James Tilghman (70)

Election date: 1768 (Elected to the revived American Philosophical Society.)

James Tilghman (6 December 1716–24 August 1793) was a lawyer and public official and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in Maryland to a wealthy family, Tilghman moved to Philadelphia with his own family around 1763. He spent much of his adult life using his legal knowledge in a variety of elected offices, serving in the Philadelphia Common Council and the Philadelphia Provincial Council before assuming an appointment as secretary of the Pennsylvania Land Office. In the years before the American Revolution, Tilghman supported American resistance to British policies and signed the Non-Importation Agreement. However, he eventually advocated a continued connection with Great Britain. This position attracted the attention of Philadelphia revolutionaries who had him arrested in 1777. Tilghman negotiated favorable a parole which was then lifted when he took the oath of allegiance in 1778. Following the war, his place in the new republic was confirmed by his reappointment to the Land Office. His son William Tilghman was an APS member. (PI)




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