My Genealogy Hound

JOHN TALLMAN is the son of Abner and Thankful (Sparks) Tallman, and was born in Broome county, New York, September 8, 1823. His maternal grandfather, John Sparks, took passage on the first continental ship that sailed from an American port, and he fought all through the Revolutionary war on land and sea. The Tallmans are of Scotch descent. Abner Tallman (father) was a native of Essex county, this State, and came to this county in 1834 and located in Dunkirk. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and died at Arkwright this county, in October, 1849. He married Thankful Sparks, a native of Washington county, this State, who was a member of the Free-Will Baptist church, and died in Dunkirk in 1837, at the early age of forty-six years.

John Tallman was reared in Chautauqua county, received a common school education, and learned the carpenter’s and joiner’s trade with his father, in which business he continued, until September, 1864, when he entered the Union service, enlisting in Co. A, 188th regiment, N. Y. Vol. Infantry, and served till the close of the war, being honorably discharged at Washington, D. C., May 30, 1865. While in the army he contracted chronic rheumatism and has never seen a well day since, being very badly drawn out of shape. He has been granted a pension to relieve his mind from anxiety as to provision for his comfort, and owns a large brick house and a lot of land in Forestville, where he resides. In 1844 he moved to Great Valley, Cattaraugus county, this State, where he served five years as constable, and where he resided — excepting the time he was in the army — until the spring of 1890, when he came to Forestville. In politics Mr. Tallman is an uncompromising republican.

John Tallman was married in 1844 to Elmira, daughter of Jarvis Bennett, of Villanova, this county.