Timothy Matlack
Colonel, Pennsylvania Militia Regiment

Timothy Matlack was born on 26 March 1736.

Matlack was a staunch early supporter of independence from Great Britain, and served as a clerk to the Secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thomson. In this capacity he actually wrote the draft of the Declaration of Independence that was signed by the various members of the 2nd Continental Congress, and that document is now on display at the National Archives in Washington, DC.

He also served as Colonel of the Philadelphia Associates Pennsylvania Militia Regiment (the "Shirt Battalion"), and fought with them at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. He later served as Secretary of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and aided in the treason trial in absentia for Benedict Arnold.

He was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress, serving in 1780. He co-founded the Society of Free Quakers for members of the church who had been disenfranchised for supporting the Revolution.

Death and Burial

Timothy Matlack died on 16 April 1826. Originally interred in the Free Quaker Burial Ground adjacent to the Arch Street Quaker Meetinghouse in Philadelphia, PA, his remains were moved to the Wetherill Cemetery in Audubon, Montgomery County, PA, in 1905.