Obadiah W. Towson, Silversmith

Obadiah Wilkinson Towson born circa a 1788-1793 in Baltimore, and was a silversmith in Baltimore and Philadelphia in the early 1800s. He was an apprentice to Charles L. Boehme, at least as of April 30th, 1806. [source]

He served as a Private in Captain Pennington's Company, First Regiment of the Maryland Militia during the War of 1812. In 1852 his widow, Catharine, transferred a land warrant for 40 acres in Iowa to Halvor Oleson Stola. The warrant had been issued to her in honor of Obadiah's service during the war. In 1856 she transferred an additional 120 acres in Iowa to Hugh Downey.

He married Catharine Olivia Irwine on July 30th 1811 in Baltimore County. As a silversmith, he worked in Baltimore from 1813 to 1819, before moving to Philadelphia, where he lived from 1819 until his death. 

Obadiah (alternatively spelled Obediah) and Catharine had at least the following children:

1. Cecilia Eliza Towson (born c. 1815), who married Henry Parker on 27 Sept 1837; she died 24 Feb 1839 in Trenton, New Jersey
2. William Henry (born c.1816) who married Eliza Gamble on March 20th 1849 and died 8 Mar 1857; they were the parents of Wiliam Gamble Towson who was born in 1850 and died 1887.
3. Olivia (born c.1822), who married Jonathan Lewis Large, a graduate of the University of Maryland's medical school, at her mother's home on May 20th 1851. They were the parents of Harry I. Large. She died April 20th, 1881.
4. Arabella Towson (born c. 1823) married Ralph W. Pomeroy Jr. They had Clara Olivia (b. 1847), Arabella Cecilia (b. 1849, potentially here), Ralph W. Pomeroy III (b. 1851), Ida (b. 1853) and Laura (b. 1855, married John Eli Sladen).
5. Catharine M. (born c.1826 but it must've been 1825 if she were Obadiah's daughter), who married William Gambel (or Gamble), MD on October 12th 1848 at her mother's home. William Gambel left Philadelphia in April 1849, leaving his wife behind (source), and arriving in California in ill-health. He died of typhoid fever at the age of 26 on December 13th 1849 (source).

In the 1820 Census, Obadiah and his family could be found in Philadelphia. The household was entirely composed of free white individuals, of which two were boys under 10 (one would have been William; could the other have been William?); a man between the age of 26 and 44 (Obadiah would have been about 30); two girls under 10 and two between 10 and 15 (but their known daughters were not yet born, so who are these girls?); and two women between 26 and 44 (presumably one was Catharine, but who was the other woman?).

Obadiah died on October 9th,  1824 (a handwritten Philadelphia City death certificate can be found on FamilySearch). He was an active Quaker and is buried in one of the Free Quaker cemeteries in Philadelphia. His wife would outlive him three and a half decades, dying April 13th 1859. Mrs. Catharine O. Towson was buried in the Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia. After Obadiah's death, she would open a boarding house to support herself and her children.

Source: GenealogyBank.com, Poulson's American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia, PA), Nov 15, 1824, p. 3

Examples of Obadiah's "makers mark" as a silversmith can be found in "American Silversmiths and Their Marks: The Definitive (1948) Edition" by Stephen G. C. Ensko, as well as online at Marks and Library and Sterling Flatware Fashions. As Philemon Towson was a silversmith in the 1790s, there could potentially be a relation between Obadiah and Philemon (source).

Source: Sterling Flatware Fashions.

Ebay once had a listing for a piece by Obadiah, advertising him as a "rare Maryland silversmith," but eBay does not archive old listings. However, pieces by his mentor, Charles L. Boehme, are widely available online and are featured in various museums.