The History of the Tilley Family and Name

This page documents information about some of the Tilley family and name, which leads up to my wife Bobbi's maternal grandfather's family. English records of the Tilley name date back to the eleventh century following the Norman Conquest. This information may be useful if you are interested in tracing the Tilley name; but, be aware that a lack of imagination in bestowing given names existed then, and can make this a bit difficult to follow.

The name of Tilley is said to be of Norman origin, and derived from the village of Tilly in the department of Clavados in Normandy. It was undoubtedly taken into England at the time of the Conquest in 1066. It was found on ancient records in the various forms of Tylly, Tilli, Tillie, Tylye, Tilly, and Tilley, of which the last is the most generally accepted form in the US.

Families of this name were found at early dates in the English counties of Somerset, Dorset, Devon, York, Cornwell, and London. They were, for the most part, of the landed gentry and yeoman of Great Britain. It is said that the English families of the Tilley name trace their descent from a Norman knight, who followed William the Conqueror in the invasion of England, and was rewarded for his services by grants of land in England.

From this Knight descended Ralph de Tylly, who with Phillip de Tylly (possibly Ralph's brother), was recorded in Dorset County England during the reigns of King Henry the III (1216-72) and Edward the I (1272-1307). Other early records of the name in England are John Tylye of Somersetshire during Edward the III's reign; Henry de Tilly of Devonshire a bit later; Johannes Tilly of Yorkshire in 1379; and John Tilley, probably of Devonshire in the 16th century.

John was the father of two sons, William and John. William had three sons, William, John and James, all of whom emigrated to America in the early 18th century. More about William's sons in a bit. John the brother of William (got the right one?) was the father of John, Elinor, and William. This last mentioned William emigrated to America about the beginning of the 18th century, and more is mentioned about him below, beginning two paragraphs down, also.

The first members of the Tilley family to emigrate to America were John and Edward, who traveled with the Pilgrams on the Mayflower in 1620. They are believed to have been brothers. Edward brought his wife with him, but he died the first winter in America. John also brought his wife, probably Bridget Van der Veld, and their daughter Elizabeth. John died in 1621 without any sons to carry on the name.

There are other members of the Tilley family who emigrated to America in the early 17th century, but they left few records of themselves and their families: Hugh Tilley was in Salem, Mass in 1629 and later moved to Yarmouth where he died in 1648. John Tilley was in Dorchester, Mass in 1630 (some authorities claim this person emigrated at a much earlier date, but I'm sure they just didn't keep their Johns straight.) William Tilly, or Tilley, moved from London to Boston, probably with his wife Alice and his brother Nathaniel, in 1635. Thomas Tilley moved to Plymouth, Mass. in 1643, and Anthony Tilly moved to Lancaster County, Va in 1654.

William Tilley, mentioned above as son of John Tilley from Devonshire, England, is believed to have emigrated to America about the beginning of the 18th century and to have settled in Boston. William and his wife Isabella had two children, Isabella and Grace. John married a second wife, Abigail Woodmancy, in 1703, but no further children are recorded. At a slightly later date this William's cousins, William Jr, John, and James, mentioned above as the sons of William Tilley of Devonshire, came to America.

William Tilley, Jr was probably the oldest of these three brothers. He married his wife Dorcas Earle in Boston about 1732, and moved to Newport, RI. William Jr had a number of children, one of whom was named William and married Elizabeth Rogers in 1759. William and Elizabeth had a number of children: Mary, William (died in infancy), William (died young), Sarah, James, Thomas, Betsey, William, Elizabeth, Dorcas, George (died young), Abraham, John, Tabor, Patience, George, Benjamin, and Nancy.

John Tilley, the brother of William Jr, moved from Boston to New York City, and had at least two sons, Leonard and Samuel. Leonard was the father of a son named Alexander. Samuel married Mary Morgan in 1765, and was the father of James, Jacob, and Elizabeth.

James, the youngest brother of William Jr and John, moved to New London, Connecticut, and married Hannah Savel in 1742. They had three children Mary, James, and John. The second son, James, married Mary Miller, and they had four children - Elizabeth, James, William, and Mary.

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For additional information about another branch of the Tilley family see Christine Spencer's page for William Tilley and Mary Cotton

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More Tilley information on the "About the author page" at |The Great American Story |

BibliographyRSAC Content Rating

The above data has been complied mostly from the following sources:

ICRA Content Rating

Bardsley, English and Welsh Surnames, 1901.
Swain, Swain and Allied Families, 1896.
Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of New England, 1860.
Gif Compression Austin, Ancestral Dictionary, 1892
Hughes, American Ancestry, 1889, Vol. IV.
Tilley, Genealogy of the Tilley Family, 1878.
Greer, Early Virginia Immigrants, 1912.
Heitman, Officers of the Continental Army, 1914.
Burke, Encyclopaedia of Heraldry, 1851.