Emily (Robbins) Talcott

Emily Robbins (December 25, 1790 - April 20, 1896) was a member of the Talcott family in Connecticut and the oldest woman in West Hartford until her death. She was also the oldest woman in Connecticut at the time.

Early Life
Emily Robbins was born on December 25, 1790 in Wethersfield, Connecticut to Robert Robbins, a native of Glastonbury, and Cynthia Robbins, a native of Block Island.

For three generations, the women of the family had lived to be centenarians. Her great-grandmother, Mrs. Payne, died at the age of 107, her mother, Mrs. Robert Robbins, died within a few weeks of her 100th birthday. When she was reaching her 9th birthday, she remembered George Washington's funeral at Alexandria, Virginia. The Wethersfield Congressional Church featured unique drapings in memory. She was only a girl at the time, but the procession made such an impression on her mind that she never forgot it. She had a more vivid recollection of Lafayette than she had of Washington. She once danced at a ball given in honor of the great French soldier at Hartford. She shook his hand on that occasion and spoke to him, and she was prouder of this than of anything else in her life.

She was educated in the Hartford Female Seminary, and at the time, when railroads were unknown, used to ride between school and her home on horseback each day. She wore an elaborate riding habit then, and this riding she kept up to the time of her death. It was packed carefully away in a trunk in her bedroom, and only particular friends were allowed to see it. In 1812, she took a six-day trip to Rome, New York with her husband Ansel Talcott and her infant son at the time.

She saw the first steamboat that ever went up the Hudson River and remembered the introduction of steel pens and the first envelopes that were made, as well as dozens of other things used ordinarily in the modern day. She kept up on political matters and knew as much about Republicanism, Democracy, Populism, Prohibition, and Socialism as any of her male or female descendants. She did considerable traveling over the couintry in her younger days, but most of her life was spent in and around Hartford. She never went to Europe and never cared to go. She even joined the Congregational Church in 1867.

Later Life
In the 1860's, after the family lived at times in Buffalo, New York; Hartford; East Hartford; and Berlin, they moved to West Hartford, where she would live until her death.

In her later years, the school children for miles around would gather around her to hear her personal recollections of events, which were history to them. In 1894, her little great-grandson was listening to her tales of Lafayette, when he suddenly burst out with: "Grandma, was Lafayette the greatest General in the world?" "No, my dear," replied the old lady, "he was the smallest." This was one of Talcott's favorite jokes, and though she had the most intense admiration for the Frenchman, she always laughed at his size.

For the children, who were great favorites with her, she would take out her horseback riding gear out at any time, and would recount endless tales about her school days, which the sight of the gown would bring back to her. Up until her death, Talcott lived with her bachelor son, Lewis A. Talcott.

In 1891, after she celebrated her 100th birthday, she enjoyed a carriage ride to Hartford. She was also an honored guest in June 1895 at a neighborhood tea party across the street.

Death
On April 20, 1896, at the age of 105 years and 4 months, an attack of bronchitis brought her long and interesting life to a close. Her health up to the time she was taken down with the cold, which developed the illness, was solid. She had no ailings, none of the troubles which come to most people who exceed the proverbial three score and ten. The attack was not a severe one, and she might have recovered from it. But in a fit of coughing, she ruptured a blood vessel and her death resulted shortly afterward. The old bell in the tower of the First Church announced her death by 105 strokes.

Her funeral took place on Wednesday, April 22, 1896. Her four living children at the time and their children and descendants sang, "Rock of Ages" and "Jesus, lover of my soul" over her coffin. She was buried in the family lot in the Old North cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut.

Children
Emily Robbins married Ansel Talcott, the Glastonbury son of Abraham Talcott and Maria Bathsbeba Hale, in 1809 at the age of 19.
 * Leonard Talcott (Apr. 12, 1812 - Jun. 3, 1845) - unmarried.
 * Mary Talcott (Apr. 29, 1815 - Aug. 3, 1873) - unmarried.
 * Julia Talcott (Jan. 21, 1820 -) - m. Charles C. Strong
 * Emily Talcott (May 3, 1824-) - m. George Bartholomew
 * Lewis A. Talcott (b. Jun. 2, 1826) - unmarried.
 * Frances Talcott (Sept. 15, 1830-) - m. Edward H. Fenn