Taft, Alphonso
lawyer, jurist, was born Nov. 5, 1810, in Townsend, Vt. In 1866 he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the bench of the superior court of Cincinnati; was elected to that position, and was re-elected by the unanimous vote of both political parties. In 1876 he was appointed secretary of war; and in the same year became attorney-general of the United States. In 1882 he was appointed United States minister to Austria. He died May 21, 1891, in San Diego, Cal.