Talcott, Thomas B.

Born: 1806-04-17 Hebron, Connecticut

Died: 1894-09-30 Rockton, Illinois

Flourished: 1854-12-14 Rockton, Illinois

Thomas B. Talcott moved with his family to Rome, New York, in 1810. He settled in Horseheads, New York, about 1831, where he worked as a merchant and served as a major in the state militia. In 1835, he became one of the first white settlers of what became Rockton, Illinois. Talcott purchased 160 acres of land in Winnebago County in 1842. He was active in business and held numerous local offices, including service as Winnebago County commissioner, 1836 to 1841, as a county delegate at an 1846 convention to discuss the construction of a railroad from Galena to Chicago, and as Rockton town assessor, 1860 to 1865. He represented Winnebago County in the Illinois Senate from 1851 to 1854. Talcott married Sophia E. Willard in 1843. He was a member of the Congregational Church in Rockton, and served on its first board of trustees. In 1850, he was working as a manufacturer and owned real estate valued at $7,000.

S. V. Talcott, comp., Talcott Pedigree in England and America from 1558 to 1876 (Albany, NY: Weed & Parsons, 1876), 207-9; Edson I. Carr, The History of Rockton, Winnebago County, Illinois. 1820 to 1898. (Rockton, IL: Herald Office, 1898), 16, 23, 69-70, 117-20, 155; Charles A. Church, History of Rockford and Winnebago County Illinois (Rockford, IL: W. P. Lamb, 1900), 39, 54, 267, 367; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Winnebago County, 705:59, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Rockton, Winnebago County, IL, 405; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 217-18; Galena Daily Gazette (IL), 3 October 1894, 3:2; Gravestone, Rockton Township Cemetery, Rockton, IL.