.
MRS. ALICE LEE TALBOTT
Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMS: BAILEY, GARNER, RECK
In all the humanitarian agencies of our cilivization, no higher or more
worthy work can be found than in the caring for little children whom
circumstances of many sorts have made it impossible for the parent or
parents to care for them in their own homes. Among the noble and
gracious women with lofty ideals who have given their hands and hearts
to this task is Mrs. Alice Lee Talbott, who has shown rare capability
in the management of the Haven Grove Home, located near Santa Clara on
the Saratoga Road, an ideal situation for an institution of this nature.
Mrs. Talbott is a native of Colorado, where she was born at
Trinidad, Los Animas County, a daughter of William Alfred and Mary
Frances (Bailey) Garner. The father was a native of Tennessee and a
descendant of an old and honorable family of that state. During the
Civil War he fought on the Union side and was promoted to the rank of
captain. On one of the marches through Tennessee his regiment passed
over the plantation of Grandfather Benjamin Bailey, an extensive
planter there, and it so happened that Captain Garner was entertained
in the Bailey home, where he met his future wife, Mary Frances Bailey.
At the close of the war he returned to the Bailey plantation to renew
the acquaintance and at first his attentions were biterly opposed by
the father, because he had been an officer in the Union Army, but his
persistency won and the young people were later married, making their
home in Lawrence County, Tenn., where Captain Garner engaged in the
practice of law, becoming state senator from Lawrence County during the
administration of Governor Jackson. He was a member of the committe
from Tennessee that was present at the inauguration of Vice-President
Johnson, and afterwards served as acting governor. Later the family
removed to Trinidad, Colo., and Captain Garner became a prominent
factor in the growth and prosperity of the state, then in its early
days. He first followed ranching and became a large cattle owner,
meanwhile locating a coal claim which eventually became very valuable
and was sold to the Colorado Fuel 8s Iron Company. Later he resumed the
practice of law, devoting his activities to constructive measures, and
he was instrumental in putting through the first irrigation canal in
Las Animas County. He passed away in 1913, mourned by his business
associates and a large circle of friends.
Mrs. Garner was educated in the female academy at Nashville,
Tenn., and was reared in the cultured environment of a typical Southern
home. Coming to Colorado in the early days was a great change from the
comfort and affluence of her old home, but she bravely met the trials
and hardships of pioneer life. Being ambitious, she continued her
studies and passed the teacher's examination, teaching school at
Trinidad until her death on December 10, 1879, at the early age of
thirty-four, a severe loss to the bereaved husband and children.
Captain and Mrs. Garner were the parents of four children, but all have
passed away but Mrs. Talbott.
Alice Lee Garner began her education in the schools of Trinidad and was
then sent to Tennessee to live with her Grandmother Bailey where she
attended high school. Later, on returning to Colorado, she was
graduated from the State Normal School at Pueblo and became a
kindergarten teacher, following her profession until her marriage to
John Reck Talbott on May 20, 1892. His parents were Joseph and Marie
(Reck) Talbott, and they were both natives of Ohio, where they were
married, driving overland in a prairie schooner to Kansas in the early
days before railroads were built, and there the father became engaged
in the real estate business. John Reck Talbott was born and reared in
Atchison, Kans., and while still a young man came to Colorado and
engaged in the cattle business with his uncle, Frank Reck. Mr. and Mrs.
Talbott have been blessed with three children: Grace Jean, a graduate
of the San Jose State Normal, is a kindergarten teacher at Fresno;
Alice J., a graduate nurse, is assisting her mother as a teacher; John
Frank lives in San Jose.
In 1904 Mrs. Talbott came to San Jose, where she was occupied in
various kinds of children's welfare work, and through this she became
intensely interested in all children, and their welfare and education.
During this period she had become well acquainted with members of the
State Board of Charities and Correction and the State Board of Control,
so that when she decided to establish a home for children she had no
difficulty in obtaining the necessary authority from the state. In
June, 1918, she opened Haven Grove Home; her work spoke for itself and
soon her home was full of healthy, happy children. Her large residence
is beautifully located for such a philanthropy, and with her unusual
ability, makes the place a real home for children, whose parents are
delighted to have their dear ones come under her faithful and able
supervision. Her ambition in establishing Haven Grove Home was to get
away from the ordinary institutional environment and make it a real
home in every sense of its sacredness, providing abundantly for their
material welfare with plenty of room, warmth and the best of food. The
children are taught up to the fifth grade and with the individual
attention given them they make rapid progress. Music is not neglected
in their education, as they are not only given instruction but have
their own little orchestra. Her desire in having them, under her
influence is to develop in them the traits of character that will tend
to make them the best of men and women for American citizenship. She is
endowed by nature with those characteristics that make the children
love her, thus she has their confidence and implicit faith, so that
there is no difficulty in the discipline of the school. Mrs. Talbott
finds great joy in the loving care she is giving these little ones, and
the noble work she is doing is resulting in real and lasting good.
From Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 90
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT
SANTA CLARA COUNTY The Valley of Heart's Delight