At the election in 1869, Col. Tilghman H. Good defeated for Mayor, George Beisel, who had been chief of the borough's Fire Department. The vote was 1155 to 935. At the same election the people voted by 920 to 670 to buy the water works from the company that had owned and operated them. Col. Good was born in South Whitehall township, October 6, 1830, a son of James and Mary Good, his mother having been a daughter of Rev. Abraham Blumer, who while pastor of Zion's Reformed church, concealed the Liberty Bell and the Christ church bells under the chancel floor to save them from falling into British hands when Lord Howe's forces occupied Philadelphia. Col. Good was a shoemaker by trade. He lived in Philadelphia two years and came to Allentown in 1849, as landlord of the Allen House which he conducted four years. From 1855 to 1859 he was Paying Teller of the Allentown National Bank, then a State institution. In 1849, Col. Good became Captain of the Allen Rifles and when the Civil War broke out, he and his company volunteered in April 1861, and were assigned as Co. I, First Pa. Regt., under Col. S. S. Yohe, and with Good as Lieutenant Colonel. When this term expired, Col. Good organized the 47th Regt., P. V., which he commanded until the expiration of his enlistment, September 24, 1864. They had their baptism of fire at Pocotaligo, S. C., October 22, 1862, where Col. Good commanded a brigade. Col. Good and his men were located long at Key West, Florida, served under General N. T. Banks in the Red River campaign in Louisiana and were then transported to the Shenandoah Valley for service under Sheridan. In 1865, Col. Good took charge of the American Hotel and in 1869 engaged in the real estate, banking and insurance business. From 1879 to 1885 he ran the Allen House again, and then opened the Fountain House, which proved unsuccessful. Thereafter he moved to Reading where he conducted the Grand Central until his death, July 18, 1887. In 1870 he became Captain of the Allen Rifles again under the State's militia organization, was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Fourth Regiment in 1874, to Colonel in 1875 and was re-elected in 188o. He commanded the regiment during the bloody railroad riots at Reading in July 1877. Col. Good was an active Mason and Knight Templar. In 1858 he was elected to the State Legislature. He tried five times for Mayor of Allentown and was elected three times. In 1871 he won over Herman Schuon by a majority of 59. Dr. Theodore Conrad Yeager won over Col. Good in 1873 by 1470 to 1432. In 1874, Col. Good won again over Herman Schuon. The vote was 1489 to 1365. At his fifth and last appearance as a candidate for Mayor in 1876, Col. Good lost to Col. E. B. Young by 1594 to 1516, one vote being cast for John Bowen.