Valley Girl Views: Paul Geddes AKA Talbot H. Green, Of Lewisburg

The Story Of Paul Geddes, Alias Talbot H. Green 1810-1889

While I was wandering through Lewisburg Cemetery, I took photos of any stone that I found interesting, for any reason. When I sat down with the photos I took, I started to research each of them, and I found so many stories to go with the stones. Some I expected, some I did not. This one, I definitely did not.

The Geddes stone is beautiful. Large and ornate. I would guess it was carved by local stonemason Chancey Foster, but that would only be a guess.

The first thing I noticed when searching Paul Geddes was that he had an alias - Talbot H. Green. Interesting. An author maybe?

No, not an author. A man from a well known, respected, family, made some poor decisions [alcohol and gambling] ran up some debt, stole some money from the Northumberland bank, abandoned his wife and four children back in Lewisburg, went to went to New York City, caught a ship to New Orleans, and then a steamboat up the Mississippi River, stole the identity of a man who died on the ship, went west in one of the very first expeditions to what would become California, rose to great stature in both business in politics, married a second wife, and was running for mayor, before someone came from the east and recognized him as Paul Geddes.

Exiled in Tennessee, he pleaded to his old friends in California for money that was owed to him, then eventually went home to Pennsylvania and convinced his first wife to take him back. Fifteen years had passed, two of their children had died, the other two were grown. Geddes stepped back into his old life. His obituary, which mentions "He had his failings, (but after all, who is without these ?) and made mistakes which he bitterly regretted" ends with "He appeared at Lewisburg loaded with his wealth; repaid the $12,000 with which he had disappeared, including interest for twenty years; built a luxurious home for his family, and retired to an easy life. Some time later, probably on account of the odium which attached to him at home, he secured through Hon. Simon Cameron a position at Washington, which he occupied for many years. At the time of his death he was in his 79th year."

Well, isn't that quite the story? And that's absolutely just the briefest of recaps. Really, this should be an entire book. But let me see if I can cover some of the highlights without writing an entire novel. It's going to be difficult to trim it all down, but I'm going to try.

==================
EARLY LIFE
==================

Paul Geddes, born Aug 11 1810, was one of 4 children born to James and Mary Geddes, in "Derrstown" [later Lewisburg] Pennsylvania.

In 1856, Paul wrote of his parents, now in their mid 70s:

" I arrived home on the 16th inst. and found my father, mother, and family all collected together. My father & mother are both going in the seventy-sixth year of their age, and both of them are remarkably active. Mother still milks two cows twice a day and does almost all her housework. If she had a dozen to help her I suppose it would be the same. as she would not be contented in any other way. She gets up at five o'clock in the morning and hardly ever sits down during the day; goes to bed at eight. "

Harriet [Frederick] Geddes

Geddes Married Henrietta Fredericks, from a well known family in Clinton County Pa. Four children were listed in Henrietta's obituary: James, Harriet, William and Elizabeth [Lizzie]. William's full name was William Cameron Geddes, after Paul's friend, William Cameron.

For those interested in the genealogy of the Geddes family, be sure to see page 42 of the article John Hussey wrote for the California Historical Society. [entire article is found below, under "Read More" Geddes, in his 1843 letter to Larkin, gives much of his family history.

Geddes was an assistant manager on the canal, and then his father gave him $3,00 to go into the merchandising business. The "neighboring town" where they opened a branch store Geddes, Green & Walls was at McEwensville. Bells History of Northumberland County mentions the store as B.K Haag's first place of employment. Haag would later own the large hotel in Milton.

================
ABANDONING & ABSCONDING

1840
================

Although never completely trustworthy, the best account of what happened in 1840 is from Geddes himself. This is what he wrote to Larkin, in 1853:

"In the spring of 1840 I went on to Philadelphia to buy goods. I made my purchases and had a large quantity of wheat consigned to a house in Philadelphia

When I was about to return home I went & drew 3000$ on acct. of the wheat and had it about my person and intended to start home (the] next morning but was induced to go out with some acquaintances and drank too much and my money was taken from me; but on the same afternoon the cashier of the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Philadelphia sent for me and asked me to carry money to the Northumberland bank. I told them I would do so. They got a carpet bag and put up 105.000$ an it in my presence and sent a porter with me to the hotel.

I put it in my trunk and went out. On my return I found that I had been robbed of my money. I was under the excitement of liquor (no excuse) and was, in fact, not myself. I opened the carpet bag and took out nearly 8000$ and done the parcel up again. 1 then went to bed. In the morning I then thought of what I had done, the first bad act that I had ever done in money matters, but it was done.

I then took the carpet bag to a merchant & told him what it contained and wished him to keep it until DM next day. Next day I went and paid a good many of my debts with the money and sent some 375$ to my partner to pay notes we owed in (the] bank: and that night I left Philadelphia with $754 determined that my people should never hear of me again. 1 went West and fell in with the emigration for California. I joined it with 118 and a gold watch which I gave for my passage out.... "

--------------------

Just some quick conversions for you:

$105,000 in 1840 would be nearly 4 Million Dollars in 2024

$8000 would be nearly $300,000 in 2024

$375 would be about $13,500 in 2024

The numbers are staggering. It almost feels as if the reports added too many zeros. But the numbers are roughly consistent, in reports from the banks. And at times the amounts are spelled out, so there's no chance the figures were simply written differently.

--------------------------------------

Later accounts sometimes refer to the fate of Geddes being unknown, however, in 1840 the family already must have known that he had absconded of his own free will. The following was placed in the papers by Geddes younger brother, James Jr:

May 1840

Several later accounts mention that Geddes had been shuffling money around, hiding a good deal of debt and mismanagement, before he went to Philadelphia.

The Old Northumberland Bank

The York Gazette that same month reported that Paul Geddes has gone to Texas, "taking with him upwards of $7,000 of money belonging to the Northumberland bank."

=============

BECOMING TALBOT H. GREEN

===================

Geddes also explained to Larkin how he came upon the name of T.H. Green:

“On going up the Mississippi I became acquainted with an Englishman that took sick and died. He told me, as I had I made a good deal of attention to him, that all he could leave me was his name and some papers that might someday be of great value to me. He made his will and left me his papers and his name which I took. The papers you will find in a small box in the little closet adjoining the bedroom where I slept.”

Again, we know Geddes was not the most trustworthy of men, so how much of that story is true is hard to know.

In September of 1853, the Daily Picayune published a list of letters remaining in the Post Office at New Orleans. On that list was the name "Green, Talbot H.". It would be interesting to know if that letter was sent to the original Talbot, or to the alias of Paul Geddes, who was at that time corresponding with Larkin.

================
WESTWARD BOUND

1841
=================

In 1841, Geddes, who was now using the name Talbot Green, joined the Bartleson–Bidwell Party, led by Captain John Bartleson and John Bidwell, became the first American emigrants to attempt a wagon crossing from Missouri to California.

This was two years before the Donner party fiasco, before the Mexican-American War, and before the Gold Rush. This was at a time when what we think of as California still belonged to Mexico.

Not only did he join the group, but in a May 18th meeting to organize the party, Geddes/Green was chosen as the leader. Along the way, he was referred to as "Dr", known for carrying a case of medicines and tending to the sick. [That perhaps gives us some insight as to how he came to have Greens papers].

"Among my overland comrades of ’41, the most to my liking and with whom I became most friendly was Talbot H. Green. Gentlemanly, kindly, genial, generous, he was a favorite with all. Before starting the trip he had provided himself with a case of medicines, and from his attention to the sick, he soon won the title of doctor. After we reached California, Green and I were separated, but I took great interest in him, and although I wondered somewhat at his and Grove Cook’s sudden affluence, no suspicion entered my mind, and for some years Green was, to me, just about the all-around best man I had ever known..."- Nicholas “Cheyenne” Dawson

“Green, whose pack of lead which he clung to most solicitously, had been growing heavier for his weakened animal, took Grove Cook with him, and going off into some gulch secreted or cached it.” - Nicholas “Cheyenne” Dawson

===================

PROMINENT CALIFORNIAN
For Whom A Street Was Named

1842-1851
====================

San Francisco, 1851

"Talbot H. Green" then became a prominent business man in the West, active in both the business community, and politics.

He was a founding member of the Society of California Pioneers, served on San Francisco's first city council, and participated in significant land transactions. He helped to supply the American Military in their conquest of California. He married widow Sarah [Armstrong] Montgomery In 1851, he was a mayoral candidate.

Daily Alta California, Volume 1, Number 212, 31 August 1850

In August of 1850, an advertisement appeared in the Daily Alta newspaper, asking all "Early Pioneers Of California" to attend a meeting. This meeting was the beginning of the Society Of California Pioneers, a very elite social club for emigrants who had arrived in California before the Gold Rush. Five men from the Bidwell-Bartleson Party of 1841 were among the first members: Talbot Green, John Bidwell, Grove Cook, Josiah Belden and Francis Henry Huber. Geddes/Green was the society’s first treasurer.

When "Cheyenne" Dawson met Green again after a year in California, he found that Green was thriving:

"I found T. H. Green in Monterey, clerking for T. O. Larkin. It was from his recommendation that I was now at Dye’s. Green was finely dressed, and apparently very prosperous. Soon after my arrival, he set up a store of his own out at a ranch near the redwoods. “Where did he get the money?” I queried of Larkin. “Oh, Green has plenty of money,” was the answer."

Geddes, as Green, was well liked, well respected, and flourishing. But he was still dealing dishonestly, beyond the lie of his name.

From: New Light Upon Talbot Green By John Adam Hussey, 1939

[Find all 32 pages at the end of this post under "Read More"]

A gold seeker who knew Green at the time said of him: In all the summer of '49, he was decidedly the most popular man of all the old Californians we found before us... he certainly would have been elected one of California's first settlers had he listed to the entreaties of friends and allowed his name to be used.

1851

Samuel J. Hensley, Samuel Brannan, Jacob Leese, Thomas O. Larkin, W.D.M. Howard

Talbot Green is rather conspicuously absent from this photo. Its assumed he was avoiding being photographed as his alias, although that's merely an assumption.

"It would have been changed if a man of Green's position and talent for friendship had not entered into politics; And, indeed, as one writer has phrased it, soon after his arrival in San Francisco he was “cutting a wide swath in public affairs”. On February 21st 1849, he was elected to the San Francisco district legislative assembly; And when that body gave way to the Ayuntamento or council, he was elected to the latter in August, 1849. He was reelected as Councilman on January 8th, 1850, and served until may of that year. As a city official, green took a most active part in civic affairs. Among other appointments, he served on the Finance Committee of the council and was chairman of the committee for fencing Portsmouth square. Early in 1850, green, along with Samuel Brannan Was among the councilmen who were accused of using their offices to secure titles in city property. Records show that at sales of town lots in 1849 and 1850, greens purchases totaled 34 lots. The accusations made on this occasion provoked a bitter public quarrel in which green played a prominent, if not too dignified, part.

It has been claimed that green would have been elected mayor of San Francisco in 1850 had he not declined to run out of consideration for John W Geary, who needed to win the office in order to obtain the means to bring his family to California.

March 29th, 1851 Daily Alta, California

However this may have been, it seems well established that green was seeking the democratic nomination for that office in April 1851. It was his experience in this contest which was the immediate cause of his downfall." - Hussey, 1939

This advertisement ran regularly [weekly I believe] through June of 1851.

===================

MEANWHILE, BACK IN PENNSYLVANIA

=====================

In the 1850 Census, Henrietta is listed as a widow, living with her brother, Newton W. Fredericks, in Clinton County. Children William & Mary were living with their grandparents, James & Mary Geddes. Daughter Harriet, age 15, was living with her Aunt and Uncle, Isaac & Margaret [Geddes] Slenker, in New Berlin.

Son James Frederick Geddes drowned in Bald Eagle Creek, aged 16, in 1848. Harriet, the daughter, appears to have died in 1855, aged 19.

===================
RECOGNIZED & OUTTED

1851
===================

Hiatt Park Hepburn is the man most often named as the one to discover Green was actually Paul Geddes.

And then... someone from back home came to California, and recognized him. Who exactly that was is unclear, there are many stories, including a brother in law, a young woman who knew him in his youth, and a lawyer named Hepburn. No matter who it was - Geddes had been recognized, and outed as an absconder and embezzler.

There are several accounts of how Talbot was exposed in San Fancisco, but the only one I found that gave a name was this one:

"Sometime in 1850 Talbot H. Green was recognized by H. P. Hepburn, a lawyer from Philadelphia, who had known him at the East, as Paul Geddes, a defaulting bank clerk, who left a wife and children there. Hepburn was walking in Montgomery Street with a number of gentlemen, among them Ferdinand Vassault, and, looking across the street, exclaimed, “Why, there’s Paul Geddes!” “That’s Talbot H. Green,” said one. “No,” responded Hepburn, “it is Paul Geddes; I know him as well as I do myself.” The circumstances under which he had suddenly left the East soon became known throughout the city, and the discovery created quite a sensation, as Green at the time was a candidate for the office of mayor of San Francisco"

[Note that Williamsport Architect Eber Culver was one of many men from this area who went west during the Gold Rush. Being from a prominent family, it was only a matter of time before one of the men going west spotted Geddes & recognized him. Culver wrote a memoir, which includes his trip west.]

HOWEVER, in September of 1853, the earliest account I have yet found of Geddes alias being discovered, refers to a woman recognizing him:

Franklin Repository and Chambersburg Whig

[Chambersburg Pa]

Thu, Sep 22, 1853 ·Page 1

The exact year Geddes was discovered is unknown. Hussey, in his 1939 story on Geddes, suggests that there may have been rumors in years earlier. But in 1851 when Talbot H. Green was entering the mayoral race, a definite, clear, accusation was made - perhaps in the papers.

"Word of the event quickly spread through the city. Green's closest friends hurried to visit him and ask about the truth of the charges, assuring him of their lasting friendship and announcing their determination to help him in spite of any past misdeeds.

Green stoutly maintained that the case was one of mistaken identity and at last, seeing that his mere oral protestations would not clear him of suspicion, offered to return East to clear up the matter and prove his innocence.

Within a day or two, he dissolved his partnership with Howard, transferred some of his property to his wife, and settled his affairs in general as best he could. To the very last minute before his departure in the steamer Panama on the afternoon of April 15, 1851, Green's friends stood by him loyally.

Just prior to his leaving for the boat, to use the words of the next day's Alta California, "a very large number of our first, oldest, and most respected citizens, merchants, bankers, and others, assembled at the Eagle Saloon" to bid Green farewell.

When the room was filled to capacity, champagne was opened, and Thomas Larkin climbed upon a table and proposed the following as the sentiment of the meeting: "The health and prosperity of our friend and fellow citizen, Talbot H. Green; may the best among us be as worthy as we believe him to be." Green responded "in a brief but feeling manner," thanking all for their presence and support and promising to return speedily, leaving, in the meantime, his honor in their hands.

At this point, one witness declares, Green broke down and "fairly sobbed." The entire company then formed a procession and escorted their departing friend on board the steamer, where they continued to shake his hand until the boat moved away from the wharf. "Then," says one of them, "we all turned away with a sad, sickening feeling, for the conviction was forcing itself on us more and more, as we thought it over, that Green was... Geddes." - Hussey, 1939

16 April 1851, Daily Alta, California

"The sentiments of a good portion of the populace were probably expressed by the Alta when it said, "We deplore the necessity he has imposed upon him-self—from his sensitive disposition and high sense of honor—of refuting triumphantly, certain malicious reports, emanating from a source really too infamous to have any weight in the community."

Although it is rather doubtful whether, as one writer stated, Green's sailing caused a feeling of gloom to settle over the entire city, it is certain that the same author was correct when he wrote, "another day and San Francisco forgot it all." - Hussey, 1939

Rather than go east, Geddes went to Tennessee.

===============
"EXILE" TO TENESSEE

1851-1855
================

In 1853, after two years with no word from his former clerk and agent, Larkin received a letter from Geddes.

Private and for you alone

I hardly Know how to write you after haveing so decieved you on my leaving. but as long as I was in your employ I acted true and faithful to you. My reason for now writing to you is that I have had the misfortune to loose 3200$ out of my trunk and am left entirely Pennyless and destitute.

My spirits are broken and energy gone. My wish is that you would send me drafts for my share of the four thousand & odd hundred dollars which you recieved from the U. S. and if you will give me 1000$ more for all my Interest in the Fremont claim and store debts. I will release you from all obligations. For God sake send me the first and if you conclude to take the other offer send the necessary papers and I will sign them before witness and send them back and then you can send me the 1000$ to some place where 1 shall designate.

Write me how things have gone, but do not let any one Know that you have herd from me. And if you can And out without suspision, ask Thompson as how my affairs stand. I have decevd him so much that I had not the heart to write to him, but if you should neglect me I must do so as a last resource.

Some day you will receive a package that will give You a full history of my life and you will prehaps not blame me so much. When I recieve the money my intention is to go to the west and buy a small piece of land. Write me how your family are. I often think of you all. Oh, the bitter tears I have shed since I left you. Wirte me about Howard Teshmaker, Thompson, and all of them. I suppose you will think this is a stranger letter, but as my mind is it is all I can write.

Your Well Wisher

T H Green

P.S.

Direct to as below Enclosed is a good Envelope and put on the out side.. the name of Henry Green, as he is a friend of mine and knows my whereabouts

Henry Green Esq, Bellville PO Rose County, East Tennessee

For 4 years, "Talbot Green" lived in Tennessee, writing to Thomas Larkin. He plead with, and even threatened Larkin, as well as claiming that the government still owned him money for goods he supplied to the effort in 1847. There are a series of letters, all preserved in the "Larkin Papers", which include a lot of whining, pleading, and self pitying. Many of them can be read in the 1939 Hussey article included below.

As a result of the government claim, his location was made public, but somehow once again, everything worked out just fine for Geddes/Green. W.D.M. Howard agreed to pay $67,118 owed to Geddes/Green.

=======================

BECOMING A BIGAMIST

1849

Geddes, as Talbot Green, Married [Presumed] Widow Sarah Montgomery

=======================

In telling so far, I skipped over one very important fact.

On October 25, 1849, "Talbot H. Green" married widow Sarah Montgomery, making him a bigamist. To be fair, Sarah may have been a bigamist too. Her husband had went to Hawaii in 1847. He was never heard from again. So maybe he was dead, or maybe, he now had a new name & new wife somewhere too. No one knows. But at least Sarah assumed her husband was dead - Geddes, using the name Green, had no such excuse.

This is especially fascinating to me because my 4th Great Aunt Eliza Gregson mentions Sarah often in her memoir. Eliza was living in Rhode Island when Geddes went missing from Philadelphia, so it's extremely unlikely she would have recognized him, if they did cross paths in California. Sarah was married to her first husband, Allen Montgomery, when her and Eliza lived at Sutters Fort.

"While Allen served in the Mexican-American War, Sarah took refuge at Sutter’s Fort with many of the other wives of soldiers. During this time, Eliza Gregson taught Sarah to read and write. "

By all accounts, Geddes/Green truly did love Sarah. He abandoned her before their son was born, but he did arrange for her to be financially provided for. In a later letter to Larkin he wrote [explaining his misdeeds]:

"I hoped to make a fortune for them [his wife and family in Pennsylvania] & pay the bank and perhaps would have succeeded had not the fondness for company & drink drowned all my secret resolves and finally smothered conscience entirely. I found & seen that I was fast going to destruction and would soon be lost had I not something to cling to present.

I then by some fatality, although against my reason & judgement, began really and truly to love the woman [Sarah] I married. I studied her character well and was convinced that she had a much stronger mind than my own. I then thought if I married her I might be saved & in a few years pay up & provide for all, which was my full intention, and if I had not been recognized I should have done so before this."

Larkin wrote to Green in 1854, enclosing Sarah's application for a divorce. Geddes/Green replied:

"I loved that woman and I still love her, but as she has taken that course I know her so well that she will not stop; but I wish you to go to her and tell her from me never to marry again until I see her. Even if she persists in getting the divorce, as much as I love her & thought she loved me, I cannot blame her as I have done so wrong to her."

Sarah did not wait for him. In July of 1854 she married Joseph S. Wallis, her 3rd, and last, husband. This was a wise choice on her part. Wallis was a young lawyer who went on to served as a judge and state senator. He adopted Sarah & Geddes son, changing the boys name to Talbot H. Wallis.

In another 1854 letter to Larkin, Geddes mentions Sarah's letter, presumably forwarded on by Larkin. He says that Sarah has completely forgiven him, and he urges Larkin to convince her to write again. Apparently she did, as Geddes later mentions "

"Sarah writes me that she would have sent me more money but you told her I had enough at present...I suppose Sarah is married to another before this time, from what you say. It is strange that you never would tell me who he was, as I have asked you."

On August 27th 1854, after seeing Sarah's marriage announcement in the paper, Geddes again wrote to Larkin:

"It is my sincere prayer that she may be happy in her choice, but I fear for her unless her husband is of a mild and conciliating disposition. . . I wish you to see her and tell her I have heard of her marriage and hope she will be happy, and tell her to take care of our boy, and if I ever come into possession of my own I will do what is right and just toward him."

September 1st [1843]. I commenced this letter on the above date but concluded I would wait for your letters before finishing.... I today received two letters from you, or rather one in two envelopes, confirming S[arah's] marriage. I fear for her from your description but hope for the best. I wish you to see her and tell her I have heard of her marriage and hope she will be happy, and tell her to take care of our boy; and if I ever come into possession of my own I will do what is right and just towards him. As to Sarah, so far as dollars is concerned, I feel that I have done for her all that was right—the cottage she lives in and the Grayson lot and the 4501 per month, and you say H [oward] deeded her the two lots and houses on the cottage lot.... Tell Sarah to send me the daguerro-type of the boy by next mail.

But wishes for Sarah's happiness could not end the ache in Green's heart. Two weeks later he was still writing to Larkin about her.

"I have now made up my mind to try and forget her," he said, "but still it is hard to do so, but I suppose it is my duty."

The Wallis Home. Sarah & Joseph Wallis had 4 children, in addition to Talbot H. Wallis.

"Green might well have spared himself his worry about Sarah's future well-being. That remarkable woman was ever known for her resourcefulness and her ability to get along in the world. On July 25, 1854, she married Joseph Sawyer Wallis, a prominent lawyer who, in 1862, was elected a State senator. In 1857 the Wallises moved to Mayfield, in Santa Clara County, where they owned a large estate. At her new home, Sarah engaged prominently in various social and civic enterprises. It is said that in 1863 a banquet was given her at Mayfield in recognition of her services in securing the right of way for the railroad between San Francisco and San Jose. As late as 1885, to quote the succinct words of Hubert Howe Bancroft, she was still "taking part some-times in public meetings of progressive and strong-minded females."

Sarah died in Los Gatos, California, on January 11, 1905.

The son whom Sarah bore Green was adopted by Joseph S. Wallis and named Talbot H. Wallis. He was long a member of the staff of the California State Library and served as librarian from 1882 to 1890. He died in Sacramento on July 4, 1914.

From The Biographies Of Sutters Fort

At the beginning of his section I mentioned that I had skipped over this in the chronology. That was for a reason - I wanted it to be clear - Geddes does not appear to have even considered going back to Pennsylvania, and his wife Harriet, until after Sarah was married once again. He also didn't have money before then, so it's hard to tell which was the cause, but after reading his letters, I suspect it was more about Sarah, than the money. He seems to have still had hope of winning her back.

Also note that in 1878, Geddes returned to California. The Lewisburg journal devoted a column to his trip, but did not mention his prior life there, no mention whether or not Geddes visited his son, who had been adopted by Sarah's 3rd husband. It did however, amusingly, mention Geddes visit to Bringham Young "the Bigamist". [I'm again skipping ahead - the Full article on his trip is on down, in chronological order]

=================

THE PRODIGAL RETURNS

1855
=====================

Geddes returned to Pennsylvania, visiting his wife in Mill Hall.

The Jersey Shore Letter reported in April of 1855:

Paul Geddes---His Return. Paul Geddes, who disappeared so mysteriously about fifteen years ago, appeared in Jersey Shore on Saturday last...

He came directly through from New York, and passed on up to Mill Hall to visit his wife. The next day he returned, and we learn that he is now on his way to New Orleans and from thence to San Francisco, for the purpose of closing up his business previous to returning to his long forsaken home to remain. Before coming into the country, we understand, that the amount of money abstracted from the package in Philadelphia nearly fifteen years ago, was paid to the bank, with interest, and the whole matter amicably arranged. We are not prepared to give the reasons or cause for his sudden disappearance so long ago, although it would be very interesting to the world, as well as satisfactory to know what prompted him to pursue the course he did. It would, no doubt, form a curious and interesting episode in his life.

It may be gratifying to all interested, to state that it is reported that he returns with an ample competence, enough to enable him to live in ease and affluence the balance of his days"

The Columbia Starr, 1855

Geddes wrote to Larkin:

Notice that he continued to use the name of Talbot Green. He settled up his Pennsylvania accounts, and told Larkin to tell his old friend that he was coming back to San Francisco. If he ever made mention of the deaths of two of his Pennsylvania children, I have not come across it.

==============

And then he went
BACK TO CALIFORNIA
===============

In the summer of 1855, Geddes, still using the name of Green, returned to California. Rumors said he was coming to go into business with Samuel Brannan, but not much seemed to come of that. "Upon his arrive, he appears to have avoided society in San Francisco as much as possible."

"He appeared to shun every one, and every one shunned him. I met him once after his return. We had been intimate friends. The meeting was embarrassing and awkward. I did not know how to address him. With me Talbot H. Green was no longer in existence, and as to the poor, weak creature, Paul Geddes, I did not care for his acquaintance; so, without addressing him once by name, we parted."- William Francis White, in A Picture of Pioneer Times in California

Instead, Geddes/Green settled in the Sacramento Valley. There he spent time with Albert G. Toomes, Pierson B. Reading, Robert Hasty Thomes, Job F. Dye, and others. He frequently made secluded trips into the mountains.

Upon hearing of the death of his former benefactor and business partner William D.M. Howard, he again wrote to Larkin.

"Finally, Green seems to have given up all hopes of starting life anew in California, and he resolved to return East. On the day before his departure he wrote a farewell note to Larkin. This document, so revealing of the sense of shame which still clouded Green's mind, reads as follows:"

San Francisco, Sept. 19th, 1856

Thomas 0. Larkin, Esqr

.Dear Sir:

Tomorrow I expect to leave California perhaps forever. I am again going back to the scenes of my youth. Whether l shall find greater changes there than is in myself, I don't know, but I suppose it will be almost like going to a land of strangers. But whatever may be my fate, I shall always remember with gratitude your and your family's many acts of kindness to me, and hope always to retain your good opinion. I have often blamed myself for not having been on more sociable and confidential terms with you. I have often seen and felt that you thought I shunned you and your house. I done so for the reason that my position was such that 1 myself thought that 1 ought not to go there, as I might often meet persons there that would not care to associate with me. As soon as I get home and located. I will write you.... Please write me whenever you have leisure and let me know the local news. also about all my old friends out here.

Yours truly, TALBOT H. GREEN

===============

TIME IN TEXAS ???

With Henrietta

===============

Geddes/Green wrote to Larkin one last time, or at least it's the last letter saved in the Larking papers, once he arrived in Pennsylvania. It appears to be the last time he went by the name of Talbot Green.

Although his letter is interesting , I cannot be alone in wishing to find the diary of Henrietta.

Oct. 31st, 1856

Lewisburg, Union County, Pa.

Friend Larkin:

I arrived home on the 16th inst. and found my father, mother, and family all collected together. My father & mother are both going in the seventy-sixth year of their age, and both of them are remarkably active. Mother still milks two cows twice a day and does almost all her housework. If she had a dozen to help her I suppose it would be the same. as she would not be contented in any other way. She gets up at five o'clock in the morning and hardly ever sits down during the day; goes to bed at eight. I found everything about the house as I left it, nothing changed. It seems now [as] if I had not been absent a week, everything is so familiar.

The hardest task was to have to become acquainted with my own children. One is 19 years old; the other, 17. My daughter is a very bright and smart girl and has improved her time at school very well; the boy is very quiet and, I think, rather dull, but I hope he will improve. He appears to be of a very industrious turn.

I am going to leave the children at school until next spring. My wife and self will start for the West and Texas on Monday next. I have found very great improvements here since 1 left. All the folks that ever knew me here was glad to see me back, but still I cannot agree to remain here. There is something wanting. What it is I cannot describe or make out, but there is a void in my mind.

I will write you from the West. Give my best wishes to Mrs. Larkin and family.

Yours truly,

T. H. G.

Although the above letter was sent in 1856, both the 1860 & 1870 census finds him in Kelly Twp, Union County as a farmer, with wife Henrietta. In 1860 both Mary and William are listed in the home, but by 1870 Mary was married. William, age 31, remained at home.

Paul Geddes appears on the tax rolls in Pennsylvania in 1865. In Sep 1865, Henrietta was a judge for dairy products at the Union County Agricultural Exhibition in Lewisburg.

1865

His father, James Geddes, died in 1867, and his mother in 1874. If Geddes went to Texas, perhaps it was an inheritance that funded the move? I have found no actual record of him living there, and cannot be certain.

1878 - Clerk in the Office of Secretary of Senate

Geddes family friend, William Cameron, secured for him a position as clerk to the secretary of the United States Secretary, a position which he Geddes held from 1876-1878.

===============

THEN HOME TO LEWISBURG,

TO STAY

1879

=================

According to his obituary, he had been home in Lewisburg for about 10 years prior to his death, dating his return to Pennsylvania as about 1879.

============
Well, Mostly To Stay
Geddes Visits To California
================

In 1874, Geddes returned to California in a party including William Cameron. Cameron gave details to the local paper, including:

Then, as published in the Lewisburg Journal, 1878:

"Mr. Paul Geddes called upon us the other day to report that he had returned from California with a sound mind and body. He had traveled 8000 miles, met with no accident, and was detained but three or four hours - once near Omaha, and again further east. What he saw and experienced would make a right readable book.

He visited a grove of oranges a mile and a quarter in length, with a double row of trees on each side of the avenue, all bending with fruit. A vineyard of 125 acres, the clusters averaging half a dozen pounds each, and the best grapes that grow. The juice is expressed from these grapes at the rate of a ton every five minutes.

He also visited Brigham Young's dominions, where the whole party were treated with the kindest consideration; he did not get to see old "Bigamy"' however, as that much noted individual was sick in bed, and so feeble that his physicians would permit no out-siders to see him. Even Mrs. Young couldn't visit him unless she came in instalment of a dozen or less. Mrs Ann Eliza (No. 19) traveled to San Francisco on the same train. Mr. G was informed in Salt Lake City, by those whose probity seemed reliable, that Ann Eliza was a woman of the highest respectability, and entitled to the respect of all parties, whether Mormans or Gentiles. She lectured in San Francisco to audiences which packed he largest halls. Mr. G. Visited Woodward's zoological garden, a few days ago, and found there 15,000 persons- not counting himself in this garden there seemed to be a sample of every breathing thing under the sun, from an insect weighing nothing to a sea-horse weighing 12 0 lbs - saying nothing of the elephants and other beasts common to traveling caravansaries. The trip was simply delightful, and all of the excursionists enjoyed it greatly."

=============
Paul Geddes Died in 1889
==============

Death of Paul Geddes

July 1889, Lewisburg Journal

"This well known citizen bad been in bad health for a number of years. Last week be became much weaker, and on Friday he passed into an un conscious condition from which he never rallied. His spirit passed away about 8 o'clock on last Sunday morning. The deceased was in the 79th year of his age. He was born in Lewisburg and resided here the greater portion of his life.

After the Mexican war, Mr. Geddes became an influential citizen of San Francisco. He visited many countries, but Anally returned to bis native town some twenty years ago. Being the intimate friend of Gen. Cameron, he was appointed a messenger of the Senate at Washington, which position be filled for years.

About ten years since he again took up his residence in our borough. Mr Geddes was one of the most jovial and sociable of men. He was popular in all circles for these particular qualities. He had his failings, (but after all, who is without these ?)and made mistakes which he bitterly regretted, but few men bad better friends than he. His past few years were years of pain and affliction from bodily Infirmities.

To him death was truly a relief. The funeral takes place from bis late residence on 4th- street this morning at 10.30 o'clock.."

=================

THE DEATH OF HENRIETTA

================

Henrietta outlived Paul. Her obituary was published in the Lewisburg Journal, September 1893:

Mrs. Henrietta F. Geddes. Another Mother in Israel has been called home. One by one those who were ushered into the world, in the early part of this century are ushered out; some leave their impress upon the world.

Such an one has just left us. Henrietta F. Geddes was born October 26, 1812, at Mill Hall, Clinton Co., Pa., was a daughter of John Frederick and was married to Paul Geddes Feb. 21, 1832. Four children were born of this union: James, Harriet, Mary, Elizabeth and William.

James was drowned in Bald Eagle Creek Dec. 12, 1848; Harriet died at the age of 20 ; Mary Elizabeth married Thos. Wilson and is the only surviving member of the family ; William, the youngest, having died July 11th, 1890. Throughout all these years and amid all the troubles and afflictions, of which she had more than the usual allotment. Mrs.

Geddes has shown great strength of character, an extraordinary ability, and has shown to the what a good woman is. The world has truly been made better because she lived. Her influence will go down to future generations and there are many now who rise up and call her blessed. Granite or marble may be reared, but her monument is in the hearts of her friends, and her influence is more enduring than any stone and her resting is eternal and peaceful."

The Lewisburg Journal listed her children as: James, Harriet, William [deceased] and Lizzie (Mrs Wilson) who survive her.

====================
MORE ABOUT GREEN STREET
And why they kept the name
=====================

Green St. from the Embarcadero to the Presidio was named for Talbot Green by William Eddy in the 1849 survey of San Francisco.

A plaque on Green Street in San Francisco reads:

"Businessman, City Councilman, and mayoral candidate, Talbot H. Green, while at the high point in his career, was attending a charity ball when confronted by a young woman before his friend and supporters. She denounced him as being Paul Geddes, the defaulting bank clerk who had absconded from Pennsylvania deserting his wife and two children. The charge proved true, but Geddes, protesting his innocence, left for Panama to return East to clear his name. Green street had already been named for this prominent citizen, and San Francisco kept his name, perhaps as a reminder that in this city of new arrivals, not every man came wearing his true identity."

==========================
READ MORE
So. Much. More.
This was a big story, repeated in newspapers around the country for decades.
=========================

"Talbot Green" [Paul Geddes] came west in the spring of 1841 in the first immigrant party to travel over the Sierras to California. The arduous journey of this group of forty-eight settlers from Independence, Missouri was chronicled in the diary kept by their secretary, John Bidwell."

=================

Sarah [Armstrong] Montgomery Green Wallis
The Illegal Wife Of Paul Geddes AKA Talbot Green, While He Was In California

"Sarah Armstrong Montgomery Green Wallis – a name as long as her rich, complex life as a pioneer woman walking overland to California and later leading the suffrage movement for women’s rights in California. She was born in southern Ohio, into a large family that moved west into Indiana and settled in western Missouri, where her parents died before 1842. Sarah married Allen Montgomery at age nineteen and in 1844 they joined the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party that was the first wagon train to reach California.

Allen and Sarah Montgomery lived and worked near Sutter’s Fort in California, where Sarah learned to read and write from other pioneer women. In this rough frontier outpost, Sarah organized the first known quilting party in California, bringing wives and daughters together for women’s support.

Allen Montgomery participated in the Bear Flag Rebellion in 1846, and at war’s end, he went to Hawaii, deserting Sarah in San Francisco. Two years later Sarah wed Talbot H. Green, who turned out to be an imposter named Paul Geddes, a Pennsylvania bank clerk who had absconded with bank funds and deserted his wife and children ten years earlier. Mr. “Green” went back East to settle his affairs, leaving Sarah with a substantial amount of property, but never returned to her.

Sarah Montgomery Green, now pregnant, had her illegal marriage annulled and in 1851 delivered a healthy baby boy, Talbot Green. In 1854, she married Joseph Wallis, a prominent attorney and politician from Santa Clara. Joseph adopted Sarah’s son and Talbot Wallis went on to become the tenth director of the California State Library in 1882 and in 1886.

In 1856, using her own funds, Sarah acquired title to the 250-acre Mayfield Farm, from Elisha Crosby in the village of Mayfield, adjacent to farm land destined to become Leland Stanford Junior University. Sarah and Joseph built a large home on the farm and two daughters and two sons were born to the couple – Eva Wallis (Bounds), Josephine Wallis (Ingalls), Joseph Wallis, Jr, and William Wallis.

Sarah and Joseph became an investors in the San Francisco-San Jose Railroad and persuaded the railroad management to move the local station from a distant crossing to the new town of Mayfield (now California Avenue, Palo Alto). Joseph Wallis was the local justice of the peace for several years and served as a state senator after his election in 1862. For the remainder of his life, he was always “Judge Wallis”.

While in Mayfield, Sarah, supported by her husband, joined other strong-minded women with progressive views, to become a founder of the suffrage movement in California. She became president of the California Women’s Suffrage Association in 1870 and led the successful lobbying for passage of a bill allowing women to practice law in the California court system and providing that no one be denied admission to a state college based on gender. When the famous Elizabeth Cady Stanton toured the West Coast promoting women's suffrage, she spoke at a meeting held at Sarah's Mayfield Farm.

The long economic depression of 1873-1878 depleted Sarah's wealth and she sold Mayfield Farm in 1878, relocating to a smaller house in Mayfield, where she continued to work in the local women's movement. After Joseph's death in 1898 and more financial losses, Sarah lost her second Mayfield home. Her eldest son Talbot provided her with a cottage of her own in Los Gatos, next door to her younger sister, Caroline Armstrong Belshee.

When Sarah died at Los Gatos in 1905, there were many tributes to this pioneer California woman. Historian Hubert Bancroft called Sarah, “a woman of somewhat remarkable qualities.”

Her tributes noted that a younger brother, John Wesley Armstrong, had followed Sarah to California from Missouri and became a respected attorney, director of the California State Library and a Superior Court Judge. Sarah is at rest in Union Cemetery in Redwood City, alongside her husband and their 23-year-old-son, Joseph S. Wallis Jr., who died of typhoid fever in 1882, while in Sacramento beginning his practice as an attorney, like his father.

The Wallis family Mayfield Farm location from 1857 to 1878 is marked by California State Landmark No. 969 "Homesite of Sarah Wallis - Mayfield Farm" on La Selva Drive in Palo Alto. South of California Avenue in Palo Alto, stands “Sarah Wallis Park” that commemorates where the second Wallis family home in Mayfield was located.

The Wallis family name is also remembered by Wallis Court, a street in Palo Alto across from Alta Mesa Cemetery, where there is a burial monument for a son of Sarah and Joseph Wallis – William A. Wallis and his wife Sadie."

Bio: Cheryl Anne Stapp, Author-Historian Sutter’s Fort State Park, Steve Staiger, Palo Alto Historical Association, Allen Rountree.

=================================

STRANGER THAN FICTION.
The Story of a Life That Reads Like a Romance.
From the Clearfield Journal [1889]

Many of the older Clearfielders will readily recall the name of Paul Geddes, who died June 29, 1889, at Lewisburg, Pa. The heretofore unpublished story of his life has been gleaned from a private source and appears in print to-day for the first time in the columns of the Journal.

Away back in the forties Paul Geddes, who was considered a wealthy and honorable merchant of Lewisburg was ,entrusted with $12,000 in cash to deliver to Philadelphia for the Lewisburg bank. He arrived at the Merchants' hotel, then the leading hotel of the citv. but was never seen after wards. Owing to the good character he possessed, it was promptly declared that be had been murdered and robbed of the money. and his wife, a daughter of General Green, of Lewisburg mourned him as dead, borne years later Robert Green, a brother-in-law of Geddes, was walking along the streets of Bacrarnento, California, when be espied a sign which read: "Paul Geddes, Broker." He walked in, extended his hand and said, "How are you Paul ?" "How are you Bob," came in response, but instantly recovering himself Geddes told Bob that he was mistaken in his man; that he didn't know him at all. He would have nothing more to say to Green and the latter walked out, thinking it would be well to give Geddes time to think the matter over. The next day he went back, but the broker's office was closed, the sign was gone, and Geddes was seen no more. [This story seems unlikely, since Geddes was using the name Talbot H. Green in California, not his own name. Also because a notice was published in the paper, by Geddes father, basically saying Geddes was not dead but had run off on his own accord.]

Robert Green wrote the particulars to his father at Lewisburg, but he, believing.it better for people to think his son-in-law honorable dead, kept the matter a secret within his own breast up to the day he lay upon his death bed, and Robert having died in California the secret was in safe hands. Before Gen. Green died, however, he placed in the hands of a particular friend, the letter from his son, which had been carefully preserved. Geddes went west from Sacramento to the Pacific coast upon the night after he met Robert Green, and was never again heard of j until one day, about the close of the civil war, in 1860, when he suddenly appeared at Lewisburg, Pa., and walked into the presence of his wife and family. During his twenty years' exile Geddes had prospered.

He had become wealthy and influential in San Francisco, and it is said was one of the early mayors of that city. He appeared at Lewisburg loaded with his wealth; repaid the $12,000 with which he had disappeared, including interest for twenty years; built a luxurious home for his family, and retired to an easy life. Some time later, probably on account of the odium which attached to him at home, he secured through Hon. Simon Cameron a position at Washington, which he occupied for many years. At the time of his death he was in his 79th year.

===============================

From The Jersey Shore Newsletter, April 1855:

Paul Geddes---His Return. Paul Geddes, who disappeared so mysteriously about fifteen years ago, appeared in Jersey Shore on Saturday last. Mr. Geddes was a resident of Lewisburg, and extensively engaged in the mercantile business, and much esteemed and respected by all who knew him for his strict integrity and high sense of honor as a business man. At the time we speak of, about 1840, he was in the city of Philadelphia transacting business, and being also one of the officers of the Bank of Northumberland, if we are rightly informed, he was entrusted by another bank in the city with a large sum of money- -about $100,000- to carry to the Bank of Northumberland.

At this time he disappeared suddenly. The package of money, however, was placed in the hands of a firm in that city by which it safely reached the bank, and upon examining it, only about $7000 were found missing. Everything connected with the transaction seemed wrapped in mystery. It was first supposed that he had been murdered, and every nook and corner in the city was carefully searched, but without success. Then the fact of the money being returned minus such a small sum seemed to throw more mystery upon the affair. The excitement throughout the country was intense, and every effort made to discover the missing man, be he living or dead, but every attempt failed, and it was finally given up.

Years rolled away and Paul Geddes was given up by friends and I relatives, and the fact of his sudden and mysterious disappearance served as the text of many at interesting conversation and newspaper paragraph. A few years ago the gold fever broke out in California, the tide of emigration rolled to the land of gold. The country was rapidly filled by settlers and adventurer in the path of fortune. A gold seeker from Lewisburg, Geddes' native town, emigrated to that place, and one day in a hotel in the city of San Francisco, imagine his surprise on suddenly encountering the long lost, and almost forgotten, Paul Geddes. He knew him well -bad been intimately acquainted with him for years, and could not be mistake.

But Geddes disclaimed all knowledge of this man, and informed him that he was mistaken. He was confident, however, and insisted that he was not mistaken, and the other insisted that he was, and informed him that his name was Green. Here the recognition ended, for such it was, and Geddes was not seen again by his friend, as he probably kept out of his way. Information had been sent back to this country that the missing man had been seen, but refused to recognize his old friend, and consequently the matter was still involved in mystery. Upon inquiry, the man who was known in San Francisco as T. H. Green, but who was Geddes in reality, was found to be wealthy and a much respected and esteemed citizen. On finding that he was known he again disappeared suddenly, and was not heard of for some time. Rumor had it that he had sailed for the West Indies, Australia, & but none knew whither he had fled. He was again lost sight of and was only heard of once or twice till within a few days ago, when he turned up in this place.

It may be gratifying to all interested, to state that it is reported that he returns with an ample competence, enough to enable him to live in ease and affluence the balance of his days.-Jersey Shore News Letter.

==================

New Light Upon Talbot Green
As Revealed by His Own Letters and Other Sources
By John Adam Hussey, 1939

==========================

Geddes partnership with Mellus, in San Francisco

==================

History of California

Volume 3

By Theodore Henry Hittell · 1898

Identifies Hiatt P. Hepburn as the man who identified Geddes in San Francisco

Hiatt Hepburn, born in Northumberland Pa, was the grandson of Judge Hepburn of Northumberland and Williamsport. Hiatt's father, James Hepburn Jr is buried in Philadelphia, and Hiatt did go to California for a time... so this is all very plausible. He almost certainly would have known Geddes.

=======================