Joseph Taggart
Politician. Democrat. Born: June 15, 1867, Waukon, Iowa. Died: December 3, 1938, Wadsworth, Kansas. Served in U.S. House of Representatives, 2nd District: November 7, 1911, to March 3, 1917.
A three-term Democratic congressman from Kansas, Joseph Taggart was born near Waukon, Allamakee County, Iowa, on June 15, 1867, where he attended the district school before moving to Salina, Kansas in 1885. There he attended and in 1890 graduated from the Salina Normal University and taught school at Bavaria in Saline County while studying law; Taggart was admitted to the bar in 1893 and set up his practice in Salina. Soon, however, he moved to Kansas City, Kansas, where he served as Wyandotte County Attorney from 1907 to 1911. He was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Alexander C. Mitchell and reelected in 1912 and 1914, serving from November 7, 1911, to March 3, 1917. After losing a bid for reelection in 1916 to Republican Edward C. Little, Taggart served in the U.S. Army as a captain in the Quartermaster Corps during the First World War and subsequently resumed the practice of law in Kansas City, accepting appointment to the Kansas Court of Industrial Relations in 1924. Taggart died at Wadsworth, Kansas, on December 3, 1938, and was buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery at Atchison.
Entry: Taggart, Joseph
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: June 2011
Date Modified: May 2012
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
