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Talbott, Richard (b. 1764)
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The History of Barbour County, West Virginia, 
From its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time
by Hu Maxwell
The Acme Publishing Company, Morgantown, W.Va., 1899

Pages 474-475

Richard Talbott, probably the first white man to make his permanent
home in Barbour County —- together with his brother, Cotteral, and
sister, Charity,-— was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, November
16, 1764. He was a son of William Talbott, a native of England, who
came to Virginia long before the Revolution. The Talbott family is
one of the oldest in England, where it is usually spelled Talbot.
In this country the spelling is sometimes Tolbert, which conforms
fairly well with the common pronunciation of the name. The
ancestors of the family crossed from Normandy (France) to England
with William the Conqueror in the year 1066, and from time to time
members of the family rose to great prominence in England. Upon the
death of his father Richard Talbott was bound out. Whether the two
older children were also bound out cannot now be ascertained, but
they were probably old enough to take care of themselves. The man
to whom Richard was apprenticed was not good to him, and he decided
to run off. Having communicated his purpose to his sister, Charity,
she laid plans to assist him, and the scheme was a bold one.
Knowing that it would be useless for her brother to escape from his
master if he remained in the country, for he would be taken back
and, perhaps, subjected to worse treatment, she determined to get
all things ready, and the three children, she being the eldest,
accompanied by their mother, would cross the mountains and seek a
new home in the wilderness of the west.

The preparations for flight were made so secretly that they were
unsuspected, and when all things were ready, Charity assisted
Richard to escape from his master, and they departed secretly for
the new land beyond the Alleghanies. They completed their long
journey through the wilderness, crossed only by trails, and, in
1780, arrived in Barbour, then Monongalia County, and selected a
site for their borne. It must be confessed that no small degree of
courage and self-confidence were exhibited by these people who thus
braved the dangers of the frontiers at a time when the Indian war
was raging in all its fury. They selected land on the waters of
Hacker's Creek, and made that their home. Their nearest neighbors
on the south were about Beverly and Leading Creek; on the east at
St. George; on the north, about Simpson, and on the west and
southwest near Buckhannon and Clarksburg. It is recorded that they
were several times obliged to leave their homes on account of the
hostility of the Indians, and twice fled east of the Alleghanies.
None of the family fell victims to the savages. Eight years after
they came to Barbour, Richard Talbott married Margaret Dowden,
whose parents were about to move away with her. She was born
December 25, 1776, lacked three days of being twelve years old. To
them were born thirteen children. Their names and the dates of
their births are as follows: Samuel 1790, Mary Ann 1792, Jacob
1794, Abraham 1796, Isaac 1798, Robert 1801, Elisha 1804, Silas
1806, Absalom 1807, Elam 1810, Zachariah 1513, Margaret 1815,
Elizabeth 1819. Nearly all the Talbotts of Barbour County are
descendants of the above named children.

In 1788 Cotteral Talbott married Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob
Reger. The marriage ceremony was performed by Isaac Edwards, a
noted preacher of that early time, who traveled through Randolph
and adjoining counties and concerning whose birth and death nothing
seems to be known.

Robert Talbott, son of Richard, married Mary Woodford, daughter of
William and sister of John Howe Woodford. (See sketch of the
Woodfords.) Their children were, John, Richard T., David, William
Woodford Salathiel. Marion, Robert M., Perry, Margaret, Hannah,
Josina and Mary.

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