Tunis V. P. Talmage

{{infobox officeholder

| name = Tunis V. P. Talmage

| office = Member of the New York State Assembly for Kings County, 4th District

| term_start = 1875

| term_end = 1876

| predecessor = Theodore N. Melvin

| successor = James G. Tighe

| birth_name = Tunis Van Pelt Talmage

| birth_date = {{birth date|1832|07|24}}

| birth_place = Clinton, New Jersey

| death_date = {{death date and age|1909|11|28|1832|07|24}}

| death_place = Brooklyn, New York

| party = Democrat

| parents = Thomas G. Talmage
Dorothy Miller

| spouse = {{marriage|Magdalene Van Nest de Forest
|1853||reason=}}

| children = 3

| relations = Jacob W. Miller (uncle)
Thomas De Witt Talmage (cousin)
John Van Nest Talmage (cousin)
Katherine Emmons Force (granddaughter)
Madeleine Astor (granddaughter)

| rank = Captain

| branch = 56th New York Infantry Regiment

| battles = U.S. Civil War
{{*}}Gettysburg campaign

}}

Tunis Van Pelt Talmage (July 24, 1832 – November 28, 1909) was an American businessman and politician from New York.

Life

Talmage was born on July 24, 1832, in Clinton, New Jersey, the son of Thomas Goyn Talmage and Dorothy Miller.{{Cite news|date=29 November 1909|title=Tunis Van Pelt Talmage|volume=70|page=3|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|issue=330|location=New York, N.Y.|url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/55381605|via=Brooklyn Public Library Historical Newspapers}} He grew up in New York City until he was eight, after which he lived in Brooklyn. His father was Mayor of Brooklyn, and his uncle Jacob W. Miller was a United States Senator from New Jersey.{{Cite book|last=Ross|first=Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sa3u_mTb9mcC|title=A History of Long Island, From Its Earliest Settlement To The Present Time|publisher=The Lewis Publishing Company|year=1902|volume=II|pages=108–109|via=Google Books}} Among his cousins were attorney George Macculloch Miller and clergyman John Van Nest Talmage and Thomas De Witt Talmage.{{Cite news|date=29 November 1909|title=Tunis Van Pelt Talmage|volume=LXIX|page=7|work=New-York Tribune|issue=23024|location=New York, N.Y.|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1909-11-29/ed-1/seq-7/|via=Chronicling America}}

Talmage attended the New Brunswick Grammar School in New Jersey.{{Cite book|last1=McElroy|first1=William H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OYoDAAAAYAAJ|title=Life Sketches of Government Officers and Members of the Legislature of the State of New York for 1875|last2=McBride|first2=Alexander|publisher=Weed, Parsons and Company|year=1875|location=Albany, N.Y.|pages=294–295|via=Google Books}}

Career

In 1849, he moved to San Francisco and worked in the general merchandise establishment of Talmage, Green & Co. Two years later, he returned to Brooklyn and obtained a contract to pave and grade the streets. After seven years in that business, he established himself in the coal business. In 1860, he was elected supervisor of the Eighth Ward. A year later, he served on the committee of volunteers that relieved families of soldiers killed in the American Civil War. In 1862, he was elected alderman from the Eighth Ward, and in 1864 he was re-elected and made president of the board.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SUsMAQAAMAAJ|title=The Eagle and Brooklyn: The Record of the Progress of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle|publisher=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|year=1893|editor-last=Howard|editor-first=Henry W. B.|volume=Two|location=Brooklyn, N.Y.|pages=1054|editor-last2=Jervis|editor-first2=Arthur N.|via=Google Books}}

During the Civil War, Talmage helped raise the 56th New York Infantry Regiment, which his brother was major of. Governor Morgan appointed him captain of the regiment, and he joined the regiment in the front during the Gettysburg campaign. He remained in active service until the end of the campaign, at which point he resigned. In 1865, he came within one vote of receiving the mayoral nomination, losing the nomination to Martin Kalbfleisch. In 1867, he unsuccessfully ran for mayor as an independent Democrat.

In 1874, Talmage was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Democrat, representing the Kings County 4th District (Wards 5, 10, and 22 of Brooklyn). He served in the Assembly in 1875{{Cite book|last=McBride|first=Alexander|url=https://archive.org/details/eveningjournalal1875slsn/page/145/mode/1up|title=The Evening Journal Almanac 1875|publisher=Weed, Parsons & Co.|year=1875|location=Albany, N.Y.|pages=145|via=Internet Archive}} and 1876. In the Assembly, he advocated Governor Tilden's reform measures.{{Cite book|last=McBride|first=Alexander|url=https://archive.org/details/eveningjournalal1876slsn/page/123/mode/1up|title=The Evening Journal Almanac, 1876|publisher=Weed, Parsons & Co.|year=1876|location=Albany, N.Y.|pages=123|via=Internet Archive}} He also introduced and carried through a readjustment of Prospect Park taxes, which shifted taxation from property holders contiguous to the Park to the entire city. In 1882, he went from the retail coal business to the wholesale coal trade. He was also involved in real estate.

Personal life

In 1853, he married Magdalene Van Nest de Forest (1836–1905), a daughter of John J. de Forest and Madeline ({{nee}} Van Nest).{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Peter |title=A History of Long Island: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time |date=1902 |publisher=Lewis publishing Company |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sa3u_mTb9mcC&dq=William+De+Forest+Talmage&pg=PA109 |access-date=10 May 2022 |language=en}} Their children were:

Magdalen Talmage Dodge (1854–1941), who married Francis Edward Dodge (1841–1926) of New York City.{{cite book |title=Somerset County Historical Quarterly |date=1914 |publisher=Somerset County Historical Society |pages=102–103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vxFJAQAAMAAJ |access-date=10 May 2022 |language=en}}
William De forest Talmage (1860–1941)
Katherine Arvilla Talmage (1863–1939),{{cite news |last1=TIMES |first1=Special to THE NEW YORK |title=MRS. WILLIAM H. FORCE; The Grandmother of John Jacob Astor Dies in Newport |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/08/14/archives/mrs-william-h-force-the-grandmother-of-john-jacob-astor-dies-in.html |access-date=9 May 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=14 August 1939}} who married William H. Force in 1889.{{cite news |title=WILLIAM H. FORCE DEAD. {{!}} Father of Mrs. William K. Dick Was a Commission Merchant |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/05/20/archives/obituary-1-no-title.html |access-date=9 May 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=20 May 1917}}

Talmage was affiliated with the Crescent Athletic Club. He was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church until 1898, when he became a member and trustee of the Park Congregational Church.

Talmage died at home at 216 Eighth Avenue following a 18-week illness that left him bedridden the entire time on November 28, 1909. He was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.{{Cite web|title=Civil War Biographies: Sumner-Utassy|url=https://www.green-wood.com/2015/civil-war-biographies-sumner-utassy/|access-date=2021-09-29|website=Green-Wood Cemetery|date=8 April 2015 }}

=Descendants=

Through his daughter Katherine, he was a grandfather of Katherine Emmons Force (1891–1956),{{cite news |title=Mrs. Lorillard Spencer. Widow of New York Banker, a Resident of Newport, Dies |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/09/09/306571142.pdf |quote=Mrs. Katherine Force Spencer of Chasteullux, Newport, died at her home this morning of a heart attack. She was 63 years old.... |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 9, 1956 |access-date=2015-02-28 }} (wife of Lorillard S. Spencer),{{cite news|title=How the Beautiful Katherine Force, Sister of Madeleine, Who Was Mrs. John Jacob Astor and Is Now Mrs. Dick, and Other Society Girls Are Carving Out Careers for Themselves' by Hard Work|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal|date=July 25, 1920}}{{cite news |title=LORILLARD SPENCER DEAD IN NEWPORT; Was Decorated by France and the U.S. for 'Extraordinary Heroism in Action' AN EX-AIRPLANE OFFICIAL He Had Served With Several Corporations--III Since He Suffered Stroke in 1934 Took Up Aviation in 1921 Landing Fields Chairman Legion of Valor Member |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/06/10/112695492.pdf |access-date=8 May 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=10 June 1939}} and Madeleine Talmage Force (wife of John Jacob Astor IV, William Karl Dick, and Enzo Fiermonte).{{cite news|agency=Associated Press |title=Mrs. Fiermonte Dead In Florida |url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/3259/|newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 28, 1940 |access-date=October 19, 2010 }}