| John Wiltbank | |
| Term Start: | October 20, 1776 |
| Term End: | March 8, 1777 |
| Predecessor: | Office established |
| Term Start2: | March 20, 1767 |
| Term End2: | January 27, 1791 |
| Term Start3: | August 1, 1774 |
| Term End3: | 1776 |
| Office4: | Chief justice of the Sussex County Court of Common Pleas and Orphans' Court |
| Term Start4: | March 8, 1777 |
| Term End4: | July 10, 1792 |
| Term Start5: | August 1776 |
| Term End5: | c. 1783 |
| Office6: | Member of the Sussex Committee of Safety |
| Term Start6: | c. 1775 |
| Term End6: | Unknown |
| Birth Date: | 10 December 1731 |
| Birth Place: | Lewes, Delaware |
| Death Place: | near Lewes, Delaware |
| Nationality: | American |
| Profession: | Political figure |
| Spouse: | Mary Stockley (1750) |
John Wiltbank (December 10, 1731 – July 10, 1792) was an American political figure from Lewes, Delaware. He was an important figure in the state during the Revolutionary War, being the military treasurer of Sussex County, a delegate at the Delaware Constitutional Convention, and serving in the 1st Delaware General Assembly, among other positions.
Wiltbank was born on December 10, 1731, in Lewes, Delaware.[1] He was born on a 344-acre farm that had been given to his great-grandfather, and was the son of Cornelius Wiltbank.[2] He grew up and was educated in Lewes.[2] On March 12, 1750 or 1751, he married Mary Stockley, the daughter of Woodman Stockley, on her 14th birthday.[2] [3] They had a total of six children together, the first of which was born in 1751.[3]
On March 20, 1767, Wiltbank was appointed a justice of the peace for Sussex County.[2] [3] He was recommissioned in 1774 for a second term,[2] for a third term in 1779,[4] and for a fourth term in February 1788,[4] eventually being replaced on January 27, 1791.[4]
In 1774, Wiltbank was named a Sussex representative of the Provincial Assembly of the Three Lower Counties, which had its first meeting on August 1 of that year.[3] Originally a Tory sympathizer,[5] Wiltbank was eventually convinced by Caesar Rodney and Thomas McKean to support the Colonies over Britain.[2] That same year, he was elected a member of Sussex's "Boston Relief Committee," which helped gather funds for the colonists in Massachusetts.[2]
Wiltbank was commissioned in September 1775 major by the Delaware Council of Safety,[3] serving in a military regiment brought up in Sussex.[2] He was also an original member of the Sussex Committee of Safety.[5] In August 1776, he was appointed the military treasurer of the county, which was an important position as funding was vitally needed for the Revolutionary War.[2] In September, Wiltbank represented Sussex County at the Delaware Constitutional Convention, held in New Castle, which led to the creation of the state's first governing document.[2] [5]
Shortly afterwards, Wiltbank was elected to the Legislative Council, now known as the State Senate, in the 1st Delaware General Assembly.[2] He received a total of 542 votes in the election, the highest number for any candidate in his county.[6] On February 21, 1777, Wiltbank was appointed chief justice of the Sussex County Court of Common Pleas and Orphans' Court,[3] [6] and resigned his position in the Legislative Council to serve on the court,[2] [5] taking his oath of office on March 8.[3] He served in that position until his death,[3] being known as an "astute judge and a man of wide interests," according to The Morning News.[2] Wiltbank remained as the military treasurer of Sussex County throughout the remaining years of the war, and was described as having "aided greatly in the war effort."[2]
Throughout his life, Wiltbank had an interest in education, and he once donated some of his property for a school to be built.[2] He was for a time an Episcopalian, serving as a trustee at St. Peter's Church, before converting to Methodism and serving the same position with the Bethel Methodist Protestant Church.[2] Wiltbank was wealthy and had two estates by the time of his death, including the 344-acre "Tower Hill" and one called "Dover."[2]
On March 21, 1791, Wiltbank wrote a will, while "in the health of body."[3] On July 3, 1792, he added a codicil, being "weak in body, but of sound and perfect disposing mind memory and judgement."[3] The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine wrote that his will and codicil were "drawn with the meticulous care one would expect to be exercised by so eminent a jurist."[3] Included in his will was the distribution of his Negro slaves, each of which he said was to be set free upon reaching the age of 34 and 1/2.[3] Wiltbank died on July 10, 1792, at the age of 60, while residing at his "Dover" estate, near Lewes.[2] [3] Wiltbank was later described in an article by the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine as a man "so filled with honors that we must merely enumerate rather than discuss them."[3]