George Foster Talbot (1819 - 1907)

Born 16 Jan 1819 in East Machias, Washington County, Maine

Ancestors

Died Aug 1907 at age 88 in Portland, Maine

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Nick Dann [send private message]

Biography

George was born in 1819. He was the son of John Talbot and Mary Foster. He passed away in 1907. ^[1]

From Biographical Review, Cumberland County, Maine, Pg. 294:

George Foster Talbot, LL.D., a prominent retired attorney of Portland, where he has lived since 1861, was born in East Machias, Me., January 16, 1818. His parents were John Coffin and Mary (Foster) Talbot. The paternal great-grandfather, Peter Talbot, whose ancestors came to Massachusetts between 1620 and 1640, was long a resident of Stoughton, Mass. He served with the rank of Captain in the Revolutionary War.

Tradition says that George Talbot, the first emigrant, was impressed into the English navy, but escaped to land by swimming when the vessel was near Rhode Island. Peter Talbot, grandfather of George F., migrated from Massachusetts to Maine in 1773, the year made memorable by the Boston Tea Party. He was a pioneer settler in East Machias, where he was prominent as a town officer. He was a farmer of a quiet, reflective turn of mind, who liked the retirement of his own fireside, but never shirked public duties. His wife's name before marriage was Lucy Hammond. The maternal great-grandfather, Benjamin Foster, who was a pioneer of East Machias, planned the capture of the British war vessel, the "Margarita," at the opening of the Revolutionary War, and later took a prominent part in repelling a British squadron that tried to capture the settlement.

John Coffin Talbot was born in East Machias in 1784. For a number of years he was a manufacturer and shipper of lumber; but in 1837 he was appointed and subsequently elected Judge of the Probate Court, which office he held during the rest of his lifetime. He was elected to the State legislature a number of times and in 1837, the year of the great financial panic, he served as President of the Senate. His wife Mary was a daughter of John and Phebe (Burr) Foster, of East Machias, and a grand-daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Scott) Foster. Her grandfather, Benjamin Foster, commanded the Colonial forces that repulsed an attack by a British expedition against Machias in 1779. Mrs. John C. Talbot bore her husband five sons and three daughters. Of these Stephen P. Talbot, a Bowdoin graduate, and a promising law student, was drowned at sea under pathetic circumstances. The others are all living. William, an extensive farmer in Andover, Oxford County, Me., married a sister of John A. Poor. John Coffin, also a Bowdoin graduate, and a prominent attorney in East Machias, has served fifteen terms in the State legislature, and has also been Speaker of the House. Thomas H., another graduate of Bowdoin, is a Boston lawyer, who has been Assistant Attorney-General of the United States, and served his country in the late war as Colonel of a regiment. Emma Caroline is the widow of Josiah P. Keller, who, as managing owner of a large lumber concern, went in 1850 to Puget Sound, where he subsequently died. Susan is unmarried, and Mary Elizabeth lives with her sisters in Boston. The father and mother were active members of the Congregational church. Mr. Talbot was an enthusiastic Mason of the early times. He served East Machias as Postmaster and Town Clerk for more than forty years. In moral reforms he was also prominent, being the organizer of a temperance society fifteen years before General Dow began to think of it. His wife died in 1858, and the year 1861 saw the close of his busy career.

George F. Talbot, LL.D.., commenced attendance at the academy in his native town at the early age of eight years. Entering Bowdoin College as a Junior, he was graduated two years later an A.B. in the class of 1837. Three years after, he received the degree of A.M.; and in 1894 his Alma Mater conferred on him another honor, that of LL.D.. He read law with Senator James W. Bradbury, of Augusta, Me., and was admitted to the bar in that town in 1840. His professional career began in Skowhegan, where he remained one year. For a short time thereafter he was engaged in teaching; but during the years 1843 and 1844 he practiced law in Columbia, Washington County. Mr. Talbot then opened an office in his native town, where he remained for ten years. He was an active antislavery worker, and was a candidate for Governor in 1849 and 1850 on the Free Soil ticket. In 1854 he moved to Machias, where as County Attorney he had much to do with important litigation, greatly enlarging his practice. He took an active part in the formation of the Republican party, being practically the editor of the Republican paper of that town, and was also one of four delegates for the State of Maine to the National Convention in Chicago. Here he served on the Committee on Resolutions, and had a warm controversy with Horace Greeley, who wanted to abandon the article prohibiting the introduction of slavery into the United States Territories. To Mr. Talbot's mind this was the essential party issue, but the Committee was divided. After he had held conferences with Mr. Boutelle and Carl Schurz, another vote was taken on the question, and Mr. Greeley was defeated.

Soon after Abraham Lincoln became President, Mr. Talbot was appointed United States Attorney for the Maine District, and came to Portland. This position was held by him for nearly ten years. In this period he had to deal with frequent infractions of the revenue laws, and had some heavy prosecutions for the illicit importing of lumber, which he carried to the United States courts, recovering damages. Later he was one of three commissioners appointed to examine paper frauds at Augusta, and was the writer of the elaborate report of the investigations, which lasted one year. His coworkers at that time were Governor Connor and Daniel Sanborn. Mr. Talbot then took an office for general practice, but he was already overworked. He and Mrs. Talbot spent 1872 in travelling extensively abroad. He was a member of a special commission appointed to revise the Constitution of the State in 1875, who reported a series of amendments, the most of which were adopted. In 1876 he became Solicitor of the United States Treasury. Later, on finding that the position he filled was wanted for a Southern man, with a view to help in building up the Republican party of the South, Mr. Talbot resigned. He has won distinction by his literary contributions to papers and magazines, and also by a book entitled "A Life of Jesus: His Opinions and his Character," which was published by the Unitarian Publishing House in 1883. During antislavery times he was in the lecture field, and he has been a prolific writer of poems for class reunions. For a number of years he has been President of the Fraternity Club.

His wife, Elizabeth (Neil) Talbot, whom he married on May 16, 1844, died in 1845, leaving twin daughters, one of whom died in infancy. In 1861 Mr. Talbot contracted a second marriage with Elizabeth Lincoln, of Dennysville, Me. She was a granddaughter of General Lincoln of Revolutionary fame. Mr. and Mrs. Talbot have four children. They are: Thomas Lincoln, attorney, who married Miss Alice Spring, and has two children - Edith Lincoln and Samuel Spring; Hannah Lincoln, who lives at home; Catherine; and Frederick F. Talbot. The last named, who is employed in the banking house of E. H. Gay & Co., of Boston, married Mary P. Frank, of Portland, and has two children - George F. and Melvin F. Talbot.

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources?

Sources

• Biographical Review, Cumberland County, Maine: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, 1896. George Foster Talbot, LL.D., Page 294-296.^[2]
• 1850 US Census: East Machias, Washington County, ME, 2 Aug 1850^[3]
• Find A Grave: Memorial #118559826; George Foster Talbot, Evergreen Cemetery

Portland ME, Plot: Sec-T Lot-118 Grv-8

See also:

• Add sources here.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Information from Pope &Talbot researcher Nick Dann, 19 Sep 2018.
2. ↑ Biographical Review, Cumberland County, Maine, Pg. 294.
3. ↑ Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Roll: M432_272; Page: 42A; Image: 86