Hines, H. K. "An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon." Chicago: Lewis
Pub. Co. 1893.  p. 249.

MRS. SARAH A. TALBOT

     About two miles southwest of the city of Portland, on the highest point of
land in that section, 1,100 feet above the business portion of the city, may be
enjoyed one of the most sublime views in Oregon, that State justly celebrated
for its beautiful scenery.  In front of you, and as if at your feet, lies the
beautiful and prosperous city with its 80,000 inhabitants.  The Willamette river
shimmers like silver in the sunlight as it gently flows through the city.  In
the distance to the east, and northeast of the broad valley with its two
magnificent rivers, the Columbia and the Willamette, spreads out before you
those lofty mountains with their caps of snow, Mounts Hood, Adams, St. Helens
and Rainier and away in the distance, nearly sixty miles, are the Cascade
mountains.  Every where you turn a scene meets your eyes, seldom if ever
equaled.
     On the top of this lovely point of land stands the residence of Mrs. Sarah
A. Talbot, the pioneer, who in 1850, with her husband, settled for their
donation claim,one square mile of these beautiful heights, where she has resided
for the past forty-two years, and the heights bear her name, Talbot Heights.
Mrs. Talbot was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, May 25, 1819.  She was the
daughter of Joseph Plumb.  The ancestors of the family came over to America from
England, settling in New Milford, Connecticut, at an early date, and her
grandfather was a minute man in the revolution.  Mrs. Talbot's father married
Elizabeth Marll, of Alexandria, Virginia, of Scotch ancestry.  They had nine
children, of whom Mrs. Talbot is the only survivor.  In 1836 she removed to
Monmouth, Illinois, and there met her husband, John Beal Talbot.  In 1840 they
were married.  Mr. Beal was a native of Dighton, Massachusetts, and was a
soldier of the war of 1812, also a pioneer of Illinois, moving there with his
mother from Kentucky before the Black Hawk war, and acted as interpreter for the
United States and Indians at the time of the treaty between the Government and
the Indians, at the close of the war.  During all the war he lived on the farm
he was making unmolested and if perfect friendship with the Indians, plowing his
field, with his gun (in case of emergency) strapped to his back.  The Indians
visited him every day and shared their venison with him.  They resided on a farm
in Illinois six miles from Monmouth until 1849, and there were born to them
their five children.  One of these died, but with the others they started, March
25, 1849, with two wagons, five yoke of oxen and two horses to cross the plains
to Oregon.  On the journey up the Platte river both he and Mrs. Talbot were sick
with cholera and barely survived.  The children were all well; but they had no
desire to turn back, with them it was to do or die.  When they arrived at the
Dalles, the place, which consisted of the mission house and outbuilding, had
been burnt by the Indians and was deserted, only a mass of charred timber
remaining.  They were alone, not a living soul or human habitation in sight.
They made camp and prepared for the night as well as they could.  The next day
more immigrants came in, seven men in all got to work building boats, in which
to float down the Columbia; made the frames of the boats of the running-gear of
the wagons and boarded them up with scraps of boards from the burned mission
houses, tore up all the old cotton clothes of the party, dipped them in the
pitch they gathered and melted from the fir tree, and corked the seams with it.
The boats, three in all, they floated on the  (unknown to them) waters of the
Columbia; their little effects put on board, the parting with companions made,
the boats and seven men floated away, down to Vancouver, where all arrived
safely, while the family crossed the Cascade mountains, amid many trials and
tribulations and narrow escapes from burning forests, all arrived safely in the
valley October 7, 1849.
     There were a few families in the town and Mr. Talbot did such jobs as he
could find to do.  He loaded vessels with piles and timber for San Francisco.
They built a small house just across the street from the Congregational Church,
on Second street, between Madison and Jefferson on the east side of the street.
They cut a large cedar tree on the property out of which they made weather
boarding.  The lot was sold to raise money to open the canon road and Mrs.
Talbot gave $100 for the purpose.  In 1851 they moved to the Talbot Heights.  At
that time there was plenty of land everywhere, but they preferred it because of
the healthfulness of the locality.  There was not a wagon road near it anywhere.
They built a log house and had everything their own way up there all by
themselves.  Here they lived and farmed the land while the young city was
growing at their feet.  From time to time for the sake of having neighbors they
have sold a portion of the land, at first for $10 an acre and later as high as
$200 an acre, but now it is valued at a great deal more.  A cable road has been
built out in that direction and runs in twenty minutes and it is to be carried
up into her property.  Then a resident there will be able to reach the city in
fifteen minutes.  There is a large fortune in the 160 acres which she still
owns.
     In addition to the five children born in Illinois they had two more, born
in Oregon.  The eldest son, Charles Beal, is now an architect and draughtsman in
the employ of the Northern Pacific.  He is also an artist of ability.  George
resides in Washington City; Alice T. married Nathaniel H. Bird, and they reside
in Portland; Edwin M. resides at Coos Bay and is a boat-builder; Henry P. is
with his mother on her farm; and the youngest, Ella, also resides with her
mother.
     Mr. Talbot died in 1874. He was a man of high integrity of character and
enjoyed the respect of a wide circle of friends.  Mrs. Talbot retaining her
vitality in a remarkable degree and is strong and hearty.  She has the respect
of the pioneers of the State and of all who have the honor of knowing her.

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in May 2005 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.