HARMAN G. TALLEY, a prominent citizen of Shipman, was born in that part of Wilmington, Del., which was then known as the village of Brandywine. His birth occurred January 28, 1828, and his father, Isaac Grubb Talley, was born in the same vicinity and was the son of Harman Talley whose ancestors were among the first settlers of that State. He resided near Wilmington for many years, and then made his way to Ohio and became one of the pioneers of Muskingum County. He lived there until 1850, after which he emigrated to Ogle County, this State, and after a few years came to Piasa, this county, where he died.
The father of our subject grew to manhood in his native State and was there married before coming to Illinois. It was about the year 1856 when he settled in Macoupin County, making his home in Shipman Township, where he bought a farm and resided for four years and then sold and returned to his native home, dying in Wilmington, Del., February 22, 1888, when he was eighty-seven years old. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Mary Simmons, and she was born in Delaware and died in 1831. She had two children, our subject and his brother John,, who still resides in Wilmington.
The father was a second time married, to Rachel Grubb and by her had one child, Rebecca. Our subject served for five years in Centerville, learning the trade of a blacksmith, and followed it in Delaware until 1850, when he came to Illinois by the way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and settled in Alton, where he was a pioneer and where he opened the first blacksmith shop in that village, carrying on business there until the breaking out of the war.
The young man enlisted September 3, 1864, in Company A, One Hundred and Forty-fourth Illinois Infantry, and served until the close of the war, being mustered out as a Sergeant of the Provost-Guard in 1865. The following year he engaged in farming on one hundred and sixty acres of land which he had purchased about a mile east of Piasa. There he resided until 1887, and then leaving his sons in charge, retired from active business and made his home in Shipman.
Louisa Ann Hedges was the name of the lady who became the wife of our subject in 1850, and she died on the home farm in 1879. The second marriage of Mr. Talley took place in 1885, and brought to his home a bride in the person of Mrs. Mary (Martin) Quick, a native of New York. By his first marriage our subject had five children, namely: William, Hattie, Dora, Lula and Harman Grubb. Our subject and his good wife are both earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is a thorough Republican in his political views and has served for ten years as Postmaster of Piasa. His son William married Miss Laura Kelsey, and his daughter Dora became Mrs. W. B. Waggoner.
The present Mrs. Talley, as well as her father and grandfather was born in the Green Mountain State, and her father who was a blacksmith, followed that trade both in Vermont and in Susquehanna County, Pa., and afterward in Steuben County, N.Y., where he finally purchased a farm and managed it in connection with the work of his trade.
The maiden name of his wife was Lurinda Coleman, and she was a daughter of William and Hannah (Cross) Coleman of Vermont.
Mrs. Talley's first marriage was when she was eighteen and united her with Mr. Bennet, a blacksmith, who came to Illinois in 1859, and carried on his trade in Shipman until his death in April, 1865. Her second husband, Mr. Parker Quick, of Missouri, was a farmer who came to Shipman and died here in 1873. She has two children by her first marriage, Gertrude, who is now Mrs. Silas Webster, and Jerome C., who married Sophie Harris.