ook a leading position in Norfolk county, which he always maintained.
On May 27, 1875, he was appointed one of the Judges of the Superior
Court by Gov. Gaston, and on Nov. 10, 1882, Gov. Long selected him to
fill a vacancy existing in the Supreme Court. Judge Colburn was a
Democrat, and had filled several positions of trust and responsibility
in his native town. In 1853 and 1854 he represented Dedham in the
Massachusetts House of Representatives, and as Chairman of the committee
on Railroads earnestly opposed the loaning of the State's credit to the
Hoosac Tunnel scheme. In 1870 he was a member of the Senate from the
Second Norfolk District, and as a member of the Judiciary Committee
drafted the well-known corporation act. He was Chairman of the Board of
Selectmen of Dedham from 1855 to 1864, and during the war his services
were important and valuable. He was President of the Dedham Institution
for Savings and a director of the Dedham National Bank.

Judge Colburn was naturally a man of robust constitution and excellent
health, and, until his prostration shortly before his death, had never
been obliged to neglect his official duties for a day on account of
sickness.

October 6.--Hon. Thomas Talbot, Ex-Governor of Massachusetts, died at
this home in Billerica at the age of sixty-seven years. He was born at
Cambridge, N.Y. Sept. 7, 1818, and subsequently removed with the family
to Danby, Vt. After the death of the father, the family removed to
Northampton, Mass. and Thomas at the age of thirteen began work in a
woolen factory. In the winters of 1837 and 1838 he attended an academy
at Cummington. Soon after, he joined his father in North Billerica, and
the long manufactoring career of C.P. Talbot & Co. was begun. The firm
still continues in the manufacture of woolen flannels, employing between
two and three hundred hands.

Mr. Talbot's first public service of note was as Representative from
Billerica in the Legislature of 1852, and he was a member of the
Constitutional Convention the following year. He was elected a member of
the Executive Council in 1864, and served five years in that honorable
capacity in association with Governors Andrew, Bullock and Claflin. In
1872 Mr. Talbot was elected by the Republicans as Lieutenant Governor
upon the same ticket with Hon. William B. Washburn, who was elected as
Governor. Re-elected with Governor Washburn in 1873, he became Acting
Governor when, during the legislative session of