An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL. 1893

BOYD J. TALLMAN, one of the most widely known of the young attorneys of Seattle,
was born near the town of Latrobe, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, October 4,
1858, being the third in a family of seven children, all of whom are living. His
father, John Tallman, was born in the same house which was erected by the
grandfather of our subject early in the present century. John Tallman married
Ruth C. Boyd, a native of Westmoreland county, where her ancestors located at an
early day, of Scotch-Irish extraction. The Tallman ancestors were from England
and Germany, and all were engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1862 John Tallman
sold the old homestead and purchased a farm near Fort Ligonier, in the beautiful
valley of the same name, where he still resides. This farm is near the old
homestead of General Arthur St. Chair, of Revolutionary fame, who was living
there at the beginning of the Revolutionary war. A portion of the old building
is still standing. The boyhood career of our subject was similar to that of all
farmers' sons, - working upon the farm during the summer and attending school
during the winter months. After attending one term at the Ligonier Academy he
began teaching school in the same township, receiving therefor the princely sum
of $25 per month. As he boarded and lodged with his father he was enabled to
save enough money to pay his way during the following summer at the Independent
Academy, located in the same valley. For three years he taught in winter and
attended the academy in summer, and at the end of that period had saved enough
money to enable him to take a partial course in the Washington and Jefferson
College, where were educated Hon. James G. Blaine, Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, Gen.
James A. Beaver, and other men of national reputation. Early in the life of
young Tallman he resolved that some day he would become a lawyer, and after
leaving college he took the preliminary step by beginning to read law, but
before being admitted to the bar he removed to the Territory of Washington,
arriving at Walla Walla May 1, 1885. He then entered the law office of Allen,
Thompson & Crowley, but during the following winter taught school in Walla Walla
county, at the same time continuing his studies. He was admitted to the bar in
November, 1886, passing the proper examinations, and in February, 1887, removed
to Seattle, where he has since resided, spending his first year in the office of
Messrs. Burke & Haller, one of the leading law firms of the city. During the
summer of 1887 there were indications that there would be a second outbreak
against the Chinese in Seattle, a former riot having occurred in 1886. In order
to render assistance in such an emergency he became a member of Company E, First
Regiment National Guards, Washington, and continued an active member for four
years. Upon two occasions during that period he was with his company in active
service, once in suppressing a labor riot, and the second time in guarding the
burned district of Seattle for two weeks, after the disastrous fire of June 6,
1889. He was frequently offered promotions in the company, but persistently
declined. In the spring of 1888 he opened a law office and engaged actively in
practice, in which he has met with substantial success, having obtained a
lucrative patronage, besides being retained by a number of the leading business
houses and corporations of Seattle. In politics he has always been an ardent
Republican, and was a member of the first Republican State Convention, which met
in Walla Walla in the fall of 1889, and has been a member of every succeeding
convention. While being a strong partisan he is not a politician in the of being
an office-seeker, and he has never been a candidate for political preferment. In
1889, without having been consulted, he was nominated as a candidate for the
Legislature; still he declined to run, notwithstanding the fact that King county
was Republican, and that a nomination was equivalent to an election. During the
year 1891, Mr. Tallman held the appointment as special Judge for the Superior
Court of the State of Washington, for King county, and acted as such in the
trial of a number of important causes. By his fair and impartial rulings, just
decisions and courteous treatment of the attorneys and others who appeared
before him, he won the respect and esteem of all, and demonstrated the fact that
he is eminently qualified to fill any judicial position within the gift of the
people of the State. Mr. Tallman is a close student and zealous in his
profession, to which he is devoting the best of his time and energies, and
through which he has already made a name and reputation before the bar of
Seattle.

Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in January 2004 by Jeffrey L. Elmer

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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.