[3] He was appointed by President John Adams to be one of the first judges of the newly formed Mississippi Territory along with Judge Peter Bryan Bruin and William McGuire, commissioned on May 7, 1798.
[4] The fact was noted by a sitting governor of the territory, William C. C. Claiborne, who protested in a letter to Secretary of State James Madison.
[6] In 1802, Tilton abruptly resigned, sailing to Europe from New Orleans in order to engage in "commercial business", never again returning to Mississippi.
He was replaced by Judge David Ker, who was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson on the recommendations of the aforementioned Governor Claiborne and James Madison.
[7][8][9] Tilton was married to Isabel Thompson in 1787 in East Kingston.