Matthew Tilghman

Matthew Tilghman (February 17, 1718 – May 4, 1790) was an American planter and Revolutionary leader from Maryland, who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776.

Matthew was born on the family plantation, The Hermitage, near Centreville in Queen Anne's County, Maryland. He was educated through private tutoring before moving to Talbot County on the Eastern Shore (of Chesapeake Bay). Tilghman married Anne Lloyd (1723–1794) on April 6, 1741. The couple took up residence on a large plantation in Claiborne, Maryland known as Rich Neck Manor.

Tilghman's first public service was as a Justice of the Peace for Talbot County. In 1751 he was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates. He would serve there through the remainder of its service to the Colony, although in 1760 and 1761 he represented Queen Anne's County. (Maryland, like several other colonies, permitted a representative to be elected by any district in which he owned property.) He was elected the Speaker of the House from 1773 to its end in 1775.

In the early days of the American Revolution, Tilghman was in the forefront of the political revolution in Maryland. He was an early member of the colony's committee of correspondence. For three years (1774–1776) he effectively headed the revolution in Maryland. He was the chairman of the Committee of Safety, president of the revolutionary assembly known as the Annapolis Convention, and the head of the Maryland delegation to the Continental Congress.

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