{The Talbot web site:  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~fww64/talbot_I.html  has a more complete story of the Talbot family including Theodore's distinguished ancestry.}

The childhood and youth of James Theodore are clothed in mystery and we know nothing of his earlier years except for one oblique reference that he attended military school in Kentucky.  We know that he was born on Christmas Day 1825 in Washington, DC and that he may have spent some of his youth in Kentucky.   From his writings, even when he was still a teenager, we can deduce that he received a fine education.  He was fluent in several languages and often quoted from the classical scholars.   Theodore was 12 years of age when his famous father died.  And in the will that his father left, certain provisions provide an insight to the relationship between his father and mother.  His father made explicit that Theodore's mother, Adelaide, was to receive a life interest in the Washington, DC mansion in which she lived and an annual payment of five hundred dollars for the term of her life.  Mary Louisa inherited the mansion at the death of her mother.  Theodore received a bequest of five hundred dollars, which sum would be raised to two thousand dollars on the condition that his mother agreed to permit Isham's Trustees to direct Theodore's education.  While a "broken home" was unusual in the early 1800s, it was the circumstance in which young Theodore grew to manhood.   Fortunately, we know a great deal about his life from 1843 until his death from tuberculosis in 1862.  There are numerous pieces of evidence, almost all of them in his own handwriting and many carefully preserved in the Library of Congress.  At least two books have been written about his letters and journals, one published in 1931 and still another published in 1972.

Theo, as he often called himself when signing his letters, was only 18 years of age when John C. Fremont began to organize for his Second Expedition to explore the west, principally the Trans Mississippi West including the Oregon Territory.  It isn't clear exactly what role young Talbot had, or why he was allowed to make the trip when so many others who wanted to accompany Fremont  were not chosen to do so.  Having spent a lifetime in or near the centers of power might have had its first payoff in this instance.  In reporting on the initial phase of the journey, Fremont wrote to his superior, Col. J. J. Abert, ..."Agreeably to your directions, Mr. Theodore Talbot, of Washington City, had been attached to the party, with a view to advancement in his profession..."  Colonel Abert was a friend of the Talbot family and, no doubt, intervened on young Theodore's behalf.  The mention of "...his chosen profession..." suggests that Theodore was expecting to join the military and that he did as we shall soon see.  He had apparently attended Military School in Kentucky and this may well have been the outcome of the provision in his father's will that his inheritance would be increased if his mother consented to Theodore's education being under the direction and supervision of his Isham's trustees.  At any rate, he was selected to make the trip. 

Richard Reeves, in a fascinating tale entitled: The Oregon Trail: A Manuscript by Richard Reeves, wrote about the young Theodore in quite dramatic fashion.  A portion of his work follows: 

Fremont’s books on his 1842 and 1843 expeditions west were popular for their maps and general accuracy. The first volume described the route from the Missouri River to the Rockies, the second on the route from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast. The Pathfinder warned Overlanders of the dangers of the calm Platte River in Kansas: “The bed of the river is generally quicksands. in which the carts begin to sink rapidly so soon as the mules halted. . .”

One of the 39 men with Fremont, Theodore Talbot, a civilian reporting to the government’s Corps of Topographical Engineers, told a more dramatic story in his 1843 diary:

“One of our men, Sam Neal, feeling thirsty, turned off the road to a little stream flowing near, leading with him his horse & a pack mule. . . He suddenly found the ground giving way under him, alarmed at such an unusual an occurrence which appeared nothing less than a special and pressing invite to the company of his very Satanic Majesty, he retraced his steps pretty nimbly, once more reaching Terra Firma safe and sound. Not so his charger “Old John” or big headed mule ‘Jane’ . He could see but the nose of one and the head of the other floating around in a sort of white, semi-fluid lake. He called immediately for aid, ropes were brought (and) forth came the two animals looking exceedingly miserable.”

Talbot, who wrote his journal for his mother, had a particularly good eye and he provided some of the best descriptions of what the first pioneers saw as moved north and west in Kansas Territory. On June 3, 1843, he wrote: “We nooned in the neighborhood of a Kanzas village, and were accordingly visited by all the men, women, and children it could boast of. The men are generally of good size, well built and for the most part well armed with rifles which they handle to advantage. Their heads are closely shaven, with the exception of a single tuft called the scalp lock, and this they decorate with feathers. They paint the face head and body with vermillion, in all the variety of rings, streaks and stripes. The women are of low stature and not over clean, perhaps from their multifarious household duties, in which the men take no part, hunting and warring being their sole occupations. They are all great rogues and inveterate . . . . . . . . During the afternoon we had observed the threatening appearance of some distant clouds and many forbode an approaching storm- about 10 o’clock it burst upon us in all its violence. The whole camp was filled with one incessant glare of lightning while the deafening crash of thunder resounded on every side: apparently we were in its very focus and upon us, was spent its concentrated wrath. Our frail tents soon left us completely at the mercy of the greatest elemental war I have ever witnessed. After several hours duration the wind and rain abated.”

The reader must bear in mind that these are the words of an 18 year old who was selected for the trip more out of deference to his famous name than to any expected contribution that he might make.  Yet it was his journals that brought a richness to the trip that Fremont's narratives lacked.

On July 15, 1843, Fremont and his party left St. Louis and by the 22 of August, Talbot wrote in his Journal:

 "Today we set foot in Oregon Territory, the land of promise. As of yet it only promises an increased supply of sagebrush and sand."

 Two weeks later, 7 September 1843, he wrote:

 "We went a few miles farther when we had to cross a very high hill, which is said to be the greatest impediment on the whole route from the United States to Fort Hall. The ascent is very long and tedious, but the descent is still more abrupt and difficult."

And one week later, on 14 September 1843, he reported:

 "Paid a visit to Capt. Grant. Fort Hall is a small and rather ill constructed Fort, built of 'Dobies.' It was established in the summer of 1834 by Nathaniel Wyeth, a yankee. He could not compete with the H.B. [Hudson's Bay] Compy and finally sold out to them. The Fort is near the entrance of Portneuf into Snake River. The river bottoms are wide and have some fertile lands, but much is injured by the slat deposits of the waters from the neighboring hills. Wheat, turnips have been grown here with success. Cattle thrive well."

By October, the party was beginning to make its way further into the exploration and even the young, inexperienced, rawboned Talbot had become a seasoned veteran of the west and by every account, he loved it.  He wrote:

 At this place, we again and for the last time cross Snake River.  We immediately commenced crossing our baggage and carts in the two canoes belonging to the Fort.  We finished our transportation early in the afternoon and having swam over our Cavallade went into camp on the river bank opposite to the Fort.  (The Journal of Theodore Talbot, 1843 and 1849-52, edited by  Charles H. Carey [Portland Metropolitan Press, 1931].)

Fremont was a charismatic man and his influence on young Theodore Talbot was significant.  But he was not the only famous person that Talbot encountered on the trip.  A frequent traveler with the party although not an official member of the Expedition, was Kit Carson. In point of fact, in January of 1844, Theo wrote about the party's composition: 

"... the expedition was comprised of twenty-seven men, including Christopher "Kit" Carson and Thomas "Broken Hand" Fitzpatrick, sixty seven mules and horses, and one mountain howitzer."

One wonders whether or not Theodore knew of the Talbot family relationship to Kit Carson.  Briefly, for those of you who don't know or have forgotten, Hale Talbot, oldest son of Matthew (II) and Mary Hale Day Talbot, and Lindsay Carson were very good friends in Kentucky and perhaps beyond.  Hale Talbot's oldest son was named Christopher and when Lindsay Carson's son was born, he was named Christopher as well.  The close family relationship persisted after the Hale Talbot family moved from Kentucky to Missouri about 1810.  Hale Talbot and his wife, Betsy Irvine Talbot, along with all of their children, including Jane who had married her cousin, James, son of Isham Talbot, Senior, the grandfather of Theodore, all moved to Montgomery County, Missouri on L'outre Island in the Missouri River.  There is little doubt that Fremont and his party used the Missouri River to travel from St. Louis to Kansas City, the point at which they began the overland march to the Oregon Territory.  It seems unlikely that young Theodore Talbot was aware of any of the foregoing because, given his penchant for recording details in his letters and journals, he could hardly be expected to miss such an important one. 

On 6 September after traveling over 1,700 miles, the party came in sight of Great Salt Lake. Their investigations corrected many vague and erroneous ideas about this region, of which no accurate account had ever been given, and had great influence in promoting the settlement of Utah and the Pacific states. It was Fremont's  report of this expedition that gave to the Mormons their first idea of Utah as a place of residence. After leaving Great Salt Lake, he explored the upper tributaries of the Columbia, descended the valley of that River to Fort Vancouver, near its mouth, and on 10 November set out on his return. His route lay through an almost unknown region leading from the Lower Columbia to the Upper Colorado, and was crossed by high and rugged mountain chains. Deep snow soon forced him to descend into the great basin, and he presently found himself, in the depth of winter, in a desert, with the prospect of death to his whole party from cold and hunger. By astronomical observation he found that he was in the latitude of the bay of San Francisco; but between him and the valleys of California was a snow clad range of mountains, which the Indians declared no man could cross, and over which no reward could induce them to attempt to guide him.

Fremont undertook the passage without a guide, and accomplished it in forty days, reaching Sutter's Fort, on the Sacramento, early in March with his men reduced almost to skeletons, and with only thirty-three out of sixty-seven horses and mules remaining.  

Resuming his journey on 24 March he crossed the Sierra Nevada through a gap, and after another visit to Great Salt Lake returned to Kansas through the South pass in July 1844, having been absent fourteen months.

The Fremont Expedition returned to St. Louis in August 1844 and young Theodore was filled with excitement and happiness.  He was only 19 years of age yet he had already seen the breadth and scope of the land and had a good idea about matters that would have been unclear to most learned adults.  We do not know what he did during the next several months but by February 1845, plans were already being made for yet another trip to the west and Talbot surely was counting on being among the group chosen to accompany the great John C. Fremont.

In late May 1845, Talbot wrote to his mother that he had arrived in St. Louis and was busy preparing for the trip.  By now he was in the Army at the rank of Sergeant.  He reported that he had hoped to make a side trip to "see the Frankfort folks"  during his journey down the Ohio River but that circumstances had prevented him from doing so.  He wrote six letters to his mother and sister during the latter days of May and first part of June 1845, each one containing details of the preparations and a few questions about family friends.  

The Third Fremont Expedition, the second one for Talbot, spent the summer in exploring the watershed between the Pacific and the Mississippi.  They encamped in October on the shore of the Great Salt lake, and after crossing the Sierra Nevada with a few men, in the dead of winter, to obtain supplies, Fremont left his party in the valley of the San Joaquin while he went to Monterey, then the capital of California, to obtain from the Mexican authorities permission to proceed with his exploration. This was granted, but was almost immediately revoked, and Fremont was ordered to leave the country without delay.