Lydia Taft

Lydia Taft (née Chapin; February 2, 1712November 9, 1778) was the first woman known to legally vote in colonial America. This occurred at a town meeting in the New England town of Uxbridge in Massachusetts Colony, on October 30, 1756. Early life Lydia Chapin was born in Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts, on February 2, 1712. She was the daughter of Seth Chapin and Bethia Thurston. Seth Chapin was a respected member of the community and a captain in the militia. Young Lydia grew up in Mendon, in a large family with nine siblings. Her mother had 14 children. Her father owned much property in what is today Milford, South Hopedale and Posts Lane, Mendon. The family lived on near the Post's Lane bridge and Mill River. In 1727, the western part of Mendon became the newly incorporated town of Uxbridge. Mendon and Uxbridge were, at that time, rural communities in central Massachusetts. In 1731, these communities became part of the new county of Worcester County. By their mutual ancestor, Captain Seth Chapin, she was a great-great-great grand-aunt of the 27th United States President William Howard Taft, also his first cousin, four times removed, by marriage to Josiah Taft.