Timothy Matlack, Scribe of the Declaration of Independence

The scribe of the Declaration of Independence—and perhaps the first man to read it in public—was born on March 28, 1736 in Haddonfield, New Jersey. His family moved to Philadelphia eight years later. At the age of thirteen, Timothy Matlack began an apprenticeship under a prosperous Quaker merchant named John Reynell. Looking forward to a bright future, Matlack enthusiastically signed his contract with characteristic looping flourishes. But then disaster struck his family. His father, Timothy Sr., was a brewer who fell into debt, and the court ordered the seizure of his brewery and household goods. A last-minute agreement allowed the continued use of the property but with a new man in charge: Timothy’s half-brother, Reuben Haines. Timothy’s father drank himself to death soon thereafter and his younger brothers were admitted to a charity school as “poor scholars.” After completing the term of his apprenticeship in 1758, Timothy Matlack married Ellen Yarnall, the daughter of a Quaker minister. Matlack became such a devout Quaker that some people considered him a candidate for the ministry. Timothy and Ellen had four children, the youngest of whom would be killed in a battle at sea during the Revolution. In 1759, Benjamin Franklin, as a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, hired Matlack to transcribe onto parchment a massive petition to the King-in-Council regarding Indian affairs.^[1] In 1760, Matlack opened a mercantile (selling cloths and hardware).

In 1765 the Society of Friends complained that Matlack had become negligent in attending meetings for worship, instead “frequenting company in such a manner as to spend too much time away from home.”^[2] His new companions kept him away from not only home and church, but also work. He was disowned by the Quakers and his business failed. He was in debtor’s prison on two occasions, each for about a month. Matlack had been raised to live with Quaker simplicity and earn a living in a lucrative trade. But he found himself more interested in the weight of a prize cow, or the length of a racecourse, than the price of linen in London. After his father’s business failure and untimely death, he had found consolation in his faith. But now, after his own fiasco and his mother’s death, he filled the emptiness in the taverns. Yet he did not fall into the abyss. In the alehouses he found an appealing world where men talked trade, politics, and sport over rounds of beer, wine, and rum punch. This was a time of fascination with the public world, and Matlack eagerly joined in these discussions. His friendly manner earned him popularity and acceptance. He discovered an identity which saved him from this second crisis. He was becoming a public man. Matlack’s embrace of public life led to his leadership role in town meetings and committees during the climactic years leading to the Revolution. The first Continental Congress was only ten years away.

Fortunately, Timothy’s half-brother Reuben transformed the old Matlack operation into Haines and Twells, the largest brewery and malt house in Philadelphia. Timothy had his own brewery and bottled beer operation at the “old Brew-House” on Sixth Street, near the State House. He stamped his corks TIM MATLACK PHILAD.^[3]