"ST. OLAVE'S, TRINITY CRESCENT, FOLKESTONE, _Oct. 12, 1882_.
"DEAR SIR,--Some few years back I heard that you came to
England to look up some of your relations. I so much regret that I
did not have the pleasure of making your acquaintance, as we are the
old family of Tildens of Ifield Court in the parish of Northfleet.
"I have always heard my husband say that there were three branches
of the Tilden family: one lived at Milsted (Sir John Tylden), they
altered the spelling of the name; one branch went to America, and
the other to Ifield Court. My husband was the fourth John Tilden who
had lived at the old place; we were married in 1838, and I lived
there with him thirty-four years, as he died in 1872 at the age
of seventy-six. He was twenty years older than me; we have three
children--my eldest son John still has Ifield Court. My daughter
Lucy married, in 1868, Captain Miller, of the Royal Engineers; he
died of typhoid fever at Gibraltar in 1876, leaving his wife and
four children--three girls and one boy; they are now living with me.
William, my youngest son, is a major in the Sixtieth Rifles; he has
just engaged himself to be married to a Miss Bell, a lady of good
family and connections.
"If you should visit England again, I hope I may have the
opportunity of meeting you. I have long wished to write to you, but
did not know where to address you. This summer I was spending a few
weeks at Thonne in Switzerland, and an American gentleman and his
wife were staying at the hotel. They were struck with my name and
asked if we were related to you. I asked if he would give me your
address, which he did, and I made up my mind to write to you as soon
as I returned home.
"There is a church not far from here called Lynne, where Canon
Jenkins took me to see where some of our ancestors were buried,
spelling their names as we do, _Tilden_. My dear husband was very
proud of his family; his brothers are all dead; he has only three
sisters living; there _were_ twelve in the family. I hope you
will pardon my writing to you, but I feel you would like to know
something of the Ifield Court, Tildens.
"My daughter unites with me in kind regards to her kinsman, and
believe me,
"My dear sir, yours very truly,
"MARY TILDEN."