“TILLINGHAST REUNION TO BE HELD JULY 28-31, 2011, IN PROVIDENCE, RI” (release at will)

CONTACT: KENT WATKINS (), (646) 234-3545

The Tillinghast Society has announced a family reunion will be held July 28-31 in Providence, R.I. and has invited all people named Tillinghast and those who claim Tillinghast heritage to attend (see below for possible but not exclusive surnames).

Greta Tillinghast Tyler, Society President, announced, “The headquarters for the reunion will be at the First Baptist Church, 75, N. Main St., in the Recreation Hall. The antecedent for this church building was the lot provided by the Rev. Pardon Tillinghast in 1700. Virtually all American Tillinghasts trace their heritage to this Pardon Tillinghast, who is buried at the east end of Benefit St., marked by his statue. This was part of a larger Tillinghast family cemetery until most graves were moved in the 1880's. A number of Tillinghast homes and places of business were located in this area. Many other Tillinghast families and those with whom they intermarried were prominent in Newport, East/West Greenwich, Cranston, North Kingston, Tiverton, Warwick, and Prudence Island, and served as governors, chief justices, Congressmen and Senators, military officers, ship-owners, merchants, land traders, farmers, religious figures, and local officials.”

Activities include prominent speakers on genealogy and famous Tillinghasts and events, a picnic near Tillinghast Pond at RI Nature Conservancy, a clam bake at the RISD’s James Tillinghast Farm, Sunday church service, brunch at the nationally acclaimed restaurant, New Rivers: An American Bistro, whose proprietor is Bruce Tillinghast. Many other events are planned.

The last reunion was held in 2003, with the one before that in 1976, under the leadership of Charles C. Tillinghast, Jr., former chairman of TWA airline and Chancellor of Brown University (the Brown brothers’ mother was a Tillinghast descendant and several Tillinghasts were incorporators). His daughter, Anne, is a member of this year’s reunion planning committee.

Mr. Watkins stated, “I not only hope that those with Tillinghast names or recollections of that name in their family oral history would come, but that the following surnames are some of those likely to descend from Tillinghasts.”

Brown/Browne, Ward, Slocum, Aborns, Akins, Aldrich, Allen/Allin, Almy, Angell/Angel, Arnold, Atkins, Bailey/Bayley, Baker, Ballard, Ballou, Barber/Barbour, Bentley, Bowen, Briggs, Bull, Butterworth, Carpenter, Clark/Clarke, Coggeshall, Cuzzens, Curtis, Dana, Danforth, Davis, Drowne, Earle/Earl, Dyer, Fenner, Fisk/Fiske, Foster, Fuller, Gardner/Gardiner, Goodard, Gorton, Greene/Green, Hale/Haile, Hall, Hammond, Harris, Hazard, Hogg, Holmes, Hopkins, Jenkes/Jencks/Jenks, Kingsely, Knight, Luther, Manchester, Mason, Mawney, Olney, Potter, Power, Randall, Rathbun, Reynolds, Rhodes, Robinson, Round/Rounds, Russell, Sabin, Salisbury, Sanford, Sheldon,  Smith, Spencer, Starr, Streeter, Taber/Tabor, Taylor, Thomas, Thornton, Thurston, Townsend, Vernon, Waterman, Westcott/Westcoat/Westcote, Wickes, Wilcox, Williams, Wood, Wyatt.