The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-08-13

SAMUEL J. !!l1IN.
Sketch of his Life.
Samuel J. Tilden was born at New
Lebanon, in the county of Columbia
and State of New York, February 9.
lSl4-the year which ruined the for.
tunes of the great Napoleon. One OF
his ancestors, Nathaniel Tilden, was
Mayor of the city of Tenterden, Kent,
England, in 1928 He was succeeded
in that office by his cousin John, as he
had been preceded by his uncle John
in 1885 and 1000. He removed with
his family to Scituate, in the colony of
Massachusetts in 1854. His brother
Joseph was one of the merchant ad-
venturers of London who fitted out the
May flower. This Nathaniel Tilden
married Hannah Bourne, one of whose
sisters married a brother Of Governor
Winslow, and another a son of Cover
nor Bradford.
Governor Tilden's grandfather, John
Tilden, settled in Columbia county.
The Governors mother was descended
from William Jones, Lieutenant Gov
ernor of the colony of New Haven,
who in all the history of Connecticut
is represented to have been the son of
Colonel John Jones, one of the regcit e
judges of Charles l., who is said to
have married a sister of Oliver Crom-
well and cousin of John Hampden.
The Governors father, farmer and
merchant of New Lebanon, was a man
of notable Judgment and practical
sense and the accepted oracle of the
country upon all matters of public con-
Germ, while his opinion was also eager
ly sought and justly valued by all his
neighbors, but by none more than by
the late President Van Buren,, who till
his death, was one of his most cherish
ed intimate and personal friends.
From his father Governor Tilden in.
herited taste for political inquiries,
and in his companionship enjoyed
peculiar opportunities for acquiring an
early familiarity with the bearings of
the various questions which agitated
onr country in his youth.
Young Tilden entered college in his
18th year. The fall of 1882, when he
was to enter college, was rendered
memorable by the second selection of
General Jackson to the Presidency and
Martin Van Buren to the Vice Presi.
dency of the United States, and of
Wiliam.L. Marcy,to the Goveruorship
OF the State o. New York. In that
contest an effort was made to effect
coalition between the National Repub-
licans and the anti-Masons. The sue
cess of the Democracy depended upon
the defeat of that coalition. Samuel
heard the subject discussed in the fam
lily, and was especially impressed by
what fell from the lips of an uncle who
deplored his inability to "wreak his
thoughts upon expression" Samuel
disappeared for two or three DAYS, and
in the seclusion of his chamber pro-
ceeded TO set down the views he had
gathered upon the subject, and in due
time brought the result to his father, at
once the most appreciative and the
least indulgent critic of his acquaint-
ance. The father was so highly pleased
with the paper that he took his son to
see Mr.. Van Buren, then at Lebanon
Springs, to read it to him. They
found SO much merit in the perform
ance that they decided it should be
published with the signatures of
dozen or more leading Democrats and
it shortly appeared in the Albany ArguS
as an address, occupying a half page
of that print, and from which it was
copied into most of the Democratic
papers of the State. The k'ceni,ag
Journal paid it the compliment of at
Iributing it to the pen of Mr.. Van
Buren, and the Albany Argus paid it
the greater compliment of stating "by
that Mr.. Van Burean was
not the author.
Mr.. Tilden had not been long at
Yale College before his health gave
way and obliged him to leave. After
some rest he was enabled to resume
his studies, and in 1884 entered the
University of New York, where he
his academic education. He
then entered the law office of the late
John w. Edmunds, in the city of New
York, where he enjoyed peculiar facili-
ties for the prosecution of his favorite
studies of law and politics.
Upon his admission to the bar Mr.
Tilden opened an office in Pine street,
in the city of New York.
In 1874, IN anticipation and prepa-
ration for the election which resulted
in making James X. Polk President
and Silas Wright Governor of the State
of New York, Mr.. Tilden in connect
ion with John l.. O'Sullivan, founded
the newspaper called the Daily Ne,os.
In the fall of lS45 he was sent to
the assembly from the city of New
York and while member of that body
was elected to the convention for the
remodelling of the Constitution of tie
State, which was to commence its
sessions a few weeks after the legisla-
ture adjourned. In both of these
bodies Mr.. Tilden was a conspicuous
and left permanent i'm
preston upon the legislation of the
year, and especially upon all the new
constitutional provisions affecting the
finances of the State and the manage
ment of its system of canals.
He built up reputation in few
years at the bar of New York city
which gave him leading place in the
profession. In the noted case of the
Brudell' Cunningham contested will
where apparently insunarahle nroofs of