Richard tillman biography

Biographical/historical information

Richard Tillman Fountain was born in Edgecombe County, N.C., on 15 February 1885, the son of Almon L. and Lousie Eagles Fountain. He was educated in the public schools of Edgecombe County and the Tarboro Male Academy before attending the University of North Carolina from 1905 to 1907. Fountain was admitted to the N.C. Bar and began a practice in Rocky Mount in 1907. He was vice president of the N.C. Bar Association (1922-23), served as president of the Bar Association of the city of Rocky Mount, and held membership in the American Bar Association. He was appointed judge of the municipal court of the city of Rocky Mount in 1911 and held the office until 1918. He was also a trustee of the Rocky Mount Graded Schools (1917-1935), secretary to the Board of Trustees(1917-1921), and the chairman of the Board (1924-1931).

In 1918 Fountain was elected to the State Legislature where he served five unopposed terms and was named speaker in 1927. From 1929 to 1933 he served as lieutenant governor. As a candidate for governor of N.C. in the 1932 Democratic primary, Fountain was defeated by J. C. B. Ehringhaus in a runoff election. From 1934 until 1942 Fountain edited a newspaper, the Rocky Mount Herald. In 1936 and 1942 he ran unsuccessfully in the primary for the U.S. Senate against the incumbent senator, Josiah W. Bailey. He was also a trustee of the University of North Carolina, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Eastern Carolina Training School for Boys and author of the bill establishing the school, chairman of the State Board of Equalization, and a member of the State Park Commission. Fountain was married to the former Miss Susie Rankin of Gastonia and had a son and three daughters. On 21 February 1945, Fountain died in Rocky Mount at the age of sixty.

Scope and arrangement

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence. Early correspondence from 1903 to 1925 deals primarily with Fountain's law practice; his earl

by

Stefan Bielinski

Richard Tillman was born about 1750. He was the son of newcomer John Tillman and his wife, Margaret Hertz Tillman. He may have been born in North America as he does not seem to have been naturalized as his father was in 1752. Richard grew up in a large family in the North End home of a prominent, German-ancestry leatherworker and innkeeper.

In March 1772, he married Sara Morril at the Albany Dutch church. We seek information on the development of their family as their children do not seem to have been christened at the Dutch church.

Coming of age during the War years, he served the Albany committee in a number of ways and also in the wartime production workforce.

In October 1779, Richard Tillman was serving as superintendant of the "Continental Shoe Factory" in Albany. Thus he was excused from military service by order of General Ten Broeck.

In March 1779, his third ward real property was valued on the city assessment roll.

In 1790 and afterwards, his household was configured on the census for Watervliet.

In 1814 and afterwards, he was identified in the city directories as a shoemaker with an address of 657 South Market Street. By the census of 1820, his household was enumerated in an expanded city limits.

In May 1833, he was placed on the pension roll for service as a "pri. and sailing master" during the Revolution. He was allotted $185 a year.

Richard Tillman died in April 1838. His obituary called him "a hero of the Revolution," a long time resident of Albany, with the "character of an industrious and upright man and a worthy citizen."

notes

first posted: 6/20/10

American politician

Richard J. Tillman (September 5, 1911 – October 1983) was an American politician. He served as a Republican member for the 72nd district of the Florida House of Representatives.

Tillman was born in New York. He attended New York University Tandon School of Engineering. He moved to Florida in 1942 and worked as an engineer. In 1968 he was elected to represent the 72nd district of the Florida House of Representatives, serving until 1970.

Tillman died in October 1983 at the Health First's Cape Canaveral Hospital in Cocoa Beach, Florida, at the age of 72.

References