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EDUCATION: College, Academy, and Charitable
School of Philadelphia: entered in 1763, entered
college department in 1769, graduated 1772; stud-
ied law with Benjamin Chew of Philadelphia, 1772-
1776. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Esq., by
1799; Hon., by 1809; member, Philadelphia So-
ciety for Promoting Agriculture; American Phil-
osophical Society (president, 1824-death); trustee,
University of Pennsylvania, 1802-death. OCCU-
PATIONAL PROFILE: lawyer, judge, planter. Tilgh-
man was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1783,
and the Pennsylvania bar in 1794, PUBLIC CAREER.
LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Lower House, Kent
County, 1788, 1789, 1790; Senate, Eastern Shore,
Term of 1791-1796: 1791-1792, 1792, 1793, 1794
(did not attend; resigned on November 17, 1794,
after moving to Philadelphia). OTHER STATE OF-
FICE: Constitution Ratification Convention, Kent
County, 1788. our OF STATE SERVICE: chief judge,
Third Judicial Circuit, Pennsylvania, appointed
1801, office abolished 1802; judge, Court of Com-
mon Pleas for Philadelphia and surrounding
counties, appointed 1805; chief judge, Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania, 1806-death. STANDS ON
PUBLIC/PRIVATE ISSUES: early advocate of canal
between Susquehanna and Allegheny rivers; in
1811, manumitted thirteen adult slaves and spec-
ified that his minor slaves were to be free at age
28; strong supporter of American manufacturing.
WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. PERSONAL PROPERTY:
taxed for 23 slaves, Queen Anne's County, 1798;
owned at least 38 slaves, Kent and Queen Anne's
counties, 1811. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION, no evi-
dence of land ownership prior to the death of his
father. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN
FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: inherited Ca. 1,200
acres in Queen Anne's County and ca. 720 acres
in Kent County from his father, 1793. As the
surviving executor of his father's estate by 1797,
Tilghman managed all his father's land. He pur-
chased 28 acres in Queen Anne's County in 1799,
and sold it along with 852 acres of his father's
land adjoining it in 1805; released control of ca.
521 acres of his Kent County land in 1805 and
conveyed title to that acreage in 1810; sold his
remaining 184 acres in Kent County in 1813.
WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: On April 29, 1827, in
Philadelphia. LAND: at least ca. 1,180 acres in
Queen Anne's County.
TILLARD, THOMAS (1742-1806). BORN: on
December 22, 1742, in St. James' Parish, Anne
Arundel County; eldest child. NATIVE: at least
third generation. RESIDED: near Pig Point, Lyon's
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Creek Hundred, Anne Arundel County. FAMILY
BACKGROUND. FATHER: William Tillard (Taylard)
(?-1753) of Anne Arundel County. MOTHER:
Martha (1720-1773), who called herself a planter,
and patented 192 acres in Anne Arundel County
in 1769; daughter of Abraham Simmons (?-1750)
and wife Martha. BROTHERS: William (1744-?),
who married in 1776 Martha Hall (1747-?); Ed-
ward (?-1830), an officer in the Continental Army,
1776-1781, and a prisoner of the British, 1777-
1780, who married in 1782 Ann Lyles. SISTERS:
Sarah (1745/46-?), who probably married Isaac
Simmons; Mary (1748-?), who married (first name
unknown) Shekell; and Susanna (1752-by 1762).
MARRIED on February 20, 1776, Janet (Jennett),
daughter of Thomas Hamilton (?-1784) of Prince
George's County, a surgeon, and wife Leonora.
Janet's brother was probably John (?-ca. 1777).
Her sisters were Agness, who married John Brown;
Martha, who married (first name unknown) Mor-
gan. CHILDREN. SONS: Thomas Hamilton (1777-
1806); William Smallwood (1781-by 1824); and
John Hamilton (1785-1825), who married in 1817
Emeline Pindell. DAUGHTERS: Matilda (1778-
1850), who married first, in 1804, William Sim-
mons, and second, Samuel Drury; Sarah (1783-
?), who married in 1824 Rinaldo Pindell; and
Ann (1787-?). PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: lit-
erate. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Anglican, St.
James' Parish, Anne Arundel County. SOCIAL
STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Mr., by 1770; Esq., by
1776. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: merchant by 1774,
with a store at Pig Point on the Patuxent River
through at least the 1780s; agent for Wallace,
Johnson & Muir, to whom Tillard owed over
£3,275.0.0 sterling from 1778, with a large bal-
ance still outstanding at the time of his death. In
1784-1785, Tillard purchased tobacco and con-
signed it to Wallace, Johnson & Muir to be sold
in London, but he lost one-third of his investment
because of low tobacco prices in England. Tillard
owned a mill, where state taxes paid in wheat
were delivered, but in 1781 the mill was described
as leaking badly and therefore an unfit collection
point. Throughout his career, Tiliard accepted
mortgages from his neighbors on their real and
personal property; twelve such mortgages, se-
curing substantial loans, were recorded between
1769 and 1801. Tillard also maintained at least
one plantation. PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE
SERVICE: 5th Convention, Anne Arundel County,
1775; Lower House, Anne Arundel County, 1777,
1777-1778 (Claims 1, 2). LOCAL OFFICE. St. James'
Parish Vestry, Anne Arundel County, 1770-1773,
834
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