USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I > Part 72
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Elizabeth Tilghman, b. Aug. 27, 1782; m. William Cooke, of Baltimore, Md .; BENJAMIN TILGHMAN, b. Jan. 6, 1785; of whom presently;
Mary Anna Tilghman, b. Feb. 25, 1795; d. Feb. 2, 1878; m. William Rawle; Richard Tilghman, d. y .;
Several other children d. inf.
BENJAMIN TILGHMAN, second son of Edward and Elizabeth (Chew) Tilgh- man, born in Philadelphia, January 6, 1785, graduated at University of Pennsyl- vania, and studied law with his father. Admitted to Philadelphia bar, and prac- ticed for many years ; died May 30, 1850. He married Anna Maria McMurtrie, who survived him many years, dying in April, 1872.
Issue of Benjamin and Anna Maria (McMurtrie) Tilghman:
Maria Tilghman, unm .; Elizabeth Tilghman, unm .; .
Edward Tilghman, of Phila .;
William McMurtrie Tilghman, b. Nov. 4, 1815; entered Univ. of Pa., 1829, but left at end of first year; studied at Kenyon College, O. 1831-33; studied law, and admitted to Phila. bar; member of American Philosophical Society; m. Katharine, dau. of Ed- ward Ingersoll, Esq .;
Anna Maria Tilghman, unm .;
Benjamin Chew Tilghman, graduated at Univ. of Pa .; studied law and practiced at Phila. bar; was Colonel and Brigadier General of Penna. Volunteers during Civil War;
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RICHARD ALBERT TILGHMAN, b. May 18, 1823; m. Susan Price Toland; of whom pres- ently ;
Emily Tilghman, d. inf.
RICHARD ALBERT TILGHMAN, third son of Benjamin and Anna Maria (McMur- trie) Tilghman, born in Philadelphia, May 18, 1823, entered University of Penn- sylvania, 1837, graduated with degree of Master of Arts, 1841 ; chemist. Mar- ried, April 26, 1860, Susan Price, third child and eldest daughter of Robert Toland, by his wife, Rebecca, born May 19, 1799, daughter of John Morgan Price, by wife, Susanna, daughter of John and Lowry (Jones) Wister, a lineal descend- ant of Hans Casper Wister, of Hilspach, Germany, and of Dr. Edward Jones, of Merion, and Dr. Thomas Wynne, Speaker of first Pennsylvania Assembly.
Issue of Richard Albert and Susan P. (Toland) Tilghman:
Benjamin Chew Tilghman, Jr., b. Phila., March 17, 1861 ; entered Univ. of Pa., 1877, graduated 1881; manufacturer; Adjutant of Third Regiment, Infantry, National Guard of Penn., 1897; Major of Third Regiment Penn. Infantry, in Spanish-American War, mustered in May II, 1898, and mustered out with his regiment, October 22, 1898; m. at St. Mark's Church, Phila., Nov. 18, 1888, Mai, dau. of Walter McMichael, of Phila .; issue: Benjamin Chew, b. Jan. 15, 1890; Edith Sarah Tilghman, m. Nov. 3, 1886, Jesse Nalle, of Richmond, Va .; they have three children;
Susan Toland Tilghman, b. 1863; m. Ludovico Lante del la Rovere; they reside in Rome, Italy, and had three daughters and one son;
Richard Albert Tilghman, Jr., b. Jan. 24, 1865; Cornet of City Troop; member of Frank- lin Institute ; m. at house of Mrs. Samuel Chew, May 8, 1889, Gabriella, dau. of Cheval- lier de Potestad, of Spanish Legation; he d. June 12, 1906; their issue was :
Gabriella, b. May, 1891;
Richard, b. 1893.
Agnes Tilghman, b. 1868; m. John Hooker Packard; they had two sons and one daugh- ter ;
Angela Tilghman, b. 1871; d. 1894; m. George Preston.
HAMILTON FAMILY.
ANDREW HAMILTON, the earliest and most conspicuous champion of the liberty of speech and of the press in America, as well as one of the ablest lawyers and statesmen the colonies produced, was over twenty-five years a resident of Phila- delphia. A Scotchman by birth, his migration to America, and its cause, is some- what shrouded in mystery. The family tradition is that he was obliged to flee from his native country in consequence of the killing of a person of some import- ance in a duel. Always the champion of right and justice, even when opposed to conventional customs or laws, he was doubtless involved in some of the political difficulties of Great Britain during the reign of King William.
He was born about 1676, and seems to have come to America during the first decade of the following century. On March 26, 1708, he purchased of John Toads 600 acres on the north side of Chester River in Kent county, Maryland, present site of the town of Millington, the plantation being then known by the name of "Henberry." In the deed for this property he is described as of North- ampton county, Virginia. During his residence in Virginia, he seems to have con- cealed his real name and have taken the name of Trent. The fact that, after the accession of Queen Anne, he resumed his real name, may be taken to indicate that his flight and temporary obscure life in Virginia was caused by some political trouble. As he eventually returned to England and obtained admission to Gray's Inn and the English Bar, it is very evident that he did not emigrate to America under any disgraceful charge.
While a resident of Virginia, he is said to have had charge of an estate and to have conducted a classical school. After his removal to Kent county, Mary- land, he practiced law not only in Kent, but in adjoining counties, and as far north as Philadelphia, making "Henberry" his residence several years. By 1712 he was established in Chestertown with a large practice and a great reputation as a lawyer. In that year he was retained as attorney for William Penn in a suit against Berkley Codd, Esq., of Sussex county, on the Delaware, whose step great- granddaughter Andrew Hamilton, son of the distinguished attorney, later mar- ried, obtaining through her the handsome estate of "Woodlands," near Philadel- phia, the home of the family several generations. The suit of Penn vs. Codd had to do with a dispute over the rights of Penn under the grant from the Duke of York.
It is supposed that the legal studies of Andrew Hamilton, commenced in Great Britain, must have been completed in Maryland, where there were, among the officials of the government, several men of considerable legal attainments, and among the gentry of the Eastern shore, some highly educated men. He, however, felt the need of the additional standing which membership in the English Bar gave to those practicing before the early Colonial Justices, and late in 1712 sailed for England, on January 27, 1712-13, was admitted a member of Gray's Inn, as Mr. Andrew Hamilton of Maryland, and on the tenth of February following, was called to the Bar.
Returning to Maryland, he resumed his extensive practice at Chestertown. He
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was selected as one of the Assembly summoned by Gov. John Hart, to meet on April 26, 1715, for the purpose of codifying the laws of the Province of Maryland, being one of the four deputies from Kent county. Not being present when the Assembly met, he was summoned by the sergeant-at-arms, and on his appearance excused himself on the ground that he was engaged as counsel in an important case before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The delegates fined him forty- five shillings for non-attendance, but they placed him at once on the Committee of Laws, and the forty-six chapters of the Acts of 1715, codified by that committee, formed the basis of the statute law of the Province down to the Revolution, and long afterwards. Some time during the next two years, Andrew Hamilton gave up his Maryland residence and made his home in Philadelphia. He had subse- quently added to his purchase of "Henberry" a neighboring plantation called "Partnership," and after removing to Philadelphia, sold both estates, by deed dated September 16, 1717, to Gilbert Falconer.
Andrew Hamilton was appointed Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, September 24, 1717, and held that office until his resignation in 1726, his successor, Joseph Growdon, Junr., of Bucks county, being commissioned September 26, 1726. In 1720 he was called to the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, and only consented to serve on condition that his attendance should not be allowed to interfere with the practice of his profession ; and though he retained membership in the Council until his death in 1741, he seems rarely if ever to have taken a seat in that body.
On his resignation of Attorney General's office, he made an extended visit to England, and on his return, June 5, 1727, was appointed by Gov. Patrick Gordon, Prothonotary of the Court of Philadelphia. He had previously, July 30, 1723. been made a Master of the High Court of Chancery. In 1727 he was elected a member of the Colonial Assembly from Bucks county, and continued to represent that county in the House until the close of the session in 1739, filling the position of speaker from 1729 until his voluntary retirement, excepting the session of 1733-4; receiving at one time the unanimous vote of the members for that office. He took a leading part in the business of the House from the first, being chairman of its most important committees, and the author of most of the addresses to the Governor and Proprietors, as well as to the English Government, and also draughtsman of the important Acts. He was a trustee of the Loan Office, and had charge of the building of the new historic State House at Philadelphia, for which he furnished the designs.
The address of Andrew Hamilton to the Assembly at the close of the session of 1739, when he announced his retirement from that body, so well illustrates the high character and noble resolves of the man, as well as his appreciation of the benefits of the form of government enacted by William Penn, that we insert it here almost in its entirety.
Gentlemen :
As the service of the Country should be the only Motive to induce any man to take upon him the Country's Trust, which none ought to assume who find themselves incapable of giving such a constant Attendance as the nature of so great Trust requires; and as you are witnesses of the frequent Indispositions of Body I have so long laboured under, particularly during the winter Season (the usual Time of doing Business here), and being apprehensive that, by Reason of my Age and Infirmities, which daily increase, I may be unable to discharge the Duty expected from a Member of Assembly: I therefore hope that these Considerations alone, were there no others, will appear to you sufficient to justify the Determination I am come to, of declining the farther Service of the Province in a Representative Capacity.
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As to my Conduct, it is not for me to condemn or commend it. Those who have sat here from time to time during my Standing, and particularly these several Gentlemen present, who were Members when I first came into the House (whom I now see with Pleasure), have the Right to judge of my Behavior, and will censure or approve it as it has deserved. But what- ever that may have been, I know my own Intentions, and that I ever had at Heart the Preservation of Liberty, the Love of which, as it first drew me to, so it constantly prevailed upon me to reside in, this Province, tho' to the manifest Prejudice of my Fortune.
But (waiving all Remarks of a private Nature, which Reflections of this kind might naturally, and justly lead me into) I would beg Leave to observe you, That it is not to the Fertility of our Soil, and the Commodiousness of our Rivers, that we ought chiefly to attribute the great Progress this Province has made, within so small a Compass of Years, in Improve- ments, Wealth, Trade, and Navigation, and the extraordinary Increase of People, who have been drawn thither from almost every Country in Europe; a Progress which much more ancient Settlements on the Main of America cannot at present boast of, No, it is principally and almost wholly owing to the Excellency of our Constitution, under which we enjoy a greater Share both of civil and religious Liberty than any of our Neighbours.
It is our great Happiness that instead of trienniel Assemblies, a Privilege which several other Colonies have long endeavored to obtain, but in vain, ours are annual, and for that Reason, as well as others, less liable to be practiced upon, or corrupted, either, with Money or Presents. We sit upon our own Adjournments, when we please, and as long as we think necessary, and are not to be sent a Packing, in the Middle of a Debate, and disabled from representing our just Grievances to our Gracious Sovereign, if there should be Occasion, which has often been the hard fate of Assemblies in other Places.
We have no Officers but what are necessary; none but what earn their Salaries, and those generally are either elected by the People or appointed by their Representatives.
Other Provinces swarm with unnecessary Officers, nominated by the Governors, who often make it a main Part of their Care to Support these Officers (notwithstanding their Oppressions). At all events, I hope it will ever be the Wisdom of our Assemblies to create no great Offices or Officers, nor indeed any Officer at all, but what is really necessary for the Service of the Country, and to be sure to let the People, or their Representatives, have at least, a Share in their Nomination or Appointment. This will always be a good Security against the mischievious Influence of Men holding Places at the Pleasure of the Governor.
Our foreign Trade and Shipping are free from all Imposts, except the small Duties pay- able to his Majesty by the Statute Laws of Great Britain. The Taxes which we pay for carrying on the Publick Service is inconsiderable; for the sole Power of raising and disposing of the Publick Money for the support of Government is lodged in the Assembly, who appoint their own Treasurer, and to them alone he is accountable. Other incidental Taxes are assessed, collected and applied by Persons annually chosen by the People themselves. Such is our happy State as to Civil Rights. Nor are we less happy in the enjoyment of a perfect Freedom as to Religion. By many years Experience, we find that an Equality among Relig- ious Societies, without distinguishing any one Sect with greater Privileges than another, is the most effectual Method to discourage Hypocrisy, promote the Practice of moral Virtues, and prevent the Plagues and Mischiefs that always attend religious Squabbling.
This is our Constitution, and this Constitution was framed by the wisdom of Mr. Penn, the first Proprietor and Founder of the Province, whose Charter of Privileges to the Inhabit- ants of Pennsylvania will ever remain a Monument of his Benevolence to Mankind and reflect more lasting Honour on his Descendants than the largest Possessions. In the Framing of this Government, he reserved no Powers to himself or his Heirs to oppress the People; no Authority but what is necessary for our Protection, and to hinder us from falling into Anarchy; and therefore (supposing we could persuade ourselves that all our Obligations to our great Law-giver, and his honourable Descendants, were entirely cancelled, yet), our own Interests should oblige us carefully to support the Government on its present Foundation, as the only Means to secure to ourselves and our Posterity the enjoyment of those Privileges, and the Blessings flowing from such a Constitution, under which we cannot fail of being happy if the Fault be not our own. * * *
As this, Gentlemen, is likely to be the last Time I may trouble you with anything in this Place, I hope you will the more easily pardon the Liberties I have taken; and that you will farther permit me here to acknowledge my Obligations to that County, which has so often elected me for one of their Representatives; and at the same time to assure you, that I shall always retain a grateful Sense of the great Confidence so long reposed in me, and the Honour so frequently conferred upon me by many successive Assemblies, in calling me to the Chair of this honourable House.
Strange though it may appear, it would seem that Andrew Hamilton, during a portion of the time that he was serving as Speaker of the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania, was also filling a like position in the Assembly of the Three Lower counties, now the State of Delaware. The Laws of Delaware, printed by Franklin, 1741, show that a number of the more elaborate statutes bear the signature of
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Andrew Hamilton, as Speaker. Among them are the Acts for Regulating Elections ; for securing the Administration of Estates; for the confirmation of titles to lands ; and for establishing Courts of Law and Equity. These were all, without doubt, like the important statutes on these lines in Pennsylvania, drawn by Andrew Hamilton, and have been cited as evidence of his great ability by emi- nent lawyers. A letter from John French, Speaker of the House of the Lower Counties, dated March 15, 1726, tenders to Andrew Hamilton the thanks of "The Representatives of this Government in Assembly" for services "you have this session done."
It is mainly through the laws that bear impress of his professional ability, that we gain an accurate knowledge of Mr. Hamilton's eminent ability as a lawyer, as only fragmentary and traditional evidences of his professional attainments have come down to us, with the exception of his celebrated argument in the Zenger Libel Case, in New York, which, says truly one of his biographers, "has procured for him a place, in the History Of Liberty, and has been called by Gouverneur Morris, the 'Day Star of the Revolution,' as it unquestionably awakened the public mind throughout the Colonies, to a conception of the most sacred rights as Citizens and as subjects of a Free Country."
John Peter Zenger, whom, it is said, Andrew Hamilton knew, when a resident of Kent county, Maryland, had gone to New York, where he learned the printer's trade with William Bradford. November 5, 1733, Zenger started the publication of The New York Weekly Journal. It at once marked a new era in American journalism, as up to that time political discussion was unknown in American newspapers, and almost as much so in England. Zenger's Journal from the first was filled with a series of articles able, witty, sarcastic, and severely personal, criticising the acts of officers of the government of New York and New Jersey, and harped incessantly on the "Liberty of the Press." The cry was readily taken up by the people of both states as well as in other localities, even as far south as Charleston, where a paper of like calibre was soon started. The columns of the Journal were open to all, and the leading articles were doubtless written by Lewis Morris, James Alexander and William Smith, the leaders of the popular party, as opposed to the "Court Party" composed of the adherents of Gov. Cosby of New York, between which two factions an extraordinarily bitter contest was being waged, at the polls, in the forum of public opinion and in the halls of legislation and government. On the election of Morris as a member of the New York Assembly from Westchester county, Zenger's paper was filled with songs, squibs and articles exulting over the victory and severely scoring the other party. When a year later, 1734, a like rejoicing over the success of the popular party, had further incensed the Court Party, Chief Justice DeLancey charged the Grand Jury that Zenger's paper was inculcating treason and defamation, and insisted on his indictment, but they contented themselves with presenting the songs and copies of the papers to be burned by the common hangman. A year later, however, August 4. 1735, Zenger was brought to trial. Alexander and Smith, who appeared as Zenger's counsel, were disbarred by Chief Justice DeLancey. The friends of Zenger then secured the services of Andrew Hamilton, who undertook the case without fee or reward. Hamilton admitted the publication of the articles by his client and laid the whole stress of his argument on their non-libelous character. The Chief Justice refusing to listen, Hamilton turned to the jury and declared
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that, as the court would not hear him, the jury alone must be judge of the law, as well as of the facts. And then for hours the great advocate held the packed courtroom spell-bound, as he made the first plea ever heard in America for the freedom of the citizen and of the press, from the tyranny of the rulers, and in their criticism of their public acts. Despite the extremely bitter charge of the Chief Justice, the verdict of the jury was "not guilty," and Zenger was borne away in triumph on the shoulders of his friends. It was the most memorable trial ever held in America, and established the principle that in such cases the jury must be judges of the law and the evidence, and was therefore a grand victory for the people. The next day, when Hamilton was about to take the boat for his home in Philadelphia, he was followed to the water's side by nearly the whole populace, who hailed him as the champion of popular liberty, and the corporation of New York presented him with the "freedom of the City" and a gold box for the seal. This speech of Andrew Hamilton was repeatedly printed in England and America, and justly "established its author's fame as the first lawyer of his time in the British Provinces." "It may be commended more for its bold enunciation of a principle, than for the accumulation of learned citations and for its argument from precedents ; but it uses its authorities with masterly skill, and deals crushing blows to the prosecution and the Court." The masterly effort in the interest of personal liberty is more to be commended from the fact that it was made entirely without remuneration or the hope thereof, and when the author was suffering from ill health.
Mr. Hamilton was in the employ of the Proprietary family, from his removal to Philadelphia until his death. In the difficulties with Lord Baltimore, he was particularly useful, and served in various commissions, to meet the Maryland authorities in framing the Terms of Agreement in 1732, upon which the case was brought before the Privy Council, and prepared the materials for the brief upon which it was finally submitted to the Court of Chancery, after his death. Chief Justice Langhorne, of Bucks county, in a letter to John Penn, dated May 20, 1737, says, "I am very sorry the dispute you have with Lord Baltimore, is not likely to be brought to an issue. * * Had Mr. Hamilton's advice been strictly pursued relating to the disputes with the province of Maryland, I am of opinion our province would have come off with more credit and reputation." Andrew Hamilton was held in high consideration by his professional brethren in the neighboring provinces, where his opinion was constantly sought for. He was also consulted by different Provincial Governors, and was employed in the courts of several colonies.
The first Philadelphia home of Andrew Hamilton, was the mansion on Chest- nut street near Third, where it is said his son Gov. James Hamilton was born, later owned and occupied by Israel Pemberton, and during Washington's adminis- tration occupied by Alexander Hamilton, as the Treasury Department of the United States. The "Bush Hill" estate, where his later days were spent and where he died, was granted to him by William Penn, from a part of the Manor of Springettsbury. It comprised that part of the present city of Philadelphia, extending from Vine street to Fairmount avenue and from Twelfth to Nineteenth. Here he erected a spacious and stately mansion in which he died, and where his son, the Governor, long exercised a magnificent and generous hospitality ; during
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Washington's administration it was the residence of John Adams, Vice-president of the United States.
He also owned a great amount of valuable real estate in the city, on Walnut and Chestnut streets and elsewhere; considerable land in New Jersey and the lower counties, and in Bucks county. He acquired a large estate in Lancaster county, on which the town plot of the city of Lancaster was laid out, 1728.
Andrew Hamilton died at Bush Hill, August 4, 1741, and was buried in the family burial-ground on that estate, but upon its sale his remains, with those of other members of the family, were removed to a spacious mausoleum in Christ Churchyard, which was closed upon the interment of the last of his name, about 1851.
Andrew Hamilton married, March 6, 1706, in Northampton county, Virginia, Anne, widow of Joseph Preeson, and daughter of Thomas and Susanna (Den- wood) Brown. She was a lady of some fortune, and was connected with many of the best families in Maryland. She died about 1736.
Issue of Andrew and Anne ( Brown-Preeson) Hamilton:
James Hamilton, Lieut .- Gov. of Pa., b. about 1710; d. unm., Aug. 14, 1783; "a gentleman of great dignity and private worth-distinguished for liberality and independence; the only native Governor of Pennsylvania before the Revolution; and probably the most esteemed of his countrymen, as well as the Proprietary Family." Was Prothonotary of Phila., 1733; member Colonial Assembly for Lancaster county, 1734-1738; elected to Common Council of Phila., 1739; Alderman and Associate Justice of the City Court, 1741; Mayor, 1745; member Provincial Council, 1745-1776; Deputy Governor of Pa., Nov. 23, 1748-Oct. 3, 1754; and again, Nov. 17, 1759-Oct. 31, 1763; "everybody pleased with the appointment," says Watson, "and a dinner given him at the Lodge;" again Acting Governor, as President of Council in 1771 and 1773; President of American Philosophical Society and of Board of Trustees of College of Phila., and interested in all public enterprises; he held by deed of gift from his father, the Lancaster property, which by his will, dated March 4, 1776, and proved Sept. 15, 1783, he devised, with the Bush Hill estate, to his nephew William Hamilton, Esq., of Phila., second son of his brother, Andrew; to his other nephews and their children he bequeathed his real estate in Phila. and nearly 10,000 acres of land in N. J .; to his nephew, William Hamil- ton, he devised the "Gold Box, which was presented to my Honoured Father with the Freedom of the Corporation of the City of New York;"
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