Hillgartner Family History: Tillotson

(var. Tilston, Tilson, Tillitson)

The village of Tilston lies 12 miles south of Chester, midway between Carden Hall and Malpas, in the county of Cheshire, England. The township seems to have existed under another name as far back as 449. It became the manor of Tillestone in the early tenth century, when control of northern Mercia was wrested from the Vikings. The walled city of Chester is even older, and hard by the border of Wales. The walls of the famous Tilston Castle remain standing, and can be seen southeast from the Tower on the Wall at Chester, pointing like an arrow at the Welsh hills.

When William the Conqueror defeated Harold in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings, it was only the beginning of a long campaign to subdue the rest of Saxon England. Lancashire and Cheshire counties were the last to yield. Chester was the last of the cities to submit. William marched north as far as Malpas, where he made Robert, son of Hugh of Normandy, the new Baron, and his own nephew Hugh Lupas the Earl of Chester. Lupas then marched toward Chester and took the city after heavy fighting, having been repulsed 3 times. His sword is in the British Museum, and is nearly four feet long.

Hugh immediately began work on rebuilding the walls and a new castle. But that wasn't all; for further protection, the Lupas gave the manor of Tilston to a Norman Knight named Eynion, who thus became Sir Eynion de Tilston and proceeded to build his own castle. He is the ancestor of all the branches of the Tilston and Tillotson families.

Sir Eynion de Tilston, the first Tillotson

Eynion must have been a capable man, and almostly certainly a mighty warrior. The Welsh were not subdued by the English until 1283, and the Tilston family must have been a brave clan not to have had their throats cut holding that wild border for 120 years.

No doubt this explains why Tilston is designated the most important part of the great Barony of Malpas at the time of the Doomsday Survey. But the language in the Doomsday Book raises some intriguing questions. "William de Malpas released to Eynion, son of Richard de Tilston for his homage, these lands in Tilston, which he had of the gift of Eynion Ap Cadugan".

Was the homage in fact Richard's and not Eynion's? Eynion is not a Norman name, and it strikes me odd that the Tilston lands were "of the gift" of another Eynion named in the Welsh manner.

What if Richard was the knight stuck with the task of defending the outer border, and he cannily struck a deal with his designated enemy? The surest way to make a truce in those days was a marriage; and if Richard wed ap Cadugan, why not name his son after the chieftain handing over claim to the land?

In which case, the Lupas would have only been recognizing a good thing when they saw it. And the Tillotsons would have a direct link to the Celtic kingdoms of Wales.

The Last de Tilston

The time of Cromwell, and the Great Rebellion, 1650 to 1658, was pivotal in the history of the Tillotsons. The old city of Chester was again the last to yield to the Roundheads. The services of Robert Viscount, Cholmondeley of Kellis of the kingdom of Ireland, in a skirmish on Tilston Heath during the great Rebellion, are mentioned in his patent of the English barony of Cholmondeley.

So there was fighting, and the Tilstons were unfortunately in the thick of it. In fact, the round heads hanged the head of the family for his desperate resistance in the cause of the Stuarts. In 1658, when Charles the 1st returned to the throne, there was still a Nicholas de Tilston at Tilston Castle, but with greatly diminished resources. Some of the branches of Tilston scattered to Yorkshire and Lancashire; others established themselves in London, and several left for America.

Bishop Henry Tilson

Another Tillotson who picked the wrong side was the Right Rev. Henry Tilson, D. D., Yorkshire Bishop. Born in 1576, he took a degree in arts at Oxford in 1597 and became a master of the college. In October, 1615 he was made vicar of Rochdale, in Lancashire, where he met and became chaplain to the Earl of Strafford. When the Earl was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, he went with him and landed the twin posts of Dean of Christ Church in Dublin, and vice-chancellor of the University. "Continuing in good esteem for his learning and piety", he had the See of Elphin conferred upon him in 1639. Now he had lands and a castle; he installed his son Henry as Governor.

Unfortunately for Henry, the Irish rose up against the King in 1641. His son , Captain Henry Tilson, threw in with Sir Charles Coot and the rebels. Retribution was swift; on the 16th of August, 1645, the Bishop was forced to deliver the Castle of Elphin into the hands of the Lord President of Connaught. His library and worldly goods were appropriated by Boctius Egan his replacement, and Henry fled back to England for safety.

He settled at Soothall near Batley in Yorkshire, where some of his relatives lived. Having thirteen in his family and being stripped of his income, he was obliged to improvise. Henry consecrated a room at Soothall, called to this day, the Bishop's parlor, so he could hold services and pass the hat. When he at last found church, it was eleven miles away. He had no horse and had to walk.

But Henry persevered. It was reported: "That on a sacrament day, people hearing that Bishop Tilson would preside, came in great numbers, and twenty-two bottles of wine were used in the services.". He was either a very good preacher, or he knew how to attract a crowd on a dry Sunday. He died March 31, 1655, at age 80.

Archbishop John Tillotson

A Tillotson who dealt with these troubled times rather better was John Tillotson, who became Archbishop of Canterbury. John was born in Sowerby, Yorkshire Oct. 1630. His father Robert was a Puritan clothier. His aunt was Alice Nutter of Roughlee Hall, who was hanged at Lancaster Castle as a witch. He managed to immerse himself in study at Cambridge during the great Rebellion, taking an advanced degree in 1654. He then found shelter from the ongoing turmoil as the private tutor to the family of Edmund Predeaux, the Attorney General under Cromwell. Returning to London, he became a Puritan preacher.

Upon Cromwell's death, Tillotson went over to the established Church. In 1664 he made an excellent marriage to Elizabeth French. Her father was canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and her uncle was Oliver Cromwell himself.

Tillotson's reputation as a fiery but skillful peacher began to grow. He advocated a natural religion and order of things in harmony with the new concepts of Isaac Newton. In the face of violent factionalism and intolerance, he preached that “Ignorance and inconsideration are the two great causes of the ruin of mankind”. Arguing against atheism, he coined his most famous phrase, that "if God did not exist, then man would have had to invent him." In 1678, he preached a sermon against "Popery" before the House of Commons, "a religion more mischievous than irreligion itself". But then, in a sermon before the King, he proposed that Catholics could enjoy their own faith, so long as they did not draw men away from the Church of England.

John Tillotson ministered to Lord Russell on his way to the scaffold in 1683. The Russell family gave him entrée to Princess Anne, who eventually followed his advice to settle the Crown on William of Orange. The new king made John Clerk of the King’s Closet in 1689. Acting on his counsel, William appointed an ecclesiastical commission to try and reconcile dissenters and the church.

John's even-handed diplomacy led to his election as Archbishop of Canterbury, in April 1691. He continued his efforts at reform. If the mark of a man is in the enemies he makes, John Tillotson achieved greatness. Fifty years later, he was still being attacked as if he were alive and well, accused that he "denies the divinity of Christ... denies the eternity of hell torments... speaks of the Old Testament as not good nor relating to Christ... makes Christianity good for nothing but to keep societies in order…” (Diaries of Bishop George Horne, 1750).

John Tillotson suddenly took ill during a sermon and died in London, Nov. 24, 1694. He had only been archbishop three years, and yet he had lasting influence. By embracing Newtonian science and natural religion, and standing up to both Calvinist and Jacobite, Tillotson "more than any other archbishop in his century had shifted the church's thinking toward religious teleration, constitutional monarchy, and the new science" (Margaret G. Jacob, "Christianity and the Newtonian Worldview"). Perhaps as significant, his “Collected Sermons” became a best-seller in the New World, and were found in the personal libraries of Washington and Jefferson.

The First American Tillotson

Virtually every Tillotson in America is descended from John Tillotson. However, there were actually three of them, all named John, each of whom emigrated to a different colony the New World. They were all related to each other, and to the Archbishop who remained behind in England, as follows:

John Tillotson of Rowley

The John Tillotson who immigrated to New England was born in Halifax, Yorkshire on June 29, 1618. He and his sisters were orphaned when he was ten and became wards of an uncle. At age 16 John set sail on the ship James from Southhampton, and arrived in Boston in June, 1635.

The first of many references to John in Massachusetts places him at Rowley in 1639, as one of the initial settlers and original property owners. He married Dorcas Coleman on July 14, 1648 in Newbury, Massachusetts. She was born in 1630 in Marlboro, England. Dorcas bore John three children: Mary, John, and James, before she died on January 1, 1654. John soon remarried, to Jane Evans of Lyme, Connecticut on May 24, 1655.

John Tillotson evidently had a wild streak in him which didn't sit well with his Puritan neighbors. First off, he fathered a child in March 1648, four months before his marriage to Dorcas Coleman. Little Mary Tillotson probably died at birth; no mother was named. It was the first in a long length of scrapes and transgressions

1650: "John Tillotson, it is well knowne what he is, the town gave him 30s but this winter to make a bane."
September 1650: Sued and found guilty of killing the mare of James Noyes, for which he was ordered to pay 27 pounds. John did not much like the decision; he was later presented in a public church meeting "for scandalous and reproachful speech cast upon the elders and authorities."
April 1656: John Tillotson admonished for chaining his wife to the bedpost with a plow chain to keep her within doors.
November 1657: "John Tilison sentenced to the house of correction”. But he was released and bound to "good behaviour and to live with his wife and prvyde for her acording to his place as a husband ought to doe."
1659: John Tilison, upon complaint of Mr. Dummer, fined for false oath, and to pay fees of the Constable of Newbury.

The last of John’s children was born in Saybrook, Connecticut, where the family moved about 1660. Either John had lost patience with Massachusetts, or Massachusetts had lost patience with him. Jane Evans bore him four children: Philadelphia, Joseph, Johnathan, and Jacob. John Tillotson died on June 7, 1670 in Lyme, Connecticut leaving an estate valued at 84 pounds.

John Tillotson of New London

John’s oldest son seems to have inherited his father’s ornery streak. He figures prominently in the “New London and Lyme Riot of 1670”, one of the odder battles in colonial history. When the town of Lyme was incorporated in 1668, the colony granted a 2-mile strip of meadow land along the river “for the use of the ministry of that town”. Unfortunately, the tract had long been used by the older town of New London for the same purpose.

In August, 1671, 30 or so men from New London, led by Major Edward Palmes of the local militia, and including the junior John Tillotson, went to the meadow to cut grass for their minister. They were met and challenged by a mowing party from Lyme. “A good many hard words and some blows were exchanged”, pitchforks were raised and rakes were drawn. The constables of either town rushed in, and the parties were persuaded to suspend hostilities and take it to the courts. “Soe, drinking a dram together, with som seeming friendship, every man departed to his home”.

At the county court in Hartford, various residents of Lyme and Lt. William Waller presented complaints against “sundry of New London”, including John Tillitson, for attempts “by violence to drive them off their lands, resistance to authority, and assault”. Tilliston was also singled out for “riotous practices”. On March 12, 1671, the court imposed a fine on the town of New London of 9 pounds, and on Lyme of 5 pounds.

There is an interesting footnote some thirty years later. In 1700 the governor ordered the Treasurer “to sue any persons that refuse to pay their just dues to the Colonie, and to make sale of any lands taken by distress from Maj Palmes, John Martin, and John Tillison.” The men from New London may not have taken taken their medicine gracefully.

John married a local girl from Hartford, Mary Morris, on November 25, 1680, and raised five sons and two daughters. Mary died sometime before September, 1707, and John remarried to Ruth Terry of Southold, New York. There appears to have been some tension between the children and their stepmother. John passed away on June 5, 1719 with a final parting shot in his will. After leaving his wife the bulk of his estate, “though being sick and weak in body but perfect mind and memory” he bequeathed the following:

To my son Morris… besides what he hath received of me by deed of gift, three books.
To my two daughters Mary and Martha… the rest of my household goods not before disposed of… provided that each of them pay… their mother Ruth Tillotson one pound five pence apiece.
To my son Thomas Tillotson, I give all my… tools and all my leather… together with my gun and sword provided that my said son Thomas do come to Saybrook and dwell with his mother and be helpful… but upon his refusal ...(rest of sentence unreadable).
To my son Ebenezer.. aft my wife's decease my now dwelling house and the land adjoining.
To my two sons Joshua and Joseph Tillotson, for their undutiful carriage, actings and behaviours unto me, I see just cause leave and bequeath unto them no more but five shillings in money besides what they have had and received.

In fact John had already gifted much of his property to his sons and daughters. Joseph, for example, already had the rights to ancestral lands in Sowerby Bridge in Yorkshire, back in England, and other property in Newberry, Massachusetts. He went on to be one of the richest men in Hartford, before he lost it all by standing surety for friends and relatives who ran off with the money. He made good the losses, but it destroyed his health, and probably drove his descendants westward in search of new opportunities.

Tillotsons in the American Revolution

John Tillotson, Joseph’s grandson, marched north from Farmington, Connecticut to join the Boston muster in 1775 after the battles at Concord and Lexington. He arrived in time to join Captain Prescott’s company which occupied and defended Bunker Hill, and served until at least the Battle of White Plains. He went on to marry Elizabeth Brockway, become Justice of the Peace in Genoa, New York, and a Brigadier-General in the New York State Militia.

William Tilson was a descendant of the Tillotsons who emigrated to Virginia from Ireland. Joining the Virginia Militia at the outbreak of hostilies, he served as one of General Washington’s aides-de-camp for the duration of the conflict.

Dr. Thomas Tillotson, of the Tillotsons who emigrated to Maryland, was commissioned first lieutenant in the Maryland Militia in 1776. He served as physician and surgeon-general to Washington’s Continental Army at Valley Forge. On February 3, 1778, he was one of the first Americans to take a formal oath of allegiance to the new country, signing on the same page as George Washington.
He later became Secretary of the State of New York under Governor Clinton, and was charged with the relief of prisoners of war. Thomas also appears as a co-petitioner to the State of Massachusetts in March, 1780, asking that Noah Stodard be commissioned captain of the privateer “Amazon”. He later married the sister of Robert Livingston, one of the delegates to the original Continental Congress, served in both houses of the New York State Legislature, and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1801.

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