Thomas Talbot (September 7, 1818 – October 6, 1885) was an American textile mill owner and politician from Massachusetts, United States. Talbot ran a major textile business, involving chemical dyeworks and the weaving of fabric, in Billerica that was a major local employer. As a Republican, he served in the state legislature, on the Massachusetts Governor's Council, and as Lieutenant Governor before serving for one partial term as Acting Governor of Massachusetts, and later for one full term as the 31st Governor. Born to Irish immigrants, Talbot was minimally educated, working in textile mills from an early age. He entered into a partnership with his brother, founding the Talbot Mills of Billerica in 1857. He became politically active, partly due to issues with the mills, and served two terms as Lieutenant Governor, acting as Governor for part of the second term after Governor William B. Washburn won election to the United States Senate. Talbot was a strong temperance advocate, and his veto of a popular alcohol licensing bill contributed to his loss in the 1874 gubernatorial race. He was more successful in 1878 against divided opposition, serving a single lackluster term. Early life and business Thomas Talbot was born on September 7, 1818 in Cambridge, New York, to Charles and Phoebe (White) Talbot, both Irish immigrants, and was the seventh of eight children. When he was small, the family moved to Danby, Vermont, where his father supervised in a local textile mill. His father died when he was six, and his mother moved the family to Northampton, Massachusetts, where he attended local schools, and began to work at an early age in local mills. In 1825, Talbot joined a weaving firm established by his older brother Charles in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, where he was first employed as a carder and finisher, and quickly rose to become superintendent. His brother moved to Lowell in 1838, selling the Williamsburg mill, and began processing dyewoods in rented space at a local mill, while Thomas remained in western Massachusetts, working in area mills and continuing his education at an academy in Cummington. In 1840, the two brothers established C.P. Talbot & Co., a business partnership that lasted until Charles died in 1884. The business started out processing dyewoods for use in the textile industry, but expanded into other industrial chemical processing in 1849. The brothers acquired the Concord River water rights of the defunct Middlesex