Dr. Daniel Tilden

A biographical sketch of Dr. Daniel Tilden appears in Howard Atwood Kelly’s CYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN MEDICAL BIOGRAPHY. The sketch states that Dr. Daniel Tilden was born in Grafton County, New Hampshire on August 19, 1788. He earned his M.D. from Dartmouth College in 1812. He moved to Ohio in 1817, settling first in Cook’s Corners (now known as North Monroeville). He also lived briefly in Norwalk before settling in Sandusky in 1839. The biographer of Dr. Tilden wrote, “Dr. Tilden was a fine specimen of the doctor of the old school as developed on the western reserve, ready, staunch, faithful to duty…He died full of years and honors May, 7, 1870.”

Daniel Tilden had married Nancy Drake in 1814. Harriet Taylor Upton wrote in her HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE that Dr. Tilden was president of the Erie County Medical Society for several years, and he also served in the State Senate of Ohio from 1828 until 1835.

Dr. Daniel Tilden is buried in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery. The history of Erie County’s medical professions appears in Chapter 16 of HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich.

While years of weathering have made it impossible to read the inscription on Dr. Tilden's tombstone, below are the words that are legible:

Going about doing good he ____
the sick, consoled the dying, ___
comfort to the poor___
___show the world____
___he hath loved ___