Ruth Tilghman

Not a known child of Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire and Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire

It is said Christopher Tillman, Jr., arrived in America in 1635. Their marriage date is 9 May 1635, location not named. Therefore, I've entered birth years for the children based on the marriage year. The birth years end before Ruth is 50 years old.

All of the Blount lineage and information including children mainly relies on Geni.com, Wikipedia, genealogieonline, and thePeerage.

Disputed Origins

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Unknown-522610

A previous version of this profile claimed, citing only an unsourced Wikipedia article,] 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 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.

Charles Blount supposedly was later named the 1st Earl of Devonshire (hence Ruth's adopted name: "Ruth Devonshire").

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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope_Blount,_Countess_of_Devonshire

Penelope's illegitimate children acknowledged by Charles Blount were:[22][23]

• Penelope Rich, who, despite her surname, was a daughter of Penelope by Blount
• Mountjoy Blount (c.1597–1666),[24] later 1st Earl of Newport
• Charles Blount
• St. John Blount
• Isabella Blount
• another child died in infancy

22. Sylvia Freedman Poor Penelope: Lady Penelope Rich, An Elizabethan Woman (London, Kensal Press, 1983), 188.

23. Frederick M. Jones, Mountjoy, 1563–1606: The Last Elizabeth Deputy (Dublin, Clonmore & Reynolds, 1958), 226.

Family

Some genealogies say that Christopher Tilgham 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:

1. (perhaps) Mildred Tilghman, b. ca. 1631 in Boughton Under Bleane, Kent [citation needed]
2. John Tilghman, b. ? in Faversham Hundred, Kent, England

Christopher and Ruth (Devonshire) Tilghman had 2 children in Virginia:

1. Roger Tilghman b: 1641 Charles River, Charles City Co., VA
2. Gideon Tilghman b: ca. 1652 in Accomack Co, VA

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.

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. 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]

References

• Mayo, ashton, coplin, comer, salinas and lystra families and supporting families - Christopher Tilghman. A well-researched family genealogy that cites the family Bible and traditions, recounting Ruth & Christopher's situation.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope_Blount,_Countess_of_Devonshire (No Record of a "Ruth Blount or Ruth Devereux or Ruth Devonshire has currently been verified)
• A N C H O R A- The Catalogue of (Dis)Honor (document attached) the entry for Charles Blount here: “Naturall children, which he had by Penelope, daughter to Walter Devereux, Earle of Essex, and sister to Robert Earl of Essex, she being wife to Robert Baron Rich. Charles. Montjoy. Saint Johns. Elizabeth and another daughter.”

1. Tillman, Stephen F. The record and genealogy of the (Tilghman-Tillman-Tilman-Tilmon) family, 1225-1938. (1939) < FamilySearch >; “Chapter Two: Christopher Tilghman and his family.” < PDF >. Book page 8, PDF page 18. (document attached)
2. Tillman, Stephen F. Tilghman-Tillman family, 1225-1945. (1945) page 98. < Archive.Org >