US Congressman. He was born to Jean Anderson Taggart in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and he was educated in local public schools and completed preparatory studies prior to attending the prestigious Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he graduated from in 1774. He studied theology and was then licensed to preach. On February 19, 1777, he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry and he was installed as a pastor of the Colrain Presbyterian Church in Colrain, Massachusetts, where he also settled. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Federalist, he then served Massachusetts's 6th District and as At-Large (Eighth Congress and to the six succeeding Congresses) in the United States House of Representatives from 1803 to 1817. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1816. After his term in the United States House of Representatives expired on March 3, 1817, he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Samuel Clesson Allen. After his time in public service, he continued his service as pastor of the Colrain Presbyterian Church in Colrain, Massachusetts, until October 28, 1818, when he resigned from the church. He was married three times, first to Elizabeth Duncan in 1777 and they had twelve children together (Daniel McClallen Taggart was born in 1779, Sarah Taggart was born in 1781, Robert T. Taggart was born in 1781, Samuel D. Taggart was born in 1781, Daniel Taggart was born in 1783, Jane Taggart was born in 1785, Elizabeth "Betsey" Taggart was born in 1786, James Taggart was born in 1788, George Taggart was born in 1790, Mary Polly Taggart was born in 1792, Lucy Taggart was born in 1797, and Moses Taggart was born in 1799). His wife Elizabeth passed away on March 4, 1815, and then he married for a second time to Mary Ayers on March 16, 1816, and they had three children together, Catherine Coyle Taggart was born in 1818, Mary Ann Taggart was born in 1818, and William Ayres Taggart was born in 1821). He passed away on his farm in Colrain, Massachusetts, on April 25, 1825, at the age of 71, and he was buried in the Chandler Hill Cemetery in that city. His second wife Mary later remarried after his death and she passed away in 1870.