James Tilghman (1743-1809)
MSA SC 3520-1265
Biography:
BORN: on August 2, 1743, in Queen Anne's County; third son.
NATIVE: fourth generation.
RESIDED: in Queen Anne's County; Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, by January 1769-at least July 1775; Corsica District, Queen Anne's County, until death.
FAMILY BACKGROUND:
FATHER: Col. Richard Tilghman (1705-1766) of Queen Anne's
County, a justice of the Provincial Court from 1746 to 1766, son of Richard
Tilghman (1672/73-1738/39).
MOTHER: Susanna (1718-?), daughter of Peregrine Frisby (1688-1739)
and wife Elizabeth Sewall.
UNCLES: William Tilghman (1711-1782); Edward Tilghman (1713-1785);
James Tilghman (1716-1793); and Matthew Tilghman (1717/18-1790).
AUNTS: Mary Tilghman (1702-ca. 1736), who married James Earle,
Jr. (ca. 1694-1739); Henrietta Maria Tilghman (1707-1771), who married
first, George Robins (1697-1742), and second, William Goldsborough (1709-1760);
Anna Maria Tilghman (1709-1763), who married first, William Hemsley (1703-1736),
and second, Robert Lloyd (ca. 1712-1770); and Anne Frisby (1727-1793),
who married second, William Fitzhugh (ca. 1722-1798).
BROTHERS. Richard (1739-1810), who married Elizabeth (1748-1767),
daughter of Edward Tilghman (1713-1785); Peregrine Tilghman (ca. 1741-1807);
Edward; and William (ca. 1745-1800), who married first, Ann Kent, second,
Anna Maria, daughter of Robert Lloyd (ca. 1712-1770),
and third, Eleanor Hall Rozer. SISTERS: Elizabeth (1749-1836), who
married in 1771 William Cooke of Annapolis; Susanna (1751-?); and Anna
Maria (1759-1834), who married Henry Pearce Ward of Cecil County.
FIRST COUSINS: Michael Earle (1722-1787); Richard Tilghman Earle
(1728/29-1788); Anna Maria Earle (1725-1795), who married Thomas Ringgold
(1715-1772); Henrietta Maria Earle (1730-1767), who married William Hemsley
(1736/37-1812); Anna Maria Robins (1732-1806), who married Henry Hollyday
(ca. 725-1789); Margaret Robins (1734-1808), who married William Hayward
(?-1791); Henrietta Maria Robins (1736-1791), who married James Lloyd Chamberlaine
(1732-1783); William Hemsley (1736/37-1812); Richard Tilghman, Jr. (1740-1809);
Matthew Tilghman (1760-1801); James Tilghman, Jr. (ca. 1748-1796); William
Tilghman (1756-1827); Anna Maria Tilghman (?-1817), who married William
Hemsley (1736/37-1812); Elizabeth Tilghman, who married James Lloyd (ca.
1756-1830); Margaret Tilghman (1742-1817), who married Charles Carroll,
Barrister (1723-1783); Elizabeth Rousby (?-1789), who married George Plater
(1735-1792); William Fitzhugh, Jr. (1761-1839); and Henrietta Maria Lloyd
(?-1822), who married William Hayward, Jr. (ca. 1758-1834).
MARRIED first, on January 19, 1767, Susanna (?-1774), daughter
of Dr. George Steuart (1700-ca. 1784) and wife Ann Digges (1718-1814).
Her brothers were George Hume; James; David (1750-1814); Charles; and William
(1754-1838). Her sisters were Ann; Jane. Her first cousin was George Digges
(ca. 1742-1792).
MARRIED second, on Feb ruary 7, 1778, Elizabeth, daughter of
Kensey Johns (?-1763) of Anne Arundel County and wife Susanna Galloway
(1723-1796). Her brothers were Richard (?-1806), who married Sarah, daughter
of John Weems (1727-1794); John ?-probably 1822); and Kensey (1759-1848),
chief justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, 1799-1830, and chancellor
of Delaware, 1830-1832, who married in 1784 Ann, daughter of Gov. Nicholas
Van Dyke of Delaware. Her sisters were Mary, who married Samuel Harrison;
Susanna, who married Richard Harrison. Her first cousin was Richard Johns
(1748-1796).
CHILDREN.
SONS: George (1771-1792); Frisby (1773-1847), who married first,
in 1795, Anna Maria (1772-1817), daughter of Thomas Ringgold (1744-1776),
and second, in 1819, Louisa Lamar; Samuel (1781-1782); John (1785-?), who
married first, Anna Katherine Tilghman, and second. Ann Tilghman; Charles
Carroll (1788-1861), who married MaryLloyd Tilghman; and Peregrine
(1790-1874), who married Harriet Haddaway.
DAUGHTERS: Susanna (1774-1849), who married James Hollday
(1758-1807); Anna Maria (1779-?), who married Peregrine Blake; and
Mary (1783-?), who married in 1801 Richard Tilghman Earle (1767-1843),
son of Richard Tilghman Earle (1728/29-1788).
PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: literate.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Anglican, St. Paul's Parish, Queen Anne's County.
SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Esq., by 1776; Hon., by 1809.
OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: Lawyer, admitted to the following courts: Provincial Court, April 1765; Talbot County, June 1765; Frederick County, August 1765; Anne Arundel County, by August 1765; Court of Chancery, by 1771; judge; planter.
PUBLIC CAREER:
LEGISLATIVE SERVICE: Conventions, Queen Anne's County, 4th,
1775, 5th, 1775, 6th-8th, 1775-1776; Senate, Eastern Shore, Term of 1776-1781:
1777 (declined to serve February 7, 1777); Lower House, Queen Anne's County,
1788 (Grievances), 1789.
OTHER STATE OFFICES: Councils of Safety, Eastern Shore, 2nd,
1776, 3rd, 1776, 4th, 1776, 5th, 1776 (declined to serve on November 19,
1776); attorney general, 1777 (elected on August 7, 1777, to fill vacancy;
replaced on January 6, 1778); Constitution Ratification Convention, Queen
Anne's County, 1788; chief judge, second Judicial District, 1791-1809;
judge, Court of Appeals, 1804-1809.
LOCAL OFFICES: St. Paul's Parish Vestry, Queen Anne's County,
1789-1791; churchwarden, St. Paul's Parish, Queen Anne's County, 1803.
MILITARY SERVICE: quartermaster, Lower Battalion, Queen Anne's
County Militia, appointed January 6, 1776; colonel by November 1776.
STANDS ON PUBLIC/ PRIVATE ISSUES: Tilghman was among those requested by Gov. Robert Eden (1741-1784) to accept his parole not to leave Maryland, April 20, 1776.
WEALTH DURING LIFETIME.
PERSONAL PROPERTY: assessed value £1,664.5.0, including
30 slaves, 83 oz. plate, 1783; 50 slaves, 1790; wife bequeathed £200.0.0
by her mother, 1796.
LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: ca. 1,712 acres in Queen Anne's County
(ca. 1,700 acres inherited from father, remainder by resurvey and patent),
plus a short-term lease on a house and outbuildings in Annapolis.
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES BETWEEN FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: gave up
the lease on the Annapolis property, ca. 1775; had sold ca. 175 acres in
Queen Anne's County by 1783; sold 200 acres in 1797, and 112 acres by 1798;
purchased ca. 100 acres by 1798, all in Queen Anne's County. Assessed for
1,333 acres in Queen Anne's County, 1798, with his dwelling house and out
buildings valued at $1,000.
WEALTH AT DEATH.
DIED: ca. April 18, 1809, in Chestertown, Kent County; estate
probated in Queen Anne's County.
PERSONAL PROPERTY: TEV $22,317.33 (including 60 slaves, 97 oz.
plate, books, and $2,954.70 in cash); FB, $17,377.92. LAND: probably
1,333 acres in Queen Anne's County.
Source: Edward C. Papenfuse, et al. A Biographical Dictionary
of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789. 2 Vols.
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979, 1985), 823-4.
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