| Ruth (Unknown) Tilghman resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies |
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A previous version of this profile claimed, citing only an unsourced Wikipedia article,[citation needed] that Ruth was born about 1600 in Selling, Kent, England, the illegitimate daughter of Charles Blount (8th Baron Montjoy, KG) and Penelope Devereaux-- both supposedly eminent members of the British aristocracy and courtiers of the aging Queen Elizabeth I.[citation needed] These parents have been detached. According to the ODNB and a law case, Charles Blount had five surviving children with Penelope Devereux, whose married name was never Devonshire, but not one of them was named Ruth. Consequent errors in the biography below will need editing.
See Penelope Blount Countess of Devonshire article on Wikipedia for a full account of Lady Penelope's life, including mention of her 4 illegitimate children by the Earl of Devonshire, who died less than a year after the two finally married in 1605 and he legitimized their children (but in midst of a scandal that continued to "taint" Ruth and her sister Elizabeth Blount). Lady Penelope died in July 1607, leaving all her Blount/Devonshire children as minors.
Ruth, whose origins have not yet been documented, married Christopher Tilghman, whose mother, Ann Saunders Tilghman, was a great-great grand-daughter of King Edward III by Philippa of Hainaut. Christopher was a second son and had been born about the same time as Ruth in Selling Parish, Kent.[citation needed]
It's probable that the pair were married in Kent, where Christopher Tilghman had obtained possession of Rhodes Court, formerly owned by Thomas Bealde, in about 1621 (his majority year). In "The Visitations of Kent," Christopher Tilghman is described as "of this parish, gent., who owned [Rhodes Court] in 1621 and [later] sold it to Thomas Carter..."[citation needed] Rhodes Court is described as being a manor situated in the southeast extremity of Selling parish, in the borough of Rhodes. Selling Parish, adjoins Boughton to the south of Graveney. A small part of it, within the Borough of Rhodes, is within Faversham Hundred, Kent.
Some genealogies say that Christopher and Ruth married in 1630; this seems logical but is unproven. It is possible that two of their four children were born in Kent, England. These were:
There may have been other children who died in infancy; that may be the reason why some genealogies state that Ruth was born in 1625 (it may have been a first daughter named Ruth who died young).
In 1638, Christopher Tilghman, who, according to family tradition, had had a violent dispute with his older brother John, agreed to "seek his fortune" in Virginia. This solution would have met with favor among those who knew his wife's origins and who sought to "export" her to the distant British colony of Virginia.[1]
In "Cavaliers and Pioneers," by Nell Marion Nugent, it is stated that Christopher Tilghman came to Virginia in the party organized by George Mynifie, a merchant, on April 19, 1638.[citation needed] No mention is made of exactly where he settled, nor of his wife and children (leading some to guess that he married Ruth Devonshire in Virginia, but 38 was very old for either a man or woman to marry at that time). Land records indicate that the family settled on land near the Charles River in Charles City County and later moved across the Bay to Accomack County on Virginia's "Eastern Shore".[2]
Christopher and Ruth (Devonshire) Tilghman had 2 children in Virginia:
Christopher Tilghman died in 1673 either in James City County, Virginia, or, as family tradition asserts, at the home of his son Gideon Tilghman, located on the Manokin River in Somerset Co., Maryland. His wife survived him and died in 1694, most likely also at her son Gideon Tilghman's home in Somerset Co., Maryland [citation needed]
See also:
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