This collection (22 items) is made up of drafts of James Tilghman's outgoing business correspondence, as well as letters and documents addressed and otherwise pertaining to him. Most items relate to the Pennsylvania Land Office and correspondents' financial affairs.
The first item is a mortgage between George Hawkins and Robert Strettell of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, containing additional dated notes regarding payments (January 1, 1761). Between August 13, 1768, and November 17, 1774, James Tilghman wrote and received around 18 letters and documents (including his own retained copies and drafts) concerning his correspondents' financial affairs, often related to land ownership and mercantile trade; 2 late letters pertain to land west of the Allegheny Mountains and in Virginia. The collection also includes a financial account between James Tilghman and the firm Speirs & French, to whom Tilghman sold rope, nails, shoes, and other items (1773), and an undated memorandum concerning a shipment of indigo and medicines. John Fallon wrote the final letter to William M. Tilghman in 1870, wondering whether Tilghman intended to sell his property in South Carolina.
James Tilghman, the son of Richard Tilghman and Anna Maria Lloyd, was born at his family's estate in Maryland on December 6, 1716. He practiced law in Annapolis, Maryland, before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1760. He married Anne Francis, daughter of Pennsylvania Secretary of State Tench Francis, on September 30, 1743, and they had ten children: Tench (1744-1786), Richard (1746-1786), James (1748-1809), Anna Maria (1750-1817), Elizabeth (b. 1754), William (1756-1827), Mary (1758-1789), Philemon (1760-1797), Henrietta Maria (b. 1763), and Thomas Ringgold (1765-1789).
In the 1760s and early 1770s, Tilghman was secretary of Pennsylvania Land Office, a member of the Philadelphia City Council, and a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council. He was arrested as a Loyalist during the Revolution and lived on parole in Charlestown, Maryland, from 1777 to 1778. He then returned to Philadelphia, where he lived until his death on August 24, 1793.
