USA > Maryland > Talbot County > History of Talbot county, Maryland, 1661-1861, Volume I > Part 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
422
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
who had been smitten with the madness of joining the southern insur- gents from giving their strength and perhaps their lives to a cause which, if victorious, could confer no honor, and if defeated would bring lasting regret and humiliation. It is worthy of being remarked that Mr. Kerr though firm and unyielding in the position he had taken of opposition to the secession of the States, a position which separated him from the large majority of his friends, associates and family connections, was able to retain by his uniform moderation and courtesy the esteem of those whom he most opposed.
In July 1862 he was invited to Washington and appointed one of the solicitors in the Court of Claims-a Court but recently established. This position he held until its abolition in December 1869, when he was appointed Solicitor in the office of the sixth Auditor in the Depart- ment of the Treasury. In the fulfilment of the duties of this place he continued up to the time of his death, enjoying the full confidence and esteem of his official superiors and the respectful regard of all with whom he was in business brought in contact.
In his domestic relations Mr. Kerr was singularly happy. He married rather late in life the daughter of Mr. John Stevens, a native of Eng- land, where he was most respectably connected. This lady and a nu- merous family of children survive him. In his home which was one of unclouded affection and unselfish devotion among his inmates, he found his greatest pleasures, and of that home his presence and companionship was the light and joy. As it is the privilege of few men to have inspired such warm attachments, so it has been the lot of few to have been so sincerely and passionately wept.
In his intercourse with men he was always courteous and kindly. Though sensitive, he was amiable and forbearing. He was honorable to the nicest point of honor. He lived through a long life without a strain or a suspicion of wrong doing. He was sincerely and rationally pious, and died after a painful but brief illness, Jan. 27th, 1878, in full communion with the Holy Catholic Church, of the English rite.
Omnium bonorum desiderio obiit.
Funeral services were held in Washington at St. Paul's Church, upon which a large number of resident Marylanders attended, and at which the following distinguished gentlemen acted as pall bearers: Governor Swann, Judge Richardson of the Court of Claims, Rear Admiral Stanley, U. S. Navy, General Horace Capron, Colonel Walson, President Welling
423
HON. MATTHEW TILGHMAN
of Columbia University, Dr. C. C. Cox, Hon. Will. H. Trescott of S. Carolina, Dr. Will. Gunton of the Bank of Washington, and Beverly Tucker of Virginia. His body was brought to Talbot on Wednesday, the 30th, and was buried in the family burying ground of the Bozmans at Belleville, Oxford Neck.
HON. MATTHEW TILGHMAN THE PATRIARCH OF MARYLAND
1718-1790
Matthew Tilghman, the subject of the following memoir, belonged to an ancient and honorable family of the parish of Snodland in the county of Kent, England. He was the youngest son of Richard Tilgh- man, of Queen Anne's county, Maryland, by Anna Maria, daughter of Col. Philemon Lloyd, of Wye, Talbot county. His grandfather was Richard Tilghman, surgeon, who emigrated from the old country in the year 1660, and seated himself at "The Hermitage" upon Chester river in what was then the county of Talbot. He also was the patentee of Canterbury manor' in Talbot county. It was from this Richard Tilghman that has sprung a numerous family, many of which have been men of much usefulness and some of great distinction. Matthew Tilghman was born at the family seat which is still possessed by one of the branches of the family, on the seventeenth day of February 1718. He received the best education which the Eastern shore of Maryland at that time afforded, having been the pupil of the Rev. Mr. Jones of Cecil county, a clergyman of the established church of some celebrity. He, however, at the early age of 15 was removed from the tuition of this gentleman and his paternal home to that of his first cousin, Matthew Tilghman Ward, of Ward's Point, Talbot county, by whom he was adopted and of whom he became the heir to an immense landed estate.2 His education was continued under the direction of Mr. Ward who was a man of distinction in the colony, having been for many years a mem- ber of the upper or lower House of Assembly, of which he was often cho- sen the Speaker, and the incumbent of other positions of trust and respon- sibility under the proprietary government. From this gentleman,
1 This manor was in Bailey's neck.
2 "Ward's Point" is that point of land that is at the mouth of St. Michaels River and now commonly known as "Tilghman's Point," and the plantation as "Rich Neck."
424
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
therefore, Mr. Tilghman received that political training which was to render him so serviceable during a long life, not only to Maryland but to the confederated colonies. In the year 1741 he married a daughter of James, the youngest son of Col. Philemon Lloyd, by Ann, the daughter of Robert Grundy, a wealthy merchant of Oxford, Talbot county. To those to whom it is a matter of interest to trace the transmission of hereditary traits, it may be well to say that each of the people here men- tioned occupied positions of eminence in the province, and were held in esteem for their moral worth and their intellectual abilities as well as for their wealth and high social position.
The first post of responsibility to which Matthew Tilghman was assigned was one of a military character, he having been placed in or about the year of his marriage in charge of a troop of horse, which was organized for the purpose of protecting the outlying settlements from the incursions of those Indians that remained upon the Eastern Shore. It is thought that his conduct while in this command laid the founda- tion of the confidence which ever after was reposed in him by his coun- trymen, particularly those of his own county; for his exposure with his men to the hardships and dangers of frontier warfare, more than his possession or anticipated possession of large landed wealth in the county, seemed to identify him in interest and feeling with the people in the midst of which he lived. This identification became the more complete as his life was prolonged, and the more manifest as his influence extended.
In the same year of 1741 he was appointed by the Governor of the Province one of the "Worshipful, the Commissioners and Justices of the Peace" for Talbot County-a position of such honor and re- sponsibility at that time as does not attach to the office of the same name in the present; for the Justices of the Peace were actually the Judges of the County Court. He continued to exercise the functions of Justice until the year 1746 when his name disappears from the records of the Court.
In the year 1751 he was chosen by the freemen of Talbot their dele- gate to the Lower House of the General Assembly of Maryland, and he continued to be elected until the year 1757 when he seems to have gone into retirement. Again in 1767 he was sent to the Assembly from Talbot, and he continued to represent county in the Lower House until the over- throw of the Proprietary government and the formation of the Consti- tution of the independent State of Maryland in 1776-7. Of the Assem- blies of 1773, 1774 and 1775 he was the Speaker of the House. It was the Assembly of 1767 which showed such persistent resistence to the
425
HON. MATTHEW TILGHMAN
execution of the Act of Parliament imposing duties upon certain articles imported into the colonies, meant to be a substitute for the stamp tax repealed in the previous year, and which for this resistance was by order of the home government dissolved by the Governor who ordered a new election. Of this new Assembly, as of the previous one, Matthew Tilghman was a conspicuous member and was one of the most forward in opposing the execution of the offensive statute. When the circular letter of the General Court of Massachusetts was brought before the General Assembly of Maryland for consideration, he was appointed one of the committee to draft a petition to the King, remon- strating against the obnoxious taxes upon imported goods. For the opposition which was shown by this assembly it was again and again prorogued, but finally met for business in Nov. 1769, when as it would appear there were already anticipations of a collision with the mother country, for inquiry was ordered to be made into the condition of the public arms as if in preparation for war. There was a new election in 1771, when Mr. Matthew Tilghman was again chosen to represent his county in the Lower House of Assembly. It was this Assembly which opposed with so much vehemence the celebrated Proclamation of Governor Eden, by which he sought to accomplish an altogether desirable purpose, namely, the regulation of the fees of certain civil officers by purely arbitrary and very objectionable means. This Assembly it was that also called in question the validity of the act of 1701-2, called the "Vestry Act," regulating the stipends of the min- isters of the established church. These two questions and the decisions upon them although of purely local interest were most influential in preparing the minds of the people of Maryland for the great protest which was uttered by the United Colonies a few years later. It was well known that upon these two questions Matthew Tilghman was adverse to the government policy; and that although belonging to the colonial aristocracy he was most liberal in his political views. With such views he could not do otherwise than place himself in opposition to the Govern- or in his attempt to accomplish by the exercise of an unusual if not illegal prerogative what should have been done by legislative enactment; and although he was a most dutiful son of the church, he regarded the establishment in Maryland as odious, oppressive, and even injurious to the best interests of religion itself. His opposition to the vestry act, as well as his known liberality of religious sentiment, gained for him the approbation and support of all dissenters, particularly of the large and wealthy society of Quakers. For this last assertion we have the testi-
426
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
mony of one who was intimately acquainted with his opinions and the estimate placed upon them-his own daughter, the wife of Col. Tench Tilghman. Upon the same authority it is allowable to say that in 1767, when the matter of the Stamp Act was still concerning the people of the Colony, the Lord Proprietary, possibly for the purpose of detaching him from the cause of the Colonists, tendered to him a position of great emolument and a seat in the Provincial Council. But perceiving with the foresight of true statesmanship, that a struggle with the mother country was fast approaching, he declared that no private interest, whether in the form of honors or wealth, could induce him to take a step which might embarrass him in his movements when the time should come for him to offer his services to his country. It will be seen in the sequel, that there was no hesitancy on his part when the supreme moment arrived. As an evidence of his popularity it is mentioned by his daughter, who has left a brief account of his life, that in the several elections by which he was chosen to represent the county in the General Assembly, the vote for him was always unanimous or so nearly so as to give assurance that he possessed the confidence of his entire constit- uency.
The passage in 1774 by the British Parliament of what is called the Boston Port Bill, in Maryland, as in the other colonies, created intense feeling. A Convention of deputies from each of the counties in the province was proposed as the first step towards a formal and effective opposition to the Act. Public meetings were accordingly held in Tal- bot and deputies appointed who were to assemble and did assemble at Annapolis in June. Of these Matthew Tilghman was one, the others being Edward Lloyd, Nicholas Thomas, and Robt. Goldsborough 4th of the name. Upon the organization of the Convention Mr. Tilgh- man was chosen chairman. At this assemblage a series of resolutions, temperate but decided, in condemnation of the recent acts of Parlia- ment were adopted, and a number of deputies were chosen to represent the province in the general Congress of all the Colonies which, it was pro- posed, should be held at Philadelphia in September following. Of this delegation Matthew Tilghman was one and was therefore a member of that first Congress the centennial anniversary of which has been recently celebrated in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. His name in connection with those of Geo. Read and W. Johnson appears affixed to the arti- cles of "The Association" of Congress, which were adopted at this date of that body. He was made by the Maryland convention which reassembled for the purpose of ratifying the acts of the Colonial Congress,
427
HON. MATTHEW TILGHMAN
one of the "Provincial Committee of Correspondence," the duty of which was to communicate with the other colonies of the incipient confederacy. It may be well to say here that this convention assumed the powers of government, ordering the militia to be enrolled and appropriating 10,000 pounds for the purchase of arms. Before the adjournment of this convention Mr. Tilghman, who seems to have been regarded as the patriarch of the colony, was again chosen one of the delegation to the second General Congress which met at Philadelphia in May 1775; and he was again chosen for the succeeding and ever memorable one which adopted and published to the world the Declaration of Independ- ence, though his attendance upon the Convention at Annapolis in 1776 for the formation of a State Constitution prevented him from being present at the time of its passage and ratification, and therefore he has been deprived of that fame which attaches to all the signers of that immortal instrument.
The Convention of deputies that assembled at Annapolis in 1774 as just mentioned assumed the duties and responsibilities of a Provisional Government, the authority of the Proprietary through his Governor being then totally disregarded. The General Assembly from frequent prorogations had ceased to exercise any functions-indeed had tacitly surrendered its prerogatives to the convention, though it was not for- mally dissolved until June 13th, 1776, when Gov. Eden issued his very useless proclamation to that effect. At the convention of 1775 a tem- porary form of government for the province was established and "Arti- cles of Association" were framed setting forth the objects and obliga- tions of that government. Supreme power was vested in the Provincial Convention, and the chief executive power was lodged in a Committee of Safety composed of sixteen members, eight from each shore. Of this committee Matthew Tilghman was one under its first organization; and as the President or Speaker of the Convention he may be regarded as the President of Maryland, an officer not unknown in her annals. There were also Committees of Observation for each of the counties, and of that for Talbot he is believed to have been the chairman. The "Declaration" of the Provincial Convention made July 6th, 1776, before any knowledge of the final ratification of the "Declaration" of Congress, terminated the ancient régime of the Colony. A new con- vention assembled on the 14th of August, 1776, for the preparation of a new form of government. Of this constituent assembly Mr. Matthew Tilghman was President. One of the first acts of this body was the election by ballot of a committee to report a "Bill of Rights" and a
428
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
"Constitution" for the new state. Of this committee, Mr. Tilghman was the chairman and to him, therefore, in some good measure, Mary- land was indebted for that admirable code of fundamental laws which from the first gave form and symmetry to her political organization, and for more than fifty years imparted healthful vigor to its functional operations. The first Assembly of the State of Maryland under the constitution, convened the 5th of February, 1777. Mr. Matthew Tilgh- man had been chosen one of the Senators for the Eastern Shore. His acceptance of this position in the State government necessitated his surrender of his place in the Continental Congress. He continued to serve in this department of the State government until 1781, when he was again chosen Senator by the electoral College but he did not serve out his term. In this year the Chesapeake Bay was infested with British vessels of war so that communication from the Eastern Shore with the seat of government at Annapolis was frequently inter- rupted, and always hazardous. It became necessary, therefore, to organize a temporary government for the Eastern Shore peninsula. This was composed of a Special Council consisting of five gentlemen, of which Mr. Tilghman was one. This council assembled at Easton, in Talbot, and made Mr. Tilghman its President.
After the declaration of peace in 1783, Mr. Tilghman feeling the in- firmities of old age, and longing for that quiet and relaxation from labor which had been denied to him for so many years, resigned all his public trusts and retired to his seat in Bayside of Talbot county where he devoted his few remaining years to those pursuits and pleasures which had been so much interrupted by his services to his country. The management of his large landed estates and numerous slaves afforded full occupation for his active and vigorous mind, while his great wealth permitted him to indulge himself in the pleasing offices of an elegant hospitality or the equally grateful task of a bountiful charity. Enjoy- ing the pleasures that arose from a memory of high duties well performed, from the affectionate reverence of a numerous family of children and dependents, and from the respectful homage of a grateful people, he continued to live the life of a country gentleman, a character likely now to become extinct, until May 5th, 1790, when his useful career was brought suddenly to a close by a stroke of paralysis which spared him all the pains and his friends all the solicitude of a protracted dissolution. He was buried at his seat at Bayside where his tomb may be seen to the present day, a shrine to which all may pay a pilgrimage who honor public virtue or private worth, and feel their aspirations kindled and
429
HON. MATTHEW TILGHMAN
their best purposes confirmed.3 The time will come when Maryland and her sons will do that justice to the memory of her departed worthies which she has hitherto withheld, or at least has neglected to bestow. While the sister States have builded monuments and erected statues commemorative of their distinguished sons; while their poets have sung the virtues, and their historians have filled their pages with recitals of the deeds of those whose merits are not greater than those of our unhonored and almost forgotten dead, Maryland carves no obelisk and casts no bronze, recites no ode and pens no eulogy in honor of
3 The following is the inscription upon the tomb of the Hon. Matthew Tilgh- man Ward, in the grave yard at Rich Neck:
[COAT OF ARMS.] Here lieth the body of the Honourable Major General Matthew Tilghman Ward, son
of Matthew Ward, Gent., by Mary,
his wife, who was a daughter of Doctor Richard Tilghman. He was
First married to Mabel Murphey
Widow of Captain James Murphey,
Afterwards to Margaret Lloyd, daughter of Colonel Philemon Lloyd.
Departed this life the 25th of May,
A. Dom. 1741 [?] in the 64th year of his age.
He served his country in several
honorable stations both civil and
military, and Died President of the Council of the State of Maryland.
Reader behold and tremble here to see A pattern for thyself fulfilled.
The remainder of this inscription is illegible.
The following is a portion of the inscription upon the tomb stone of Mr. Ward's wife, in the same burying ground.
This was the second partner of my bed,
With whom a long and happy life I've led.
Tho' without children to assist in years,
Yet free from parents cares and parents fears.
In love and friendship all our years were spent
In moderate wealth and free from want-content,
Our pious souls with pious thoughts inspired To worship God and profit man desired; Religious laws and customs to pursue,
Nor slighting old ones nor too fond of new;
But choosing such, as since they first began
Best served of pra ising God and common good of man.
430
THE WORTHIES OF TALBOT
those who have made her name illustrious in the nation's annals. Of these the subject of this memoir was one, whose name is known hardly beyond the limits of the county of his home; whose patriot services have had no other recognition than the casual mention of the annalist; and for whose neglected grave, marked only by the simple slab of marble which filial affection has laid, no other chaplet has been woven than that the wild vines and flowers have wreathed.
Mr. Tilghman left three children: Richard, who settled in Queen Anne's County; Lloyd, who inherited the homestead of his father; Margaretta, who married Mr. Charles Carroll of Mount Clare; and Anna Maria, who married Col. Tench Tilghman, the Secretary, Aide- de-Camp and intimate friend of General Washington. From Lloyd de- scended through James his son, Gen. Lloyd Tilghman who, educated at West Point, served in the C. S. Army. He commanded at Fort Henry on Tennessee river in 1862, and was killed at Champion's Hill, Miss., in 1863 in the Confederate service.
The custom of Governors and other dignitaries and candidates attend- ing county fairs and races is not of very recent origin in Maryland.
In June, 1771, there were races at Oxford, this county, and following is an exact copy of a letter referring to them and to the fact of Governor Eden being there, written by Matthew Tilghman, who was then a plain country farmer in Talbot, but who afterward became the celebrated revolutionary patriot, to his daughter, Mrs. Carroll, wife of Charles Carroll, barrister, of Mount Clare, who was then in London. The letter is copied in its entirety, as it is all interesting.
June 15, 1771.
My Dear Child: We have had the satisfaction once to hear that you were spoke with at sea and all well, and we have the pleasure of being fully persuaded that you are now safe in London, where I hope you will meet with every advantage and every enjoyment you may have in view. Dick and Peggy are comfortably, if not advantageously, fixed at Tucka- hoe, where we have all been to see them, and we have been at Oxford races, which were honored by the company of the Governor and Mrs. Eden and Miss Darby. Our ladies gazed, but except a very few did not approach W. H. (William Hayward). J. D. (John Dickinson), H. H. (Henry Hollyday) and W. Thomas had the pleasure of entertaining the grandees, and much bustle there was. Nanny and I made a short visit to W. Hayward's, and are to be honored the next time of coming over as much as we could expect.
In August we shall be expecting to hear from you. I wrote Charles by way of Philadelphia relative to a report about Lloyd, but I have since a letter from him assuring me the report was groundless. Thank
431
HON. MATTHEW TILGHMAN
God we are all well and join most heartily in prayer for your health and happiness. I pray God prosper you, and remain, with the greatest tenderness, your aff. father, MAT TILGHMAN.
Mrs. Margaret Carroll, in London.
Extract from a letter of James Tilghman to the widow of his son, Col. Tench Tilghman, on the death of her father, Matthew. It is dated Chester Town, May 6, 1790:
You will believe me when I say that I am most deeply affected by the loss of my dear Brother, the last companion of my youth, closely con- nected by the ties of blood and long warm and uninterrupted friend- ship. Yet I am sensible that the nearer relation of your mother and yourself must make your feelings more pressing than mine. I who have so much need of a comforter myself, would make but an indifferent one. All that I can do for you or myself is to place and view objects in their proper light. I consider death as an event in the course of nature and the dispensations of Providence and the inevitable lot of all men and soon to be my own. I view my dear departed Brother as having lived a long and happy life, always prepared for the sudden call which he and all of us had reason to expect and in which I really think he was happy. I consider him also as having left his family in easy circum- stances and blessed with good dispositions. These were his blessings and are such as fall to the share of few, very few, indeed and afford us reflections which must comfort us amidst that grief which nature de- mands. We cannot avoid feeling the weight of sorrow but we must not let sorrow run into despair, nor grieve without hope. To those who are prepared I esteem sudden death, when it is the termination of a long life a favour of Providence. We pray against it because few men are prepared for it but to a good man and his friends it is certainly a favour.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.