Alameda County Biographies

Archibald G. Taft

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

        Archibald G. Taft, occupying a position of distinctive precedence in 
financial circles of Oakland as president of the Harbor Bank and in business 
affairs as founder, secretary and manager of the Oakland Box Factory, was born 
in Elko, Nevada, March 26, 1877, and is a son of George W. and Millicent Taft. 
In the acquirement of an education he attended public school until he was 
sixteen years of age and then entered the University of California, from which 
he was graduated in due course of time. Immediately afterward he came to Oakland 
and here engaged in various occupations until 1898, when he moved to Flagstaff, 
Arizona, establishing there a box factory which he disposed of after conducting 
it for one year and a half. Returning to Oakland at the end of that time, he 
founded a similar enterprise in this city, organizing the Oakland Box Factory, 
of which he has since been secretary and manager. His ability and 
resourcefulness have been prominent elements in the growth of this institution, 
and his work in its upbuilding has been rewarded by a success which places him 
in the front ranks of substantial and representative business men of the city.
        This prominence has resulted in the extending of his interests into 
other fields for in January, 1910, he became connected with the Harbor Bank of 
Oakland as vice president and in January, 1912, was elected president, a 
position which he now holds. During the four years of his association with this 
institution he has proved himself a reliable, forceful and discriminating 
financier and has conducted the affairs of the bank in a conscientious and able 
way, continuing the policies upon which it was founded but inaugurating the 
necessary changes. He is also a past president of the Merchants Exchange of 
Oakland, and his signal ability is widely recognized in financial and business 
circles.
        In Oakland, on July 4, 1905, Mr. Taft was united in marriage to Miss 
Katharine Alexander, and they have become the parents of a son, Harold, seven 
years of age. Mr. Taft is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks 
and is a thirty-second degree Mason, belonging to the shrine. He has been since 
1900 treasurer of the local lodge of the Woodmen of the World and is a stanch 
republican in his political beliefs. During the period of his residence here he 
has taken an active interest in community affairs, and his labors have been an 
element in the substantial growth and progress of the city, while his efforts in 
business circles have brought him substantial returns.
 
Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 
1914, p. 26