Husband Boyd J. Tallman 1 2
Born: 4 Oct 1858 - Unity Twp, Westmoreland Co, PA 2
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Father: John Tallman (1827-1908) 1 3
Mother: Ruth Carnahan Boyd (1834-1909) 4 5
Wife
Born:
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Children
General Notes: Husband - Boyd J. Tallman
His boyhood days differed but little from those of other farmer's sons, working on the farm in the summer and attending the common schools during the then but four months' term in the winter. He very early became a teacher, and afterward attended the academy in Ligonier and the Independent Academy near Fort Palmer, a term or two at each place. He continued going to school, and engaging in teaching and in other minor employments until 1883, when he entered the famous Washington and Jefferson College at Washington, Pennsylvania. There he remained two years, but was not graduated, though by the time spent there and by private study he had nearly completed the course. In 1884 he began reading the rudiments of the law, and May 15, 1885, left his home for Walla Walla, Washington Territory, where he entered the law office of Allen, Thompson & Crowley, as a student. He was admitted to the bar in 1886. In February, 1887, he removed to Seattle, for he regarded it as a more promising location for a lawyer.
In 1889, without being consulted, he was nominated by the county convention of King county as a candidate for the office of representative in the state legislature. This office he declined for professional reasons, although the nomination was equivalent to an election. In the fall of 1900 he was nominated by the Republican party of King county in the convention at Seattle for judge of the superior court of the state of Washington, and on November 6, 1900, was elected by a majority of six hundred and eighty votes. In 1904 he was renominated for the same position, and was elected by a majority of eleven thousand five hundred and sixty-three votes, receiving the highest number of votes cast for any candidate on the ticket. No stronger nor more eloquent testimony as to his character as a citizen and his standing as a judge can be given than is shown by the increased majority by which those who know him best reelected him to the bench.
For the greater part of the time that he was on the bench, he had charge of the equity courts, a branch of jurisprudence which every well trained lawyer knows requires for its successful administration not only an acute legal mind, but a comprehensive knowledge of the law as well. During this time he tried cases, some of which involved millions of dollars. The Seattle Times, a Democratic paper, speaking of this branch of Judge Tallman's work, under date of February 25, 1906, said: "Boyd J. Tallman's five years on the bench have brought him high rank among the lawyers of the county. The quality of service he rendered at a time when the bench consisted of but five men, all carrying a burden too heavy for them, was wonderful. In the equity department of the court he deservingly obtained the commendation of both lawyers and litigants. His decisions have rarely been reversed in appellate courts." The Times speaks further as though still greater honors were in store for Judge Tallman in his adopted state.
He was a member of the Unitarian church, and a trustee in the First Church at Seattle.