Caleb Benjamin Tillinghast was born on April 3, 1843, in West Greenwich, Kent County, Rhode Island.

He was an editor and librarian. His family moved to Windham County, Connecticut, where he attended rural schools and worked on a farm. He held minor offices, both civic and in connection with the Good Templars. In 1870, he came to Boston, obtained a position as a reporter of the Boston Journal, and soon became city editor. In 1879, he was appointed Massachusetts State Librarian, remaining in this position until his death in 1909. For thirty years he served as clerk and treasurer of the State Board of Education, guiding the rapid development of education. When the Free Public Library Commission was created in 1890, he was appointed its chairman. He was a member of the Old Colony Historical Society, the Weymouth Historical Society, the Worcester Society of Antiquity, the Buffalo Historical Society, the Chicago Historical Society, the Western Reserve Historical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, the Boston Art Club, the Appalachian Mountain Club, the General Theological Library, the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society, and the Boston Young Men’s Christian Union. Tillinghast received the honorary degree of M.A. from Harvard University in 1897, and the degree of Doctor of Literature from Tufts College in 1905.

In 1862, he married Ardelia M. Wood and in 1886, he remarried Martha M. Wonson (1834–1924). He died on April 28, 1909, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Sir William Augustus Tilden was born on August 15, 1842, in Camden Town, Middlesex, England.

He was a British chemist, educator, and author. He graduated from Bedford Modern School and the University of London (B.Sc., 1868; D.Sc., 1871). In 1864, he became a demonstrator in chemistry at the Pharmaceutical Society. After graduation, he became a senior teacher of science at Clifton College, Bristol (1872-1880) and Professor of Chemistry at Mason College, now the University of Birmingham (1880-1894). From 1894 to his death, he was at the Royal College of Science, London, being Professor of Chemistry to 1909, Dean from 1905 to 1909, and then Emeritus Professor. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1880 and served as its Vice-President from 1904 to 1906. In 1908, he was awarded the Davy Medal of the Society. He was President of the Chemical Society from 1903 to 1905. Tiden held office in various organizations, e.g., the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Chemistry (now Royal Institute of Chemistry ), and the Society of Chemical Industry. He published “Famous Chemists: the Men and Their Work” (1921). In 1939, the Royal Society of Chemistry created the Tilden Prize in his honour, awarded annually to three young members.

In 1869, he married Charlotte Pither (1847–1905), and in 1907, he remarried Julia Mary Rannie (1864–). He died on December 11, 1926, in Uxbridge, Middlesex, England.