TOLAND SEARCH
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Because of the reported marriage of Susan Toland to Richard Tilghman in Philadelphia about 1700, as reported in, "Merion in the Welsh Tract" by Thomas Allen, page 277, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1976, a search has been continuing for Tolands, and for that Richard Tilghman. It was reported that he had 6 children, so this was a second marriage for him. So far, we have not found such a Richard Tilghman. There are several Richards in the Tilghman lines we have data for , but such a marriage is not reported and the Richards we do find had wives. I think it was from the Merion Church (Meeting) records. I spent nearly a day reading those records. However, at the time I was hot after the Rev. John Helme/Helling/Holmes who was there in Pennypac Church and later in Salem NJ. He was a Holmes, not Helme(s); although, there were church letters to him as Helme and Helling. He had quit coming to "Meeting" and they wanted to know why. It was their custom to kick anybody out who did not come regularly. (I think he was not a Reverend until he was in NJ,. later.) So far as I remember, the name Toland has not come up in the Tilghman records we have. It does come up in the Helms genealogy where Lewis Riley Helms married Ivey Toland in the late 1800's. Both Lewis and his wife were born in 1869, which is obviously too late to help us with that 1700 situation. I do find a Robb. "Tallent" in New Jersey Territory in 1677 and in Gloucester, NJ the same year. The only reason for including him is the propensity of the early English hand writers to use the "o" like and "e", and to misspell names. Along that line, a Jacob Tollin was found in Cumberland County NJ in 1781. Also, there was a Joseph Taluon in Gloucester, NJ in 1781. There was a Kathrina Teelen in Philadelphia in 1732, and Anna Catherine Thillen in Philadelphia, 1772. The earliest actual Toland or Tolan , etc. found in the Census data was Henry in Philadelphia, 1782. By 1790-1800, there were too many Toland, Tolland Tolan, Towland, etc in Pa. and adjoining areas to list. (John, James, Wm, Mary estate, Edward, Elias, Isaac, Benjamin, and others in 1790 , and 1800). Of course, the major source of these data is the Pre-1790 and 1790, 1800, censuses which is not conclusive as to their actual dates for coming here. A Census person was head of Household and of uncertain age. (Later, the census would have more information.) The Pre-1790, or Colonial Census is a collection from data such as tax lists, etc. I would need to look at the Philadelphia Library and other records for the Tolands. Somehow, I initially missed the significance of the Richard Tilghman to Toland marriage. So far as I know, Toland does not appear in the Tilghman records I have. For that reason, I think it possible that he may have been a Tilman, and may have been of German Tilmann descent, or of other Tilghman lines, which we are not familiar with. However, the Tilghmans were generally Anglicans and Loyalists (with some exceptions such as Col. Tench Tilghman who was Aide de Camp to Gen. Washington; so finding one in a Baptist Meeting may suggest he may have been was left out of the family roles. In the Toland list above , the "Mary, estate" is interesting because she would have been the widow, so could have been there a while. Her entry was actually in St. Georges Hundred which was in the part of DE, later to be in Pennsylvania. James, John and Wm in 1790 were similarly in New Castle Hundred, also to be later in Delaware. I did find a Peter Tilman in Philadelphia, 1730, and Christian and Jeremiah Tilman in Philadelphia in 1790; and Edward Tilghman in Philadelphia, 1790. Edward would probably be of the Tilghman families we know. The others would not. We need more on the Tilman families in the PA area, as it appears that they were not of the Tilghman set we know best. Thus, neither Toland(sp) nor Tilghman(sp) showed up as early as 1690-1700 in PA. Next, I tackled the World Family Tree, in which I did find roots leading back to Ireland for several Toland families, but none with people here by 1690. I even found a Meredith Toland. This writeup is in the nature of a progress report. There is no clear next step in this, as I have exhausted my resources here. Perhaps the Library of Congress, or Philadelphia sources may need to be searched further. Thus, Toland remains an important gap in our information-as well as the true identity of the Richard Tilghman, there, with children in about 1700. It would have been his second marriage, obviously. Perhaps there was an unlisted marriage of the Richard Tilghman of Maryland - to a Baptist, yet? That is another reason to want to review the extensive Tilghman genealogies at Philadelphia. (Just one look at the index of each would be sufficient.) I suppose the children could have been hers. I have Irish Census records for 1831 in county Londonderry and 1841 for county Cavan, which I have now checked for Toland(Sp). There were no Toland(sp) names in Cavan County-1841 census, but about 50 were listed in Londonderry County-1831. As follows: 25 at Templemore, 2 at Drumachose, Rathbraybeg, 2 at Glendermet/Glendermot, 2 in Coleraine, and 1 each in Lamlaghtarde, Kilcronaghan, and Dunboe. These do not help with the 1690-1700 presence of Susan Toland in Philadelphia. They do support the probable origin as Irish, but the Londonderry and Cavan counties were heavily settled by the British earlier, meaning that the original origin was probably England, or maybe Scotland. County Londonderry would be a possible focus for emigrants to the Colonies in the late 1600's. If the children at Merion Baptist Church were hers, her maiden name would not have been Toland. I also have records for many Southern Marriages and there were numerous Toland(sp) marriages in most of the Southern states. These were in the 1800's. Many had the names previously identified in the general PA area in the early 1800's. Perhaps some of those Toland lines have compiled genealogies which would help. Is anyone aware of anything on the Tolands in the late 1600's to early 1700's? I need help with them. Susan Grimshaw has found a reference to a Robert Tilghman
at the London PRO, Kew, In Colonial State Papers, listing State Papers
Colonial AD 1675 - 1676, where in 7 Aug 1676 Robt TILGHMAN petitions for
stay of payment because his wife, a widow of New England, brought with
her creditors and debts in England. There is not such a Robert Tilghman
in our present holdings. However, there was a Richard Tilghman listed
as an attorney at West Chester, in Upland records in 1772, in the History
of Chester County, PA. He would have been late for us, unless he was quite
old. I have not identified that Richard in the available Tilghman genealogies. |
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| New Jul 2001 |