William Morrison Tallman

THE TALLMAN FAMILY.

Among the families whose members have been conspicuously active in the development of our country, the Tallman family is entitled to specific mention, and no record of the history of the Rock river valley would be complete without reference to the very important role this family has played in its affairs. William Morrison Tallman, the most prominent of the early members of this family, was born in Lee, Oneida county, New York, on the 13th of June, 1808, a son of David and Eunice Tallman, both of whom were natives of Woodbury, Litchfield county, Connecticut. In 1806 the family had moved from Litchfield county to Oneida county, New York, where they resided until 1816, when they established their home in Brooklyn, New York. After attending the public schools until the age of about fourteen years, William Morrison Tallman, in 1821, began the study of law with Hon. F. A. Talmadge, in New York, whose office was on the present site of the Astor House, on Vesey street. After pursuing his studies one year, he determined upon a more complete preliminary preparation and to this end entered an academy at Norwalk, Connecticut, where he remained four years. In September, 1826, at the age of eighteen, he entered Yale College, where he took the full collegiate course, graduating in 1830, following which he entered the law school connected with that college, completing the full course of legal studies in two years. In the fall of 1832, Mr. Tallman was admitted to the bar in New Haven, Connecticut, and at once returned to the city of New York and there again took up the study of law in the office of Hon. James Talmadge and W. H. Bulkley, this being advisable because of the peculiar legal procedure then practiced in the courts of that state. He was admitted to the bar of New York state at Albany in October, 1833, and immediately thereafter returned to his native county and entered upon the active practice of his profession at Rome, New York. He continued in practice there until 1849, when he removed, with his family, to Janesville, Rock county, Wisconsin, where he resumed practice, which he continued until 1854, a total period of twenty-one years, when, because of the magnitude of his private business interests and their demands on his time and attention, he entirely relinquished the profession of law. He had come to Janesville in the pioneer period and, with the foresight and sagacity which has been characteristic of the family, he early began to buy up large tracts of land, which rapidly increased in value. His land holdings became enormous and at one time he owned two-thirds of the acreage in Green county, Wisconsin. In the buying and selling of this land, he was associated with his brother George Clinton Tallman, of Utica, New York. Their landed interests were not confined to any particular section of the country for they bought wherever their judgment indicated a probability of rising values. The magnitude of their operations may be inferred from the fact that one of their purchases was one hundred ten thousand acres of land in Illinois and another was of one million seven hundred thousand acres of land in Texas.

From his earliest years, Mr. Tallman had been keenly interested in the great questions of the day and took a decided stand on the important issues then before the nation. He was an ardent abolitionist and at one time was stoned in Philadelphia, while addressing a meeting, because of his fearless utterances in support of his convictions. He was an influential and well known figure in political circles and entertained Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas at his home in Janesville, his magnificent residence being one of the noted "stations" on the "underground railroad" famed for its success in bringing southern slaves to freedom in the north. His death occurred May 13, 1878.

In 1831, at New Haven, Connecticut, Mr. Tallman was married to Miss Emeline Dexter, the second daughter of Norman and Ruth Dexter, of Hartford county, and to this union were born three children, namely:

William Henry was born in New Haven, Connecticut, February 15, 1832.

Edgar Dexter was born in Rome, New York, July 25, 1836, and was married in December, 1861, to Frances Cornelia Norton of Janesville, Wisconsin, to which union two sons were born, Stanley Dexter Tallman and Charles Edgar Tallman. Edgar Dexter Tallman died in Janesville, Wisconsin, August 18, 1896.

The third child of William Morrison Tallman was Cornelia Augusta, who was born in Rome, New York, and became the wife of John P. Beach, of Chicago, where she died in 1866 without issue.

William Henry Tallman became a manufacturing chemist, operating in Janesville, Wisconsin, for many years, the largest plant of its kind in the United States, and was the only American manufacturer taking a prize for perfume in competition with the French at the Paris Exposition in 1876. During the Civil war he placed his manufacturing plant at the disposal of the United States government and in addition made and fully equipped a large number of surgeon's chests which he presented to it. During the last ten years of his active business life he was a member of the firm of Lanman & Kemp, of New York city, manufacturers of drugs and perfumes and the largest importers of essential oils in this country. Early in his career he became one of the founders of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was its first treasurer. In 1896 Mr. Tallman, because of ill health, gave up his connection with Lanman & Kemp, and came to Janesville, Wisconsin, again to live, residing here until his death, which occurred October 29, 1902. He was married in Whitehall, New York, September 11, 1861, to Miss Maggie Meyers Travis, a daughter of Washington Abraham Travis, of Revolutionary war fame, and Harriet Olivia Doe. This union was blessed with two children, William Travis Tallman and George Kemp Tallman.

William Travis Tallman was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, September 18, 1864, and lives in Janesville. On January 25, 1887, he was married to Miss Nettie Calista Bump, a daughter of Hiram and Laura C. (Fellows) Bump, of Alexandria, New York, and they have one child, William Bump Tallman, born February 11, 1888.

George Kemp Tallman was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, November 29, 1874. He received his elementary education in the public schools of Janesville and then entered the University of Wisconsin, taking one year in the engineering department and later graduating in 1897, with the degree of Bachelor of Letters. He then took up the study of law in the law department of the university and was graduated in 1900, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Mr. Tallman was very active in university and social affairs and was a member of the Phi Delta Theta, Phi Delta Phi and Theta Nu Epsilon fraternities. In 1900 he was admitted to the Wisconsin bar and to practice in the federal courts and during the ensuing year was in the law office of George G. Sutherland, in Janesville, but at the end of that period, he relinquished the practice of law, which he has never resumed. In his young manhood he had become interested in land and timber, and, following the example of his grandfather, whom he is said to greatly resemble in his business methods, he began buying up timber and cut-over timber lands in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Canada and other parts of the country. Besides being at the present time a holder of extensive tracts of timber and farm land, he is also financially interested in a number of irrigation and water power projects in different parts of the country. He is thoroughly practical in his operations and, in order to be able to judge for himself in his deals, he learned the timber business from the ground up and has often gone into wild and unexplored sections of the country as a timber cruiser, inspecting land which he contemplated buying. Prominent and pros- perous in business, he has a well established reputation for high character and sterling integrity. Tenacious of his own rights, he has always respected the rights of others. He is universally regarded as one of Janesville 's most useful and progressive men of affairs, possessing to a marked degree those attributes which have gained for him the confidence and esteem of all who know him.

Bibliographic information:

• The Rock River Valley : its history, traditions, legends, and charms
• by Way, Royal Brunson; S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
• Publication date 1926
• Publisher Chicago : S.J. Clarke
• Contributor University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Possible copyright status Public domain. Published 1923-1963 with notice but no evidence of copyright renewal found in Stanford Copyright Renewal Database. Contact digicc@library.illinois.edu for information.
• Pages 662
• Page 184-190
• https://archive.org/details/rockrivervalleyi02wayr/page/184/mode/1up

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William Morrison Tallman was born in Lee, Oneida county, N. Y., June 13, 1808, the son of David and Eunice Tallman, both of whom were natives of Woodbury, Litchfield county, Conn. The family immigrated from Litchfield county to Oneida county in 1806, and resided there until 1816, when they removed to Brooklyn, Kings county, N. Y.

In 1821 Mr. Tillman began the study of law in the office of the late Hon. F. A. Talmadge, in Vesey street, New York, then on the site of the Astor House. After studying law one year, he determined upon a more complete preliminary education, and in 1822 began to prepare for college at the academy in Norwalk, Conn. He remained here four years, and then, in September, 1826, entered the freshman class of Yale college, where he continued four years more, going through the entire collegiate course, and graduating with his class in September, 1830. Immediately after graduation he entered the law school connected with Yale, and was there two years, completing the full course of legal studies. He was admitted to the bar in New Haven in the fall of 1832.

He at once returned to the city of New York and commenced anew there the study of law, and the practice then peculiar to the courts of that state, in the office of Hon. James Talmadge and W. H. Bulkley, in Wall street. He was admitted to the bar of New York state in Albany in October, 1833. Immediately thereafter he entered upon the practice of law in his native county, at Rome, N. Y., and continued so engaged until 1850, when he removed with his family to Janesville, Rock county, Wis. He resumed practice at Janesville, and continued it until 1854, when he relinquished the profession entirely—having been in the practice twenty-one years.

In 1831 he married, at New Haven, Emeline, second daughter of Norman and Ruth Dexter, of Hartford county, Connecticut, by whom he has had two sons and one daughter, named respectively, William Henry, Edgar Dexter, and Cornelia Augusta.

Bibliographic information:

• Title Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date, Volume 2
• Author William Fiske Brown
• Editor William Fiske Brown
• Publisher C. F. Cooper & Company, 1908
• Original from the New York Public Library
• Digitized Feb 11, 2008
• Page 764
• https://books.google.com/books?id=WkEVAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&...

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WILLIAM MORRISON TALLMAN died May 13, 1878, at his residence in Janesville, having reached the age of sixty nine years and eleven months. Mr. Tallman had not been blest with very robust health for some years, but no immediately alarming disease attacked him until the 1st of April. A month previously, he started on a trip for pleasure and health. He reached New Orleans in safety, and, after spending a short time there, went to Washington, where he was enjoying himself in greeting friends and sight-seeing, when a cold which he had, became aggravated and increased greatly his asthmatic difficulties, and finally reached his heart. He hastened to New York, where he was cared for at the residence of his brother. His oldest son hastened from Janesville to his bedside, the best medical aid and the most careful attentions were given him, but the disease refused to give way. He gained sufficiently, however, to be removed to his home before death put an end to his sufferings.

Mr. Tallman was a native of New York, being born in Lee, Oneida County, June 13, 1808, his parents being David and Eunice Tallman, both natives of Woodbury, Conn., whence they removed to New York in 1806. Ten years later, the family removed to Brooklyn, where Mr. Tallman, in 1821, began the study of law in the office of Hon. N. P. Talmadge, on the old site of the Astor House. Deeming it advisable to secure a better preliminary education, he went, the following year, to an academy in Norwalk, Conn., and, after four years' preparation there, entered Yale College, where he graduated in 1830. After a two-years' course in the Yale Law School, he was admitted to the bar in New Haven. During his course in the law school, in 1831, he married at New Haven, Miss Emeline Dexter, of that place, and, at the end of his course, commenced practice in New York, in the office of Hon. James Talmadge & W. H. Bulkley. In 1833, he removed to Rome, N. Y., and continued there in the practice of law until 1850, when he removed to Janesville, where he continued practice until 1854, and where he has resided till the time of his death.

In October, 1848, two years before coming West, he purchased at public auction, large tracts of land in Green, La Fayette, Grant and Iowa Counties, in this State, and soon after added other large purchases in those counties, and also in this county. He did not deem it desirable to pursue the practice of law, but, though he dropped that profession in 1854, he has been always since actively employed, but wholly with his own enterprises. He has devoted much time to developing, improving and disposing of real estate, and these improvements were on property in Janesville.

Although he never deemed political distinctions nor official positions desirable objects of pursuit, or congenial to his tastes, and in spite of his persistent declinations of such proffered distinctions, he was induced by the solicitations of many friends in both political parties, to occupy during a considerable portion of ten or fifteen years, the positions of Alderman and County Commissioner, that the interests of city and county, in which he was largely concerned, might be duly cared for and protected.

Although in no sense a politician, his feelings and sympathies were with the Whig party from 1833 to 1838, and he was always an outspoken and enthusiastic Abolitionist, and since the organization of the Republican party in Wisconsin, in 1854, he acted with it. He was at one time an active co-worker with Rev. W. Goodell, both of whom were mobbed at one time in Utica, N. Y., for fearlessness in uttering their convictions. He worked earnestly but unostentatiously for the establishment of the principles of his political creed, and deemed himself sufficiently rewarded by seeing these principles triumph, without seeking any further reward by political honors or official positions. He left behind him a wife (since deceased), and two sons, William H. Tallman and Edgar D. Tallman, both of whom are well known and highly respected residents of Janesville. His only daughter was married to Mr. John P. Beach, in 1865, and settled in Chicago, where she died the following year.

Mr. Tallman was a member of the First Congregational Church of Janesville, and was an exemplary and honored member. In his personal habits, he was pure, in his business enterprises, straight-forward and energetic, and his labors were crowned with success.

He has always occupied a prominent position in social and in business circles, although naturally of a retiring disposition, and having a strong distaste for any ostentation. always deeply interested in all that concerned the growth or prosperity of Janesville and county, and coupled cautiousness with wise counsel, and an industrious persistency in pushing forward all enterprises which he deemed wise and expedient, and of benefit to the public.

Bibliographic information:

• Title The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc
• County histories of the "Old Northwest.": Series I, Wisconsin
• Volume 1 of The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Containing a History of Rock County , Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities, Their Improvements, Industries, Manufactories, Churches, Schools, Societies, Etc., Etc., War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers, Etc., Etc., Etc., Also History of Wisconsin, Constitution of the United States and of Wisconsin, Condensed Abstract of Laws of Wisconsin, Miscellaneous, Etc., Etc, Western Historical Co
• Author Western Historical Co
• Contributor Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub
• Publisher Western historical Company, 1879
• Original from Harvard University
• Digitized Sep 15, 2006
• Length 897 pages
• Page 438
• https://books.google.com/books?id=c1RSZ0EZVIIC&printsec=frontcover&...

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1830. WILLIAM MORRISON TALLMAN, son of David and Eunice Tallman, was born in Lee, Oneida County, N. Y., June 13, 1808. His parents removed from Woodbury, Conn., to Oneida County in 1806, and ten years later to Brooklyn, N. Y. In 1821 he entered the law office of Hon. Frederick A. Tallmadge, of N. Y. City, but soon found the need of a more thorough education, and began to prepare for college.

Immediately after graduating he entered the Yale Law School, and was admitted to the bar in New Haven in September, 1832. He then went to N. Y. City and continued his legal studies in the office of Tallmadge & Bulkley for one year, and was admitted to the bar of that state in October, 1833. He then entered into the practice of law in Rome, N. Y., and continued there until 1850, when he removed to Janesville, Wisc., his residence until his death. Two years before going West, he had purchased large tracts of land in Wisconsin, and in subsequent years he increased his purchases so wisely that he acquired a handsome fortune from this source. In July, 1854, he relinquished the practice of his profession, finding ample occupation in the development and management of his estate. Much of his means and time were spent in effecting public improvements in Janesville.

He left home in March, 1878, for a visit to the South and East, and wbile in Washington became ill with a severe cold, which increased some asthmatic difficulties under which he labored, and finally caused his death. He was brought home about the first of May and died there May 13, in his 70th year.

He was married in 1831 to Miss Emeline, daughter of Norman Dexter, of New Haven, who died on the 7th of June, three weeks after her husband. Their two sons are still living. Their only daughter was married in 1865 and died the following year.

Bibliographic Information:

• Title Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University ... Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Alumni
• Author Yale University
• Published 1880
• Original from the University of California
• Digitized Oct 13, 2009
• Page 294
• https://books.google.com/books?id=jlcdAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&...

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Curator's note: The following information concerning the marriage of Ruth and Norman, incorrectly lists Ruth's mother as Anna Gibbs. Ruth is clearly documented as the daughter of Ruth Lewis and the error confuses her birth date with her later baptism, following John's second marriage to Anna. -- Jessica M. German, Volunteer Geni Curator

139

RUTH STANLEY. (1 Thomas, 2 Nathaniel, 12 Nathaniel, 55 Augustus, 69 John.) Fourth child of John and Anna (Gibbs) Stanley, of West Hartford, was baptized May 25, 1783, and married, November 1, 1807, Norman Dexter, of New Haven, Conn., who died at Cincinnati, Ohio, July, 1834. She died at West Hartford, October 22, 1843.

Their children were :

247 Henry Stanley Dexter, b. Sept., 1808 ; died in San Francisco, Jan., 187 1. Had 4 children.

248 Mary Dexter, b. 1810; m. L. Hanks; d. May, 1845 ; 4 children.

249 Emeline Dexter, b. 1812; m. Wm. M. Tallman; d. June, 1878 ; 3 children.

250 Julia Dexter, b. 1814; m. M. W. Wetmore ; d. 1835; 1 child.

251 Caroline Dexter, b. 1818 ; unm. ; d. July, 1834.

252 Harriet Dexter, b. 1820; d. July, 1834.

253 George Edward Dexter, b. July 26, 1823.

254 Charles Augustus Dexter, b. April 25, 1826 ; 1 child.

Bibliographic information:

• The Stanley families of America : as descended from John, Timothy, and Thomas Stanley of Hartford, Conn., 1636.
• by Warren, Israel P. (Israel Perkins), 1814-1892
• Publication date 1887
• Publisher Portland, Maine : B. Thurston
• Digitizing sponsor Brigham Young University
• Contributor Harold B. Lee Library
• Pages 412
• Page 300 and 307
• https://archive.org/details/stanleyfamilieso00byuwarr/page/294/mode...

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Additional marriage records:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7G4-TQV

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP78-MYGR

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7G4-TQ2

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7PD-3LV

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPMC-NFRZ

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7LF-982

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7G4-TQG

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7PD-3LX

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7LN-Q4T

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LHKF-PCW