Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Tilden, Martin F 1811 - 
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Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

MARTIN F. TILDEN. This name is indissolubly associated with the growth of 
Custer Township, as that of one of its active pioneer settlers, who has been 
an important factor in advancing its material, social and religious interests, 
and it is well that his life record should be placed on these pages. He is 
still actively engaged in the management of his farming interests, and his 
farm on section 30, shows, in its neat comfortable buildings and its well-
tilled acres, the care that he has bestowed upon it, and is a fine specimen of 
a farm evolved from the wild prairies, that is still in the hands of the one 
who turned the first sod on its fertile acres. Diah Tilden, the father of our 
subject was a native of Connecticut, where he carried on the occupation of a 
farmer. He was a volunteer in the War of 1812. He was married to Irena Flint, 
also a native of Connecticut, their marriage taking place in Williamstown, 
Vt., and there they resided till old age overtook them, and then made their 
home with their children, who lived in Michigan and Illinois. United in life, 
in death they were not long divided, as she died in 1865 at the age of eighty-
three years, and sixteen days afterward he breathed his last, at the age of 
eighty-four. Three of the eight children born to them are now living. Their 
son Martin, who is the subject of this biographical review, was born among the 
beautiful hills of Vermont, in Williamstown, February 6, 1811. He was the 
recipient of a good education in the common schools, and when a young man he 
gave his attention to teaching, and for a while was numbered among the members 
of the educational profession in his native State. He had begun life on his 
own account at the age of nineteen, and for a few years worked as a 
stonemason. After that he gave his attention to farming, and moving into 
Northern New York fifty years ago, carried on that occupation there nine 
years. Thinking, however, he could sooner acquire a competence on the rich 
virgin soil of Illinois, he came to this State in 1849, and located in this 
township. He was in fair circumstances at the time, and investing some money 
in a tract of wild prairie, on section 30, he immediately began the pioneer 
task of redeeming it from a state of nature, and it may well be his pride that 
he has developed that tract of wild prairie into one of the finest farms in 
this vicinity, and that all its improvements, substantial buildings, well-
tilled fields, etc., are the work of his own hand. His farm comprises one 
hundred and sixty acres of land, well adapted to mixed husbandly, and he also 
owns twelve acres of timber land. The marriage of Mr. Tilden with Miss Sarah 
A. Kimball was solemnized in 1836, and for fifty years they traveled life 
together, sharing its joys and dividing its sorrows, the greatest grief of our 
subject's wedded life being in her death, which ocured in the month of 
September, 1884. Mrs. Tilden was a native of Vermont, and a daughter of Samuel 
and Sarah Kimball, who were natives of Massachusetts and early settlers in 
Vermont. They were the parents of seven children, all of whom are now 
deceased. Mrs. Tilden was born November 30, 1809. She was the mother of eight 
children, two of whom are living: Lora, wife of Harper Bovee, of whom see 
sketch; Mrs. Sarah Rose, who, with her daughter Mabel, aged fourteen years, 
lives with her father. In the death of his beloved wife and children our 
subject has sustained a severe blow, but he does not mourn as one without 
hope. He firmly believes with the poet that "If the Power Maketh thus his 
pastures green, Maketh thus his quiet waters, Out of waste his heavens serene, 
We can trust the mighty Shepherd Loseth none He ever led; Some where yet a 
greeting waits us On the faces of our dead." Mr. Tilden has been closely 
identified with the growth of Custer Township and Will County since his advent 
here so many years ago, and his name is classed with the best of our pioneers. 
His career in life has been distinguished by sound wisdom, stability of 
character and correct business habits, combined with honorable and 
conscientious views, and his course furnishes a worthy example to the young 
men who are just starting out in the world to find fortune's favors. He has 
always taken an intelligent interest in the political issues of the day, and 
while in his youth he was a Democrat, in more mature years he identified 
himself with the Republican party. He has always been a temperance man and his 
sympathies are with the prohibitionists. He has borne an important part in the 
administration of public affairs; was Township Clerk in an early day and also 
Trustee of the Township. He has been Director of this school district for many 
years. A sincere and earnest Christian, he has always manifested a deep 
interest in the religious and moral welfare of the community, and as a leading 
member of the Baptist Church, of which he is a Deacon, he has done much to 
forward it. He has taken an active part in the Sunday-school as one of its 
most faithful teachers.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890

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