Born in Dartmouth, MA as listed in their vital records, although cemetery record and History of Wayne Co say he was born in New Bedford. At an early age was put on a "coasting" ship as a cabin-boy and cook, and subsequently learned the shoe-making trade. Went with his family to Saratoga, N.Y. in 1796. After his marriage to Lucretia there in 1799, they moved to Mt. Pleasant PA, where two of her sisters and her half-uncle, Samuel Stanton lived.
His listing in the 1800 census has a male and female, both age 16-25. He moved in and cleared a lot north of Mt. Pleasant on the old road east of where Joseph Tanner lived. Joseph Tanner did the 1801 assessment for taxes which lists Elihu. Subsequently he bought an ajoining lot about 60 rods east of where William Wright later lived. A few years later he bought and cleared a farm north of Joseph Dix. In 1806 he built 1 mile of the Coshocton and Great Bend (Newburg) Turnpike road.
In the 1810 census he is listed in Mt. Pleasant with males: 3<10, 1=10-15, 1=26-44, fem: 3<10, 1=26-44
In 1813 he sold the original place to a Mr. Hall for $1,400 and bought the Godfrey Stevenson place at Atwater Hollow, built a saw-mill and moved in a carding machine. In 1818 he sold out to Heaton Atwater for $1,500 in patent rights and $1,500 in an exhibition of wax figures and paintings. After traveling thru a large part of New York, he sold them at a loss. The next spring he bought property in Susquehanna county with $750 down, which he lost. "In 1819 real estate and property had become so depreciated in value that father despaired of paying for his farm in Susquehanna county, and having more ambition than prudence, determined to retrieve his fortune and made a dash into the lumber woods and bought the Pine lot at Six mile, now Como." He bought 400 acres from Samuel P. Green (1821?) and finished the sawmill which was quite successful in supplying the first rafts of lumber to Stockport. In 1820 the Tallmans made up 12 of the 28 people living in what later became Preston Twp. In 1822 he bought "The Big Pine Lot" (Kryder lot) and his son Christopher and son-in-law David Babcock went to see it thru heavy snow and timber. In the spring of 1823 they moved there and he built a log house, a sawmill at the outlet of Stanton Pond (Island Lake), and cleared some "fallow". All of this property was in Scott Township, near the boundary with Preston, as Wayne was not formed until 1828. He also opened up a road from Pleasant Mount to Hale Eddy on the Delaware River, called the Tallmanville Road, which runs west from Shehawken. In 1824 he hired Miss Sarah Jane Stoddard to teach 4 or 5 children in an old log house on his place. A school built in 1829 or 1830 was the first public improvment made in the town. 1830 census listing in Preston Twp lists his family, next to (Christopher) Palmer Tallman, as:
male 1=10-15, 2=15-20, 1=30-40, 1=40-50 fem 1=10-15, 1=15-20, 1=40-50
1840 shows him in Palmyra Twp with 1 son 40-50, himself as 60-70, and his wife 60-70.
He and his wife are listed in Colesville, Broom Co NY in 1850. He is 70, b. Mass as a farmer with $1,800 of land. With him is Lucretia (69 b. NY) and his granddaughter Eunice Stanton, age 11 b. PA (dau of Rhoda).
Listed in Susquehanna Co in the 1860 census as a farmer age 80 ($1,200 land, $200 prop), with his wife Lucretia. They are listed next to Oliver Perry Tallman and his family. Both are spelled Talman.
The history of Schuyler, NY says he had 10 children and 80 grandchildren.
His tombstone record for the Stanton Hill Cemetery lists his birthplace and year as 1781, his age and date of death as well as the names of Wm Tallman and Rhoda Akins as his parents.