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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890

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The Biography of David D. TALBOTT, M.D. 

Pages 497-499, transcribed in full by Danni Hopkins 

[Surnames: GRAVES, HARRIS, HUMPHREY, KIRTLEY, ROSS, SIMMS, TALBOTT, WALKER] 

    
DAVID D. TALBOTT, M.D., stands at the head of his profession in this county, and is the leading physician of Lewistwon (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 practicising 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 highests 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 form 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.