Show ContentsTillson History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Early Origins of the Tillson family

The surname Tillson was first found in Cheshire at Tilston, a village and a civil parish that was anciently the site of the Roman town Bovium, which was on the Roman road between Chester and Wroxeter. By the time of the Conquest, the village was known as Tilleston which was the spelling used in the Domesday Book of 1086. At that time, the lands were held by Eynion de Tilston, and was granted to him by Hugh Lupus, the nephew of King William I. [1]

It is presumed that the village was so named having derived from an Old English personal name + "stan" as in the "stone of a man called Tilli or Tilla." [2]

Early History of the Tillson family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tillson research. Another 105 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1576, 1630, 1634, 1635, 1639, 1655, 1659, 1672, 1676, 1691, 1694, 1695, 1704 and 1738 are included under the topic Early Tillson History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tillson Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Tilston, Tillston, Tillstone, Tilson, Tillson, Tillstone, Tillotson, Dilson, Dillson, Dilsen and many more.

Early Notables of the Tillson family

Distinguished members of the family include John Tillotson (1630-1694), from Sowerby, Yorkshire, an English clergyman, Dean of Canterbury in 1672, Archbishop of Canterbury (1691-1694.) After his death, his widow received 2500 guineas for his manuscript sermons and these were edited and published by Ralph Barker as the "Rule of Faith"...
Another 49 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Tillson Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tillson Ranking

In the United States, the name Tillson is the 16,313rd most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. [3]

Ireland Migration of the Tillson family to Ireland

Some of the Tillson family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 50 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Tillson migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Tillson Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Edmund Tillson, who landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1638 [4]

Canada Tillson migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Tillson Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century
  • Harvey Tillson, who arrived in Canada in 1831

Contemporary Notables of the name Tillson (post 1700) +

  • Edwin Delevan Tillson, Canadian politician, first Mayor of Tillsonburg, Ontario which was named after his father George Tillson, an American immigrant from Massachusetts who settled in the area in 1825
  • John Tillson (d. 1892), American Republican politician, Delegate to Republican National Convention from Illinois, 1856; Member of Illinois State House of Representatives 37th District, 1873-75 [5]
  • Frank Cephas Tillson (1890-1951), American politician, Mayor of Burbank, California, 1934-41 [5]
  • Andy Tillson (b. 1966), English football coach and former player who played from 1987 to 2003
  • Jordan Roy Tillson (b. 1993), English professional footballer


  1. Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
  2. Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
  3. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  4. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  5. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 19) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


Houseofnames.com on Facebook