12 LIFE OF 



At the close of the year 1771;, Wm. Tilghmaa's 

 mother died and his father was now growing old, 

 and was left with the charge of a family of ten chil- 

 dren. He saw the necessity of losing no time to put 

 his son William in a situation to provide for himself, 

 in case he should lose his remaining parent. This 

 compelled him to ahandon the plan of education which 

 he had so wisely begun. He therefore withdrew him 

 from college, and placed him as a student in the office 

 of the late Benjamin Chew, Esq., who was then at 

 the head of the legal profession in this city, and was 

 afterwards the last Chief Justice of the Province un- 

 der the proprietary government, and President of the 

 High Court of Errors and Appeals under the Com- 

 monwealth, in which office he continued until that 

 Court was abolished. An intimate friendship had 

 long subsisted between Mr. Chew and the elder 

 Tilghman, and therefore it must be presumed that he 

 took the greatest care to promote his sou's advance- 

 ment in knowledge, for which no one was better fitted 

 than himself. 



William Tilghman remained four years under the 

 tuition of Mr. Chew, assidiously attending to his 

 studies and to the duties of the office. But while he 

 was so engaged, the revolution broke out, and in 

 1776, the Independence of these States was formally 

 declared. This rendered a change necessary in the 

 arrangements of the family. His father, who stood 

 high in the esteem of the proprietaries, had enjoyed 

 under them an honourable and lucrative office, which 



