USA > Washington DC > Eminent and representative men of Virginia and the District of Columbia in the nineteenth century. With a concise historical sketch of Virginia > Part 31
USA > Virginia > Eminent and representative men of Virginia and the District of Columbia in the nineteenth century. With a concise historical sketch of Virginia > Part 31
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Among the many publications from his pen are his plea for Liberia, his famous discussion with Father White, of St. Mat- thew's church, on the Romish question, and his learned argument on the validity of the christian Sabbath.
THEODORE W. TALLMADGE
is the son of Darius Tallmadge, and was born at Maysville, Ky., January 25, 1827. All the Tallmadges in the United States are descendants of one of two brothers, Thomas and William, who immigrated from England in 1631 on a vessel named "The Plow." William died in 1670 with- out issue. Thomas, in 1639, located at South Hampton, Long Island, N. Y., with his two sons, Thomas and Robert. The family, comparatively, are not very ex- tensive in numbers, and have resided principally in the states of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. In every generation some have occupied official positions and taken a prominent part in the government and progress of their lo- calities. It is a source of pride that while Robert moved to New Haven, Connec- many of the family have been called to ticut, in 1644, where he was married to
der both state and national governments, not one has ever betrayed his trust, or brought reproach upon the name. The longevity of the family is somewhat re- markable. Not a single head of a family, in the lineal succession which has been traced, has died at a less age than seventy years; and the aggregate age of the five generations is three hundred and ninety- six years, or an average of over seventy- nine years for each person. Some of the later generations have moved to the western states. Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, who made himself a distinguished sena- tor from New York state, subsequently moved to Wisconsin, where he was made governor, and left a large family in that state - some of whom removed and are found in business in Chicago. Several distinguished officers of the name appear on the military roster of the wars of the Revolution and of 1812, and also during the last war. Major Tallmadge of New York has a conspicuous place in the his- tory of the Revolution by arresting Major Andre at West Point. General James Tallmadge has a prominent place in the history of New York city, as well as oth- ers who have been identified in the gov- ernment of that city, one as the mayor. The famous preacher of Brooklyn, De Witt Talmage, is a descendant from Thomas aforesaid, who was one of the original settlers of East Hampton, Long Island, in 1649, and who dropped one L and the D in the old family name, which has been adopted by his descendants, who have resided principally in the state of New Jersey. The descendants of Robert have retained the original spelling of the name and are greatly in the majority.
J. M. Talmadge
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Sarah, daughter of Major Thomas Nash, and had five children. One of his sons, by the name of John, was the progenitor of the branch of the family who have re- sided in Dutchess and Rensselaer coun- ties, New York. His son James was a member of the Connecticut legislature twenty years, was also captain of a military company, and one of the original project- ors of the grammar school. His son, by the name of James, in 1747 moved from Shaun, Connecticut, of which he was one of the first settlers, to Stanford, Dutchess county, New York. One of his sons, by the name of Josiah, born February 10, 1749, married Margaret Hoffman at Poughkeepsie, moved to Schaghticoke, Rensselaer county, New York, and died August 21, 1802. His wife died Novem- ber 7, 1810. They had fourteen children; the youngest, being Darius, was born June 30, 1800, and died at Lancaster, Ohio, March 27, 1874, very generally known throughout Ohio because, for many years, he had been the most prominent con- tractor, carrying the United States mail in stage coaches, which required his per- sonal attention in all parts of the state.
In tracing the history of Darius Tall. madge we find an illustration of the pio- neer element which has made Ohio what it is. At the age of twelve he commenced earning his living, first as an employee of the contractor who built the great cotton factory at Schaghticoke Point, and drove wagon from Troy to Whitehall, N. Y., a distance of one hundred miles, transport. ing the material necessary for that enter- prise. At the age of eighteen, receiving his small share from the distribution of his father's estate, he went to Tomp- kins county, N. Y. Although his own education consisted of tuition at school before his death. He was a very enter- for only six months, he undertook the prising citizen, and regarded as the pi-
teaching of the young beginners in a school at Varna. He was married at the age of twenty-one to Sarah Ann, daughter of Jonas Wood, one of his neighbors, purchased forty acres of land and erected a small house thereon. He was never cut out for a farmer, but his aspiring and in- domitable energy prompted him to go into the growing states of the west. He said "he became quite tired of farming, and restless, anxious to see if something would not present itself in the west that would enable him to make money a little faster." With another neighbor, by the name of Jewell, they walked to the Alle- ghany river, journeyed by skiff and flat boat down the Ohio river, and landed at Maysville, Ky., April 1, 1825. For several years he was employed, and in his own behalf, in buying and taking horses over- land to New Orleans. While in the pur- suit of this business he was met in Ohio by William Neil, of the firm of Neil & Moore's stage company, that carried the- United States mail throughout Ohio, and was engaged by him as one of the compa- ny's superintendents, in which capacity he served for six years, when he became a partner, and finally the sole owner of the Ohio stage company stock. Many of the stage lines in southern Ohio were con- ducted in his name, and he was very suc- sessful in discharging his duty to the United States and the public, as well as in amassing a private fortune. In 1833 he became a resident of Lancaster, Ohio, and in 1847 projected the Hocking valley branch of the State bank of Ohio, which was subsequently merged into a national bank at that place, serving as president thereof, and as a member of the board of control of the State bank until a few years
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oneer in the improvement of the business of Hon. Thomas Ewing, together with blocks of his home town, as well as de- veloping other public interests in the town, and also as a progressive farmer. His private charities were bountiful, and through his energy and liberality the Methodist Episcopal and Baptist churches of that place were built. He was a very courteous and jovial man, who made friends of all with whom he came in con- tact, and want of education alone inter- fered with a demonstration of a most remarkable natural power of mind. With strong prejudices, firm convictions, inten- sity of purpose, large heart, strong will, and unimpeachable integrity, he was al- ways first in promoting the cause of mo- rality and temperance, and ever ready to give assistance to young men who were struggling for active life. His death caused a general grief among his neigh- bors, by whom he was held in high esteem, and the funeral services, being conducted in the Masonic ritual, many commander- ies of the Knights Templar, of which so- ciety he had taken the highest degree, attended from several neighboring cities. His first wife died in 1849, and in 1850 he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of John Creed, a prominent banker of Lan- caster, Ohio. He had no children by his second marriage, but two during the first marriage - Theodore Wood and James Augustus - the latter having died, at the age of twenty-seven, at Valparaiso, Chili.
His son, Theodore W., whose name heads this sketch, had a liberal education through the generous heart and financial ability of his father, who constantly was reminded in his own experience of the want of early education. He at first at- tended Howe's academy, at Lancaster, Ohio, where Senator John Sherman, Gen. W. T. Sherman, and sons and daughters
others who have made national reputa- tions were his companions and classmates. For two years, 1841-42, he was at the col- lege of Augusta, Kentucky, which was then under the patronage of the Ohio and Kentucky annual conferences of the Methodist Episcopal church. He passed his freshman year (1843) in the Ohio uni- versity, at Athens, among his classmates being the late Hon. S. S. Cox, represent- ative in congress -first from Ohio and subsequently from New York city. The remaining three years of his college life were passed at Princeton university, then known as the college of New Jersey, and graduated in 1846, at the age of nineteen. He studied law at Columbus, Ohio, in the office of Henry Stanbery, who was then the first attorney-general of the state, and subsequently attorney-general of the United States, and was admitted to prac- tice in the supreme court of Ohio and the circuit court of the United States in the year 1848. For one year he assisted his father in the management of stage coach lines, and in the fall of 1849 entered the practice of the law at Lancaster, with Hon. John T. Brasee in the courts of Fairfield and adjoining counties of Ohio. In January, 1852, he opened a private banking house in Lancaster, Ohio, pursu- ing the banking business for several years, during which he was the president of the Upper Wabash bank, located at Wabash, Indiana, which had a note circulation of $200,000, and subsequently was a director in the Hocking Valley bank at Lancaster. Having been engaged largely in procuring military bounty land warrants for ex-sol- diers of the war of 1812, under an act of congress which passed September 28th, 1850, and March 3d, 1855, he purchased many of said land warrants and located
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them on public lands in the western states. The disposal of these lands led him into the real estate business and a removal to Columbus, Ohio, in April, 1859. During
He continued serving as assistant quar- termaster and commissary for one year, having been ordered to various points where Ohio troops were in rendezvous his residence there he subdivided several and in the service, and needing arms and pieces of land as additions to that city, which are now densely populated through its growth.
supplies. He accompanied the hospital boats sent by the governor of Ohio with physicians and nurses for taking care of On April 18, 1861, when the governor of Ohio, William Dennison, called for vol- unteers under the proclamation of Presi- dent Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Tallmadge was placed as quartermaster on the staff of Henry Wilson, ranking major-general of the Ohio militia, and at once com- menced active duty in receiving and placing into quarters the troops arriving the wounded at the battle of Shiloh; ar- riving two days after the battle, he was placed in charge of the detail which con- veyed the wounded to the boats. In July, 1863, Governor Todd ordered the state militia to camp Chase, four miles from the capital, and Captain Tallmadge was placed on duty as the quartermaster. This call was occasioned by the raid then being at the general rendezvous, Columbus, made through Indiana and Ohio by the confederate Gen. Morgan.
Ohio, designated by the governor. The following May, when the militia of the In March, 1862, Mr. Tallmadge estab- state was reorganized under an act of the lished the business of prosecuting sol- diers' claims at Columbus, Ohio, that proved so successful as to render neces- sary several branch offices and the em- ployment of a large force of clerks, and he became, at the close of the war, the most prominent claim agent in the state of Ohio. In October, 1878, he moved his office to Washington, D. C., still retaining one in Columbus, Ohio, and in other places throughout the United States. He is a member of the Federal Bar associa- tion of Washington, D. C., practicing in the court of claims and all the govern- ment departments. He is a member of Burnside post, No. 8, of the department of the Potomac, Grand Army of the Re- legislature, Mr. Tallmadge was commis- sioned assistant quartermaster and com- missary of subsistence by the governor of Ohio, with the rank of captain in the Ohio volunteer militia, being first sent to the camp of the Seventeenth regiment at Lancaster. When that regiment was or- dered into active service, Captain Tall- madge was placed in charge of a steamboat, loaded with supplies and arms, sent by the governor of Ohio for the use of the Ohio troops under Gen. McClel- lan, who was preparing to make an ad- vance into West Virginia. Arriving at Parkersburg and delivering said supplies to Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, then in con- mand of thirteen regiments of three public, having been elected for three months' volunteers, Captain Tallmadge terms as chaplain. He has served as was detailed, by the request of the gen- aid-de-camp on the staff of Col. Chas. P. eral, to serve on his staff as quartermaster, Lincoln, department commander; also in marching with the brigade via Clarks- the same capacity on the staff of Com- burg until the battle at Rich Mountain, manders-in-chief William Warner and July 11, 1861, the first battle of the war. Wheelock G. Veazey, and is now aid-de-
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camp on the staff of Commander Dins- | were those of the district school. While more, of the department of the Potomac. During most of his life he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, serving for ten years as trustee of the Wesley chapel in Columbus, Ohio, and the past nine years as leader of the strangers' class in the Metropolitan M. E. church, Washington, D. C.
In October, 1849, he married Ellen E., daughter of Hon. John T. Brasee, in Lan- caster, Ohio. This lady died in Colum- bus, Ohio, February 2, 1865. In June, 1867, he was married to Harriot Washing- ton, daughter of Major Andrew Parks, of Charleston, Kanawha county, West Vir- ginia. The grandmother of his second wife, Harriot Parks, was a daughter of Col. Samuel Washington (brother of General George), whose residence was in Jefferson county, Virginia. By the first marriage he had six children, two of whom died in infancy. His two sons, Frank and Darius, with families, reside at Columbus, Ohio, Theodore, also mar- ried, is in Washington city, an attorney- at-law, and the eldest child, Sallie, married to Harry S. Stephens, lives in Cleveland, Ohio. By his second mar- riage he has two children - a daughter, Flora, and a son, Andrew, members of his household in Washington city, D. C.
JAMES TANNER,
Just prior to the election of Gen. Ben- jamin Harrison to the presidency of the United States, the Brooklyn (N. Y.) Ad- vance, a magazine of much value, had this to say concerning Corporal James Tanner:
"Mr. James Tanner, widely known as 'Corporal' Tanner, was born at Rich- mondville, Schoharie county, N. Y., April 4, 1844. His early life was spent on a farm, and his educational privileges
a mere boy he taught in an adjoining dis- trict, manifesting the thoroughness and force of will that have since characterized him and proving to anxious friends that he was fully competent for the work. After a few months' experience as a teacher, at the outbreak of the war, al- though not yet eighteen, he enlisted as a private in company C, Eighty-seventh New York volunteers. He was soon made corporal, with assurance of further promotion, had not a terrible disaster be- fallen him. His regiment was hurried to the front, and, with Kearney's division, participated in the Peninsular campaign, and the battles of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, the siege of Yorktown, the seven days' fight before Richmond, and at Mal- vern Hill. After leaving the Peninsula the Eighty-seventh fought at Warrenton, Bristow Station and Manassas Junction. Corporal Tanner served with his regi- ment through all the engagements, until wounded at the second battle of Bull Run. There the Eighty-seventh held the ex- treme right of our line, with Stonewall Jackson's corps in front. During a terrific shelling from the enemy, the men were lying down, when a fragment from a bursting shell completely severed the cor- poral's right leg at the ankle, and shat- tered the left so badly as to make amputation necessary.
"Carried from the field he lost con- sciousness, and on recovering, found that the surgeons had amputated both legs four inches below the knee. Meanwhile the Union lines had been broken and the army was in full retreat. The corporal's comrades were forced to leave him at a farm house, where the rebel army in close pursuit made him prisoner with the other wounded. Paroled after ten days, he was taken to Fairfax Seminary hospital; then commenced his long struggle for life, with all the odds against him - but a good con- stitution, and a determination to live, brought him through the long doubtful days. Through all his suffering his courage never left him, and when he be- gan to improve, his first thought was, ' What can I do, thus crippled, to hold my place among men?' His manhood and ambition could not brook the thought that he must take an inferior place because of
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his misfortune. After treatment in the combat apathy, and rouse dormant public hospital, and recuperation at hisold home opinion. The veterans themselves. stung in Schoharie county, he was able to walk by the ingratitude of those for whom they about on artificial limbs. He was ap- pointed deputy-doorkeeper in the assem- bly, and subsequently held various posi- tions under the legislature, which he filled with great credit. He then accepted a clerkship in the war department, under
had suffered, began to despair. At this juncture, Commander Tanner threw him- self heart and soul into the work - a born leader, thoroughly qualified. Having been a sufferer, he felt the sufferings of others; intellectually a giant, he set forth Secretary Stanton. On the night of in glowing words the veterans' needs, the President Lincoln's assassination he was debt of gratitude due from the state to employed to take notes of the first official her maimed defenders, and the shame of evidence, and then stood by the bed of degrading them to the condition of alms- the dying president. In 1866 he returned house paupers. Calling to his assistance to Schoharie county, and studied law with that true patriot, Rev .. Henry Ward Judge William C. Lamont. The same Beecher, the good work was inaugurated year he married a daughter of Alfred C. by a mass meeting in Brooklyn, when White, of Jefferson, N. Y., and they have $13,000 were subscribed. Mr. Tanner now four beautiful children, two daugh- traversed the state from end to end, mak- ing appeals, public and private, to the people. Undaunted by obstacles, he fired the hearts of patriotic and benevolent men, so that at last a flood of petitions ters and two sons. He was admitted to the bar in 1869. Soon after, he was ap- pointed to a place in the New York cus- tom house, and removed to Brooklyn. On competitive examination he rose to the poured in upon the legislature, and tardy position of deputy collector, and served justice was meted out. The magnificent four years under General Chester A. 'Soldiers' Home' was erected at Bath, Arthur. He was the republican nom- Steuben county, where six hundred dis- inee for assembly in 1871, in the fourth abled, homeless veterans can find the re- Kings county district, but was counted pose and comforts of a home; truly a 'monument, more durable than bronze,' to Commander Tanner for his zealous efforts and self-sacrificing labors in behalf of justice and charity. out in the election frauds of that year. Nominated for register by the republicans in 1876, when the democratic county ma- jority was nineteen thousand, he was de- feated by less than two thousand.
"Perhaps to no one are the soldiers more
"Connected with the Grand Army of indebted for assistance in pension matters the Republic since its early days, no man than to Mr. Tanner. No man has done more to assist in securing just pension legislation than he. Not only in personal interviews with members of congress, but as a member of the committee appointed is better known to enjoy the esteem and confidence of his comrades in greater de- gree than Corporal Tanner. They know him to be a trustworthy leader, a man of sound judgment, ripe experience, and by the national encampment of the G. A.R., true heart. It was but natural, therefore, he has been untiring in his efforts. Re- peatedly has he appeared before com- mittees of the senate and the house of representatives, urging in eloquent terms the claims of the thousand of disabled men. And many who to-day receive the that in 1876 they elected him commander of the Grand. Army in the department of New York. He assumed command at a time when discouragement and disap- pointment prevaded the organization, growing out of the neglect of the state of benefit of increased pensions are largely New York to provide for her helpless and indebted to the unselfish and untiring ef- homeless disabled veterans. Public sen- forts of the subject of this sketch in their timent was not yet aroused. Appeals had behalf. For his trips to Washington, and been made to private charity and also to for the strength and time employed, he the legislature, but in vain. Repeated has received no remuneration, meeting failures had engendered prejudice and the expenses out of his own private purse. opposition to the project. The outlook His interest in ex-soldiers is not a sordid was discouraging, the task herculean, to sentiment, as is proved by the records of
.
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his office. For the last seven years that he held the position of tax collector of the city of Brooklyn, there had been paid to ex-soldiers in his office, in their salaries, the modest sum of nearly one hundred thousand dollars. These men received their appointment from Mr. Tanner, and "In November, 1877, Mr. Tanner was appointed collector of taxes for the city of Brooklyn, which office he has since held, through democratic and republican administrations alike, with universal ac- ceptance. He instituted many reforms but illustrated the abiding interest he feels for all old veterans; and the constant ap- plication made to him by needy soldiers for assistance in securing employment is the living proof of the faith of his com- rades in his unswerving interest in their in the office, reducing expenses one-half, welfare.
"A man of positiveconvictions, with also the courage of his convictions, he is nev- ertheless broad and charitable towards his foes. A life-long sufferer, because of wounds received in the war, he has never- theless proved to be the inspiration of help to thousands who fought on the other side. While on a visit to Rich- mond, Va., some months ago, in conver- sation with several ex-Confederate sol- diers, mention was made of the suffering condition of the maimed and disabled ones of the south. Their homeless and needy condition was contrasted with the condition of the Federal soldiers of the north. The government could not in jus- tice provide for them. Mr. Tanner sug- gested that the citizens take the matter in hand, build and equip a home, and then ask the state to care for it. Upon his suggestion the work was undertaken by philanthropic men in Richmond.
" To assist them in their work, appeals were made to the old soldiers of the north. In Brooklyn, under the direction of Mr. Tanner, a meeting was held in the Academy of Music, on the sixth of May last, addressed by Revs. Henry Ward Beecher and 1. M. Foster, at which $1,600 was realized to assist in the erection of the home. The suggestion thus made in the interest of the old foes of the past has resulted in securing $25,000, with a pros- pect of as much more, with which to provide home comforts for needy Con- federates. And this fact is recognized and appreciated by the men of the south, that the inspiration of this humane enter- prise found its birth in the heart of James Tanner.
ees, but declined the honor -- at the same time assuring the friends of the enter- prise that in the knowledge that some crippled, homeless soldier was provided with the comforts of home, he would find the greatest satisfaction.
and extending greater facilities to the tax-payers. As a public speaker he has few superiors, being eloquent, logical and witty. In debate he is always self-pos- sessed and meets opponents boldly, hav- ing the 'courage of his convictions.' Genial, social manners make him a favor- ite among his acquaintances, while his talents and sterling manhood are esteemed universally."
On the completion of his fourth term, in 1885, Mr. Tanner finally retired from the collectorship of the city of Brooklyn, after having handled while in that office the sum of sixty-seven millions of dol- lars, and accounted for every penny. He spent the next three seasons on the lecture platform with great success. In the fall of 1886 he rendered his party valuable service in the campaign in Cali- fornia, and in the spring campaign of 1888, did the same thing in Oregon. In the presidential campaign of 1888, at the re- quest of General Harrison, he made a tour of Indiana, and the late General A. P. Hovey, who was then elected governor of Indiana, repeatedly declared that it was very largely owing to Tanner's efforts among the soldiers of Indiana that the republican party carried the state. When General Harrison took office as president there was great unanimity among the old soldiers in asking for Corporal Tanner's appointment as commissioner of pensions,
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