Theodore Tilton (October 2, 1835 – May 29, 1907) was an American

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, or ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

. He was born in New York City to Silas Tilton and Eusebia Tilton (same surname). On his twentieth birthday, October 2, 1855, he married Elizabeth Richards. Tilton's newspaper work was fully supportive of abolitionism and the Northern cause in the American Civil War. Theodore Tilton was present at The Southern Loyalist Convention held in Philadelphia in September 1866.

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

writes of him in his autobiography:

There was one man present who was broad enough to take in the whole situation, and brave enough to meet the duty of the hour; one who was neither afraid nor ashamed to own me as a man and a brother; ''one man'' of the purest Caucasian type, a poet and a scholar, brilliant as a writer, eloquent as a speaker, and holding a high and influential position—the editor of a weekly journal having the largest circulation of any weekly paper in the city or State of New York—and that man was ''Mr. Theodore Tilton''. He came to me in my isolation, seized me by the hand in a most brotherly way, and proposed to walk with me in the procession.

From 1860 to 1871, Tilton was the assistant of

Henry Ward Beecher Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery trial. His r ...

. He gave the 1869 commencement speech for the Irving Literary Society. In 1874 Tilton filed a complaint against Beecher for "

criminal conversation At common law, criminal conversation, often abbreviated as ''crim. con.'', is a tort arising from adultery. "Conversation" is an old euphemism for sexual intercourse that is obsolete except as part of this term. It is similar to breach of pro ...

" (adultery) with Elizabeth Richards Tilton and sued for a $100,000 judgment. The Beecher-Tilton trial ended in a deadlocked jury. Afterwards, Tilton moved to Paris, where he lived for the rest of his life. In the 1880s, Tilton frequently played chess with fellow American exile (but ex-Confederate)

Judah Benjamin Judah Philip Benjamin, QC (August 6, 1811 – May 6, 1884) was a United States senator from Louisiana, a Cabinet officer of the Confederate States and, after his escape to the United Kingdom at the end of the American Civil War, an English ba ...

, until the latter died in 1884. Theodore Tilton - DPLA - f51b7aac5027788b6024cf2eb1bb436a (page 1)

As a poet, Tilton is famous for his masterpiece 'Even This Shall Pass Away', a poem that talks about how everything in life is limited and will end.

Work referenced

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following th ...

put Tilton's 1858 poem "The King's Ring: Even This Shall Pass Away" to music, a recording of which is on ''

Band of Joy Band of Joy (sometimes known as Robert Plant and the Band of Joy) was an English rock band. Various line-ups of the group performed from 1965 to 1968 and from 1977 to 1983. Robert Plant revived the band's name in 2010 for a concert tour of No ...

''.

Principal works

* '' Victoria C. Woodhull. A Biographical Sketch.'' 1871 * ''Tempest-Tossed A Romance.'' 1874. * ''The Complete Poetical Works of Theodore Tilton in One Volume With a Preface on Ballad-Making and an Appendix on Old Norse Myths & Fables.'' 1897.

References

* Fox, Richard Wightman. ''Trials of Intimacy Love and Loss in the Beecher-Tilton Scandal.'' Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1999. * Applegate, Debby. ''The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher.'' New York: Doubleday, 2006.
Tilton's literary work
Accessed January 25, 2008 ;Specific

External links

Mr. Lincoln and New York: Theodore Tilton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilton, Theodore 1835 births 1907 deaths American newspaper editors Religious scandals American abolitionists 19th-century American poets American male poets 19th-century male writers American male non-fiction writers