Carrie Talcott, farmer, writer, and clubwoman, was born Carrie Violet Johnson on February 22, 1890, to Elwood and Laura Hinshaw Johnson in Jefferson County, Iowa. Her family moved to Poweshiek and later to Fayette County during her childhood. She graduated from Maynard High School in Fayette County in 1908 and took the teacher training program at Upper Iowa University in Fayette that summer. She taught rural school briefly in the northern Minnesota town of Aiken, returning to Fayette County to marry Myron Talcott on March 10, 1909. They lived and worked at the Talcott farm, Tall Oaks, and raised five children, Leonard, Charles, Gladys, Margaret, and Wesley.

Carrie Talcott was involved in many community activities. She served six years in the American Home Department of the Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs, including two years as chairman of its Home Making Division. Talcott was a member of the Methodist church, joining in Grinnell in1899. She retired to West Friendship Haven in Fort Dodge in 1962 and became an active member of the First United Methodist Church and its Women's Society of Christian Service (now United Methodist Women). At Ft. Dodge, she served as an officer of the Friendship Haven Home Service Society Committee and was an active member of its writing class. In May 1981, Talcott moved to Tompkins Memorial Center. She died on July 15, 1981.