidate for higher office in the early republic. His experience traveling as a missionary and ministering to dispersed communities likely informed his understanding of the needs and concerns of rural constituents, which would later shape his legislative perspective. Throughout his early career, he balanced the demands of the pulpit with growing civic responsibilities, embodying the close ties between religious and civic leadership in New England at the time.

As a member of the Federalist Party representing Massachusetts, Taggart contributed to the legislative process during seven terms in office. He was elected as a Federalist to the Eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses, serving as a United States Representative for the sixth district of the state of Massachusetts from March 4, 1803, to March 3, 1817. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, encompassing the Jefferson and Madison administrations, the Louisiana Purchase, rising partisan conflict, and the War of 1812. During these years he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his Massachusetts constituents within the broader Federalist program, which emphasized a strong national government, commercial development, and skepticism toward the policies of the Democratic-Republican majority. His congressional correspondence from 1803 to 1814, later published as “Letters of Samuel Taggart: Representative in Congress from 1803 to 1814,” provides insight into his views on national policy and the political controversies of the era.

Taggart chose not to be a candidate for renomination in 1816, thereby concluding fourteen years of continuous congressional service. After leaving Congress on March 3, 1817, he returned fully to his pastoral duties in Colrain. He continued his service as pastor of the Colrain Presbyterian Church until October 28, 1818, when he resigned his charge, bringing to a close more than forty years of ordained ministry. In his later years he devoted himself to his farm and to family and local affairs, remaining a prominent figure in the Colrain community even after withdrawing from formal public and ecclesiastical office.

In his personal life, Taggart married Elizabeth Duncan in 1777, early in his ministerial career. Together they had twelve children: Robert, Samuel D., Daniel, Jean, Elizabeth (“Betsy”), James, George, Mary (“Polly”), Rufus, Esther, Lucy, and Moses. Elizabeth Duncan Taggart died on March 4, 1815. The following year, on March 25, 1816, he married Mary Ayer, with whom he had three additional children: Catherine, Mary Ann, and William Ayer. His large family reflected both the norms of the period and the stability of his long residence in Colrain, where multiple generations of the Taggart family became established.

Samuel Taggart died on his farm in Colrain, Massachusetts, on April 25, 1825, at the age of 71 years and 32 days. He was interred at Chandler Hill Cemetery in Colrain. His life and career, spanning the colonial era, the American Revolution, and the formative decades of the United States, were later documented in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and in the published editions of his congressional letters, which remain valuable sources for understanding both his personal convictions and the broader political history of the early republic.