Samuel Austin Talcott (December 31, 1789

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

– March 19, 1836

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) was an American lawyer and politician.

Life

He was the son of Samuel Talcott (1740-1798, grandson of

Joseph Talcott Joseph Talcott (November 16, 1669 – October 11, 1741) was the 26th governor of the Connecticut Colony from 1724 until his death in 1741. Biography Talcott was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel John and Helena Wakeman ...

, Colonial Governor of Connecticut) and Abigail Ledyard Talcott. On May 28, 1810, he married Rachel Skinner; their son was John Ledyard Talcott (b. 1812), a justice of the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

. He graduated from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

in 1809, and he practiced law at

New Hartford, New York New Hartford is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Oneida County, New York, United States. As of the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census, the town population was 22,166. The name of New Hartford was provided by a settler fam ...

. There he married, in 1818, his second wife, Mary Eliza Stanley (1800-1848), and their son was Thomas Grosvenor Talcott (1819-1870). He was a leading member of the Albany Regency and was New York State Attorney General from February 12, 1821 to January 27, 1829, when he was forced to resign "due to irregular habits", a then-used

euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

for what is now called a "

drinking problem Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

". Afterward, he practiced law in

. He is mentioned briefly as a character in ''

The Witch of Blackbird Pond ''The Witch of Blackbird Pond'' is a children's novel by American author Elizabeth George Speare, published in 1958. The story takes place in late-17th century New England. It won the Newbery Medal in 1958. Plot summary In April 1687, 16-year-o ...

'', written by

Elizabeth George Speare Elizabeth George Speare (November 21, 1908 – November 15, 1994) was an American writer of children's books, best known for historical novels including two Newbery Medal winners. She has been called one of America's 100 most popular writers ...

in 1958.

Sources

Talcott genealogy
at Office of the Att. Gal. of NY

at The Historical Society of the Courts in the State of NY

at rootsweb (giving wrong birthplace)

info at New Hartford Public Library
Info on his father-in-law F. Stanley
at The NYG&B

at Office of the Att. Gal. of NY

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talcott, Samuel Austin 1789 births 1836 deaths New York State Attorneys General Williams College alumni Lawyers from Hartford, Connecticut 19th-century American politicians Politicians from Hartford, Connecticut 19th-century American lawyers