"...Taft, Seth – (Captain of the 8th Ten) Born Aug. 11, 1796, in Mendon, Worcester Co., Mass., to Seth and Staples Taft. He married Harriet Ogden in Michigan in 1826. Missionaries converted his family in 1841 and they moved to Nauvoo. In the trek west, he was among the advance company that arrived in the valley July 22, 1847. After arriving, he helped locate a site where potatoes, beans, corn and buckwheat could be grown. He began his trip back to Winter Quarters on Aug. 17, but on Sept. 4 he arrived at the Little Sandy Creek in Wyoming, and turned around when he met Daniel Spencer's company, which included his wife, who had driven an ox team across the plains. A year later he was ordained bishop of the Ninth Ward in Salt Lake City. He was called to settle the Manti area but lost his cattle during a severe winter. He returned to Salt Lake City and resumed his duties as bishop of the Ninth Ward until 1856 when he was ordained a patriarch. He died in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Nov. 23, 1863, at age 67..."

SOURCE: http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/58061/Biographies-of-the-original-1847-pioneer-company.html