1. Timothy Matlack was an American politician, military officer and businessman who was chosen in 1776 to inscribe the original United States Declaration of Independence on vellum.
21 Facts About Timothy Matlack
1. 2.
Timothy Matlack was known for his excellent penmanship, and his handwritten copy of the Declaration is on public display in the Rotunda of the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC.
3.
Timothy Matlack became one of Pennsylvania's most provocative and influential political figures.
4.
Timothy Matlack was removed from office by his political enemies at the end of the Revolutionary War, but returned to power in the Jeffersonian era.
5.
Timothy Matlack's grandparents were William Matlack and Mary Hancock, and Henry Burr and Elizabeth Hudson.
6.
Timothy Matlack's siblings were Sybil, Elizabeth, Titus, Seth, Josiah, and White Matlack; his half-siblings were Reuben Haines and Mary Haines.
7.
Timothy Matlack's first cousin was a Quaker abolitionist John Woolman.
8.
In 1760, Timothy Matlack opened a store called the Case Knife, and he and Owen Biddle purchased a steel furnace in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1762.
9.
Timothy Matlack's shop failed in 1765, and he was disowned by the Quakers who complained that he had been "frequenting company in such a manner as to spend too much of his time from home".
10.
Timothy Matlack was confined to debtors' prison in 1768 and 1769.
11.
In 1774, Timothy Matlack was hired by Charles Thomson, Secretary of the First Continental Congress, to engross an address to the King of England.
12.
Timothy Matlack was a member of Philadelphia's Committee of Inspection and Secretary of the Committee of Officers of the city's three militia battalions.
13.
Timothy Matlack was instrumental in drafting the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, which he ardently defended against critics, including Benjamin Rush, James Wilson, and John Dickinson.
14.
Timothy Matlack led an investigation of Arnold's wrongdoing, which triggered a court martial, and the court sentenced Arnold to be reprimanded by the Commander-in-Chief.
15.
Timothy Matlack was named a trustee of the University of the State of Pennsylvania in 1779.
16.
In 1781, Timothy Matlack was among the founders of The Religious Society of Free Quakers, Quakers who were "disowned" because of their support of the American war for independence.
17.
Timothy Matlack was one of the earliest opponents of slavery in America, and he felt that the Quakers were not moving quickly enough to abolish it.
18.
In 1790, Timothy Matlack was commissioned to survey the "headwaters of the Susquehanna River and the streams of the New Purchase," the northwestern portion of the state purchased from the American Indians.
19.
Timothy Matlack lived in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1799 until 1808 when Lancaster was the capital of Pennsylvania, and he worked as a clerk of the Pennsylvania State Senate.
20.
Timothy Matlack was known for his household garden, which included 28 types of peach tree.
21.
Timothy Matlack died in Holmesburg, Pennsylvania, on April 14,1829, and was interred in the Free Quaker Burial Ground on South Fifth Street in Philadelphia.