Exerpted and edited from “Past & Present of Clinton Co, Michigan” by Judge S. B. Daboll, 1906 - pgs 37-40:
Akins E. Tallman ...was born in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, in 1810, and was reared in that state upon the old homestead farm in the midst of a heavily timbered country. He never attended school after eight years of age and his educational privileges were therefore very limited but he gained good, practical knowledge in the school of experience. He remained upon the home farm until he had attained his majority and on the 27th of May, 1832, he was united in marriage to Miss Samantha Dix, who was of Scotch lineage and was also a native of Pennsylvania. He was a man of marked energy and unfaltering determination as is indicated by the fact that in early life he earned the money with which he paid for two hundred and forty acres of land in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, but he lost this through a defective title.
At the age of twenty-six years Akins E. Tallman removed to (Sycamore, Wyandotte Co) Ohio where he owned a farm of one hundred and sixty acres; and in 1854 came to Michigan, settling in Eagle township, Clinton county. He located three hundred and forty-four acres of land on section 15 which he purchased from Miles Mansfield, of which two hundred and twenty-four acres is now (1906) owned by his son William L. Tallman. With characteristic energy he began the cultivation and improvement of that place. In all of his business affairs he was practical, enterprising and successful. Akins E. Tallman had the distinction of having cleared five hundred acres of wild land and thus he contributed in substantial measure to the improvement and development of the locality in which he resided. He was one of the oldest Masons, having been made a member of the fraternity in I866. He was a trustworthy man, giving his attention to his own affairs and so directing his labors that as the years passed he won a comfortable competency.
His wife, who was born in 1812, died December 11, 1877. Of the children born of that marriage, four are yet living (1906): Jennie, the wife of Isaac Stark, of Grand Ledge, Michigan; Louisa, the wife of E. F. Brown, of Eagle township; Christopher C., who is living at North Yamhill, Oregon; and William L., also of Eagle township. Those who have passed away are Oliver P., George W., Minerva J., Alpheus W. and Lawson D.
After losing his first wife (he) was again married, his second union being between 1878 and 1880 with Sarah Pennington, who died in 1901. In 1880 he is listed with just his wife Sarah, living next to his sons Christopher and A. Walter. In 1883 he moved to Grand Ledge, Eaton Co, MI.
His death occurred in 1903, at the age of ninety-two years.