Joseph Tatnall (1740–1813) was an American businessman, who was a prominent Quaker merchant, miller, and banker in Wilmington, Delaware.
[3] With James Canby (1781–1858), a scion of another prosperous miller, Tatnall rented farm land for grazing and growing hay.
[1] In 1802, Tatnall was named president of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, which sought to build a canal linking the Delaware River near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Chesapeake Bay to help bring Maryland grain to Brandywine mills.
[1] Among Tatnall's partners in shipping ventures was Joseph Shallcross, a miller, West Indies trader, and, from 1790 to 1792, mayor of Wilmington.
[1] Another child of Joseph and Elizabeth was Edward Tatnall (1782–1856), one of the organizers of the Delaware and Maryland Rail Road Company, whose own grandson, Henry Tatnall (1897–1940), would become the Pennsylvania Railroad's first professionally trained vice president in charge of finance (1904–25).