Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County,
Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of
prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with
portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States,
and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890;
page 497-499; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
David D. Talbott, M.D., stands at the head of his
profession in this county, and is the leading physician of Lewistown
(sic). He is also prominent in business circles, as President of the
Lewistown Electric Light, Heat and Power Company, and his well-known
public spirit, liberality and enterprise have been the means of
fostering many schemes devised for the further advancement of the city.
Our subject did noble service in his professional capacity throughout
the late Civil War, and his name is held in honor by many brave
officers and soldiers in various parts of the country, who remember
with gratitude the skill, tenderness and devotion that he exercised in
alleviating their sufferings and saving their lives.
David D. Talbott was born in Warrenton, Jefferson County, Ohio,
a son of Richard and Margaret (Humphrey) Talbott, natives respectively
of Talbott County, Md., and Jefferson County, Ohio. His mother was a
daughter of David Humphrey, who was also a native of Jefferson County,
his parents having been early settlers of that part of Ohio. The
paternal grandfather of our subject, Adam Talbott, is supposed to have
been a native of Maryland, his father, William Talbott, having come
from England in Colonial times, and settled in that State. Adam Talbott
was among the early pioneers of Ohio, and there he died during the
cholera epidemic of 1818.
The father of our subject was young when his parents removed to
Ohio and located amid the primeval wilds of Carroll County, where the
remaining years of his boyhood were passed. He learned the trade of a
tanner, and followed that calling in Warrenton a number of years. He
subsequently bought a farm in Jefferson County, on which he resided
until 1858, when he came to Illinois with his family and took up his
residence in Fulton County. In 1873 he went still further Westward, and
in York County, Neb., bought a farm, which was his home until his death
in 1879, a valued citizen being then lost to his community. His wife
departed this life in Lewistown in 1872. They reared ten children,
named Joseph, Elizabeth, David D., Martha, Nancy, Jane, Margaret,
William and Absalom (twins), and Sarah.
Dr. Talbott received his early education at Jenkins Academy, Mt.
Pleasant, Ohio. After leaving that institution he was employed three
years on his father's farm, and at the expiration of that time entered
the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. His
first term there was spent mostly in the laboratory, where he laid a
substantial foundation for the knowledge of medicine that he afterward
acquired, and the second term he pursued the regular course. The
following year he went to Iowa City and became a student in the
University of Iowa, from which he was graduated in the class of '60. At
the close of his university career he returned to Ohio, and there we
find him at the breaking out of the war. With a patriotic desire to
assist his country in the best way that he could, he offered his
services as physician and surgeon, his devotion to his profession and
his recent connection with two of the best medical schools in the
country offsetting his lack of experience. He became Acting Assistant
Surgeon in the United States service, and for eight months was
stationed at Louisville, Ky., and then went to Nashville, where he
remained until the war was brought to a close, and he was honorably
discharged in June, 1865.
After his experiences of life in military hospitals our subject
came to Lewistown and opened an office, and at once entered upon a
successful and extensive practice in this city and county. His
professional duties were very arduous, and the incessant labor finally
undermined his health, and in 1875 he was obliged to relinquish his
practice and seek by change of scene and climate to regain his physical
vigor. He went to Cheyenne, Wyo., and was there until 1876, when he
returned to Lewistown. In 1877 he again went Westward, the Black Hills
being his objective point. At that time Sydney, Neb., was the nearest
railway station from which the Hills could be reached, and from there a
stage journey of two days and two nights brought the Doctor to the
present site of Deadwood. He actively interested himself in the
founding of a city on that spot and assisted in platting it, he being
one of the original proprietors of that famous town. He was also the
first practicing physician in Deadwood. After a few months he came back
to Illinois, and in 1878 revisited the Black Hills, where he still has
interests.
With the exception of his temporary residence in the Far West,
Lewistown has been the home of Dr. Talbott for a quarter of a century,
and, as we have seen, he has been closely identified with the highest
interests of the city during that period, and no one has been more
active in promoting its welfare than he. He is one of the leading
members of the State Medical Society, and is prominent in Grand Army
circles as an active member of Thomas Layton Post, No. 151.
Dr. Talbott was married to Miss Amelia F. Walker, a native of
Lewistown, in 1872, and their pleasant wedded life has been blessed to
them by the birth of one son, Willis N. Mrs. Talbott is a daughter of
Maj. Newton Walker, who was born in Madison County, Va., December 10,
1803. His father, Marry Walker, was born in the same county in 1760,
and is a son of William Walker, who is supposed to have been a native
of England, who came to America in Colonial times and settled in
Virginia, where he spent the remainder of his life. Mrs. Talbott's
grandfather was a life-long resident of Virginia, and was there engaged
as a farmer until his death in 1811. He owned large tracts of land in
Madison County, which was operated by slave labor. The maiden name of
his wife was Elizabeth Kirtley, and she was also a Virginian by birth
and breeding. Her father, Jerry Kirtley, was a farmer of that State,
and moved from there in 1794 to the Kentucky wilds, and was a pioneer
of North Bend, in Boone County, where he lived the remainder of his
life. Mrs. Talbott's grandmother married a second time, and died in
Virginia in 1860.
Newton Walker was reared and married in Virginia, and resided
there until 1835, when he too became a pioneer, starting with his wife
and child for Illinois, and making the entire journey overland with a
pair of horses and a wagon, being two months on the way. Fulton County
at that time was sparsely settled, and Lewistown was but a small
village, with whose interests he soon became prominently identified.
The court house was a little frame structure, and in 1837 he took a
contract to replace it by a more substantial and commodious building,
which he completed in 1838, and it is still in use. At that time it was
one of the finest, if not the finest public building in the State. When
Mr. Walker came here wolves, deer, wild turkeys and other kinds of game
were plentiful, and venison, turkey and prairie chicken formed a
welcome addition to the limited fare of the pioneers.
Mr. Walker rented a house until 1837, then bought the Ossian
Ross homestead, which was the first place settled in this vicinity, and
the second place in Fulton County, Mr. Ross locating on it in 1821, and
it has been the residence of Mr. Walker for a period of fifty-three
years. In 1844 he engaged in the mercantile business at Lewistown,
which he continued until 1851, when he sold out and turned his
attention to farming.
Maj. Walker was married May 15, 1834, to Miss Ann Eliza Simms, a
native of Madison County, Va. Her father, Reuben Simms, was born in
Orange County, Va., where he was a planter until 1835, when he came to
Fulton County, and died here at a ripe old age. The maiden name of his
wife was Frances Graves, and she was a native of Madison County, Va.
Her father, Thomas Graves, was a life-long resident of that State. Mr.
and Mrs. Walker have four children living: Mary, widow of Edwin Harris,
resides in Lewistown; Henrietta lives with her parents; Robert lives on
a farm in this county; Amelia is the wife of Dr. Talbott.
