Carey, Charles Henry.  "History of Oregon." Vol. 3. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1922.  p.  567.
 
GUY WEBSTER TALBOT

     Guy Webster Talbot arrived in Portland in 1906 and through the intervening
period has been identified with the management of public utilities and important
corporation interests.  He brought with him to the west broad experience gained
in railway circles in the Mississippi valley and with the passing years his
powers have increased as through an orderly progression he has advanced step by
step, thus continually gaining a broader outlook and wider opportunities.
Moreover, his interests have ever been of a character which have contributed to
public progress and prosperity as well as to individual success.  A native of
Michigan, he was born in the town of Centerville, August 12, 1873, his parents
being Charles Robert and Sarah F. (Webster) Talbot.  In the paternal line he is
descended from one of the old New England families, his grandfather being John
W. Talbot, who with his brothers, the late Charles P. and Governor Thomas
Talbot, of Lowell, Massachusetts, built and operated the first woolen mills in
that state at North Billerica.  Charles R. Talbot removed with his family to Des
Moines, Iowa, and there Guy W. Talbot obtained a public school education, while
late he pursued a college course at Emporia, Kansas. Throughout his entire
business career he has been identified with railway interests and other public
utilities.  His first employment was in connection with the local freight office
of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Des Moines and for a time
occupied the position of collector with the Des Moines Union Railway Company and
otherwise served the same corporation in various departments.  For a time he was
ticket agent at the Union depot in Des Moines and was traveling freight and
passenger agent for the Des Moines, Northern & Western Railway Company, while at
Marshalltown, Iowa, he acted as traveling freight agent for the Iowa Central
Railway Company and next was made general traveling freight agent for the same
company.  In 1901 Mr. Talbot became traffic manager for the Peoria & Pekin
Terminal Railway Company at Peoria, Illinois, and was afterward advanced to the
general superintendency, while still later he was made vice president and
general manager.
     His identification with the northwest began as vice president and general
manager of the Astoria & Columbia River Railroad Company and of the Corvallis &
Eastern Railroad Company with headquarters in Portland.  Since that time he has
been continuously associated with public utilities and in 1907 was made vice
president and general manager of the Oregon Electric Railway Company, while in
1910 he was elected to the presidency of the Pacific Power & Light Company and
also of the Portland Gas & Coke Company. With the latter two corporations he ahs
since been continuously connected and the success of these interests is
attributable in large measure to his efforts.  It has always been his purpose
thoroughly to inform himself concerning any task which he undertakes and he
closely studies every phase of any business with which he becomes associated.
His plans are therefore carefully formulated and promptly executed and he never
stops short of the successful accomplishment of this purpose.  Moreover, he
builds along constructive lines and with keen discrimination recognizes the
possibilities of coordinating seemingly unrelated interests into a unified and
harmonious whole.  An excellent judge of men, he has been enabled to surround
himself with a most efficient corps of assistants and he readily wins the
cooperation of his colleagues and of his employes because his position is at all
times tenable, the correctness of his opinions regarding business affairs being
constantly manifest in the successful results which crown his efforts.  He has
at different periods been identified with various important interests of the
northwest.  He became the president of the Walla Walla Valley Railway Company,
the vice president of the American Power & Light Company of New York and the
president of the Hanford Irrigation & Power Company of Washington.  At the
present writing his official connection covers the presidency of the Portland
Gas & Coke Company, also of the Pacific Power & Light Company and of the Walla
Walla Valley Railway Company.
     Mr. Talbot was married in Kingman, Kansas, October 14, 1903, to Miss
Geraldine Wallace, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Morris Wallace.  They have
three children, Sarah Jane, Prudence Gertrude, and Guy W., Jr.  The parents are
members of the Episcopal church and Mr. Talbot gives his political endorsement
to the republican party, which he has continuously supported since age conferred
upon him the right of franchise.  He belongs to the Hoo Hoos and the Jovian
Order, an electrical society.  He is a very prominent figure in the club circles
of Portland, being now the president of the Waverly Country Club, a member of
the Press Club, Ad Club, Rotary Club, Arlington Club, of which he was vice
president in 1919.  Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club, Meadow Lake Club, Snowshoe
Club, Trails Club, Progressive Business Men's Club, Drama Club, Civic League,
National Safety Council, Aerial League, Navy League, the Oregon State Motor
Association and the Chamber of Commerce of which he was formerly vice president.
His ability in executive positions has led to his frequent election to office in
these different organizations and his splendid powers were called into service
during the war period in various ways having to do with the support of the
government.  He was in charge of all of the bond drives in Portland and served
as a member of the executive committee of the state in connection therewith.  He
was also chairman of the Y.M.C.A. war campaigns in Portland, chairman of the War
Work committee and also was in charge of the subscription division for the
Knights of Columbus war work.  He seems to know just when and where to put forth
effort in order to produce results, whether for the benefit of individual or
corporate interests or for the general good.  Anyone meeting Mr. Talbot face to
face would at once recognize in him what the world terms a square man.  His
quietude of deportment, his cordiality of address and his firmness of decision
all indicate a character in which there is nothing sinister and nothing to
conceal.  On the contrary he has ever been actuated by the highest regard for
the rights of his fellowmen and while upbuilding his own fortunes he has felt
the keenest gratification in the success and advancement of others.  Moreover,
he is a man of most genial disposition who highly prizes his friends, and their
number is legion.
 
 
 
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in October 2006 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.