Permanent Record

Researcher extraordinaire Bill Maselunas has once again tracked down the details on a photo I.D. badge employee. This time it's Fred H. Talbot, whose badge is shown above. (If you're new to the photo I.D. badge scene, you can see how I first became fascinated by the badges here, and you can see the results of Bill's two previous badge research efforts here and here.)

Here's what Bill managed to find regarding Fred Talbot:

This guy proved to be somewhat enigmatic in his adult life. Also, the research was complicated by the fact that Googling for "Fred Talbot" yields a lot of hits for the Major League Baseball pitcher of the same name and a British weatherman who was recently rung up on some unfortunate charges. Finding our Fred Talbot means eliminating a lot of results for these two guys, which can be tiresome.

I've patched together bits and pieces from a bunch of sources, including user-created family trees from Ancestry.com, which are hit-and-miss in the accuracy department. So, lacking other rock-solid sources, I took people at their word and made a couple of guesses based on hunches below, which seem to be correct, but it's hard to be sure. Here we go:

• Born Fred (or Frederick) Parker, March 31, 1912, to John P. Parker and Maria Hortensia "Hortense" Quesada (1893-1994), also known as Maria Hortensia Quesada Aguirre Velton. Her secondary name, taken when her mother remarried, turned out to be a clue in finding Fred's place of birth (see next point).

• Fred's place of birth on census records is always listed as California. In California birth records on Ancestry, there's an entry for March 31, 1912, in Orange County under "Jno. P. Parker," with the mother's name listed as "Felton." It's not uncommon for the father to be listed in birth records of that era, and the misspelling of his mother's name would seem to be an easy one to make. That was hunch No. 1.

• Hortense married Clyde Edwin Talbot (1895-1992) on Sept. 12, 1917, in Ray, Arizona.

• Fred's middle name and initial are listed inconsistently, depending on the source. Sometimes he is "Fred E." and sometimes "Fred H." The 1945 Tacoma City Directory lists his occupation twice, once as "artist" and once as "draftsman TPS." I suspect "TPS" was for "Todd Pacific Shipyards," as shown on his badge. That was hunch No. 2.

• Sibling Lorraine H. (Parker) Talbot was born about 1915 in Ray, Arizona, and June 1978 in Washington. Unknown if she was married or had children.

• Half-sibling Clydelle Rae Talbot was born on Aug 16, 1918. in Ray, Arizona, and died on Nov. 27, 1989, in Tacoma, Washington. Married Hugo Smith (1914-2000) on May 10, 1938, in Port Orchard, Washington. Three children: Sharon Rae Smith, William T. Smith, James J. Smith.

• Fred attended Tacoma Lincoln High School, class of 1930, as seen in this yearbook page [click to enlarge]:

• His yearbook entry said he was planning to attend "Leland Stanford" University, but a search of the 1934 Stanford yearbook shows no Fred Talbot. Did he not actually go? Did he go but not graduate?

• His yearbook entry hints at his artistic side, calling him "Lincoln's Buddy Rogers." This is backed up by a clipping from The Tacoma Times that describes his furniture making and designing of theater sets:

• Unknown if he ever married or had children. Searches have turned up no obituary, though I have a request in with the Tacoma Pierce Genealogical Society to see if they can find one. Stay tuned.

• Died July 14, 1994 in Seattle. Burial unknown.

• I identified one living relative: Sharon R. Housiaux, a niece, in Puyallup, Washington. I attempted to contact her by U.S. mail but never heard back.

Great work again, Bill. I like how we can see the progression of Fred's facial development from yearbook to newspaper article to employee badge (click to enlarge):

But dang -- yet another badge employee for whom we can't find a living relative. Maybe next time.