History of Russellville, (Brown County) Ohio United States of America

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Jonathan Taft, D. D. S., Dental Surgeon, was born, September 17th, 1820, in Russellville, Brown county, Ohio. After a residence of two years in this place the family moved to the mountainous regions of Adams county, Ohio, where they remained ten years. His father, Lyman Taft, was a native of Massachusetts, who emigrated to Ohio in 1818, and his mother was a native of Ohio. Both were of New England stock, and of Puritan ancestry. Up to the age of fourteen he enjoyed but meagre advantages for education, and at that time entered an academy where he studied two years, gaining some knowledge of Greek and Latin and of mathematics. The succeeding two years were devoted to farm labor, and at eighteen he engaged as teacher in a common school, continuing in this capacity about four years. He commenced in this period the study of natural sciences, and pursued his researches with industry and spirit. In the spring of 1841 he studied dentistry under Dr. George D. Teetor, in Ripley, Ohio, and after a pupilage of eighteen months, during which he made some progress in all its branches, he commenced its practice, and has continued in it up to the present time. In the pursuit of this favorite profession he remained in Ripley one year, and then removed to Xenia, Ohio, residing at this place until 1858. During this period he did something to increase the resources and facilities of the profession, then but imperfectly developed, and in 1848 entered the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, and, after completing two courses, graduated in 1850 from that institution. In 1854 he was appointed as Professor of "Operative Dentistry" in this college, and has now completed his twenty-first year in this chair, and has taught longer without interruption in this capacity than perhaps any one else now living. For the greater part of this period he has been Dean of the Faculty of this institution, and has been a member of the Ohio Dental College Association since its organization in February, 1852, having been for twenty years its Secretary. In October, 1856, in copartnership with Dr. George Watt, he became part proprietor of the Dental Register of the West, and one of its editors and publishers, and in a few years became its sole proprietor, remaining in this position ever since, with the exception of a short period. For the past eight years he has held its entire editorial management and control, and has devoted more than twenty years of unceasing effort to the interests of this publication, which has been the recognized organ of the profession in Ohio, and to some extent through the West. This publication was issued quarterly until July, 1860, when it became a monthly. It has been issued for twenty years without the failure of a single number. In 1866 the title was changed to the Dental Register. In 1857 Dr. Taft removed to Cincinnati, his connection with the college and this journal having much to do with this change, though for two years prior to this removal he had practised his profession in Cincinnati, having a business connection with Drs. George Watt and J. Hamill in both that city and Xenia. Previous to his editorial work on the Register he had written a number of articles in the interests of his profession, but the bulk of this labor was greatly inferior to what he has subsequently accomplished. He kept an accurate record of experiments and modes of practice, which became of invaluable service to him in his subsequent literary work. During the winter of 1858-59 he wrote a treatise on "Operative Dentistry," which was received so well that it was adopted as a text-book in the colleges, and has been relied on as an authority wherever the science is known. It has been translated into German and other languages. The second edition, revised and greatly enlarged, was issued in 1868, and obtained a very large sale. During the last twenty years Dr. Taft has devoted his attention and most earnest efforts towards the organization and support of dental associations, regarding them as of incalculable benefit for the development and progress of the profession. He was a member of the American Society of Dental Surgeons in 1852; became a member of the American Dental Convention at its second meeting in 1856; was chosen its President in 1863, and continued in his attendance at these annual gatherings for many years. He was one of the twenty-four gentlemen who organized the American Dental Association in 1859, and was its Secretary from the date of its inception until 1868, when he was chosen as its presiding officer. He has been a member of the Mississippi Valley Dental Society for twenty-seven years, and has not been absent from its annual meetings, with perhaps one exception, during that time. His labors have been conspicuous in over fifty different professional associations, and has during the past twelve years been in attendance at from fifteen to thirty societies annually. In 1867-68 he was engaged with some of his professional brethren in obtaining the passage of a law to regulate the practice of dentistry in the State of Ohio, which was enacted May 8th, 1868, and it has proven, as was anticipated, of the highest benefit to the public and the profession. This act created a Board of Examiners, to a membership in which he was at once appointed, and this post he has filled with honor ever since, occupying during the entire period of the existence of the Board the chair of presiding officer. In July, 1875, he was appointed Professor of the "Principles and Practice of Operative Dentistry" in the Dental College of the University of Michigan, where he devotes part of the time in professional teaching. He has been a patient investigator into the science of dentistry, and has accomplished the most beneficial results in his study of the best methods of treatment. He has been an earnest advocate of the right of women to study and pursue this profession, and has won the esteem of his fellow-citizens for his candor, his industry, his public spirit and profound learning. For seventeen years he has been connected with the Cincinnati Bethel, and for ten years has been connected with its Board of Directors. He has always been as conscientious a churchman as an investigator in the domain of science. In 1842 he married Hannah Collins, of Ripley, Ohio, and has three children living, one of whom is Dr. William Taft, dentist.

From: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century. Columbus, OH, USA: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1876.

History of Russellville, (Brown County) Ohio

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