Richard Stillwell (1634 - abt. 1688)

Born 27 Oct 1634 in Leyden, South Holland, Netherlands [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Holmes) Stillwell — married about 1 May 1655 in Gravesend, LI, NY [uncertain]

Husband of Mary (Cooke) Stillwell — married before 1679 in Dover, Staten Island, New York

Descendants

Died about 1688 at about age 53 in Dover, Staten Island, Richmond County, Province of New York

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Biography

Son of Lieutenant Nicholas Stillwell, III and Abigail Hopkins who died in Holland. He married (2) Annetje Unknown in 1641 in America. Benjamin Marshall Stilwell wrote:^[1]

"RICHARD STILWELL, called Captain Richard (the eldest son of Nicholas, the first of the name) born in Holland in 1634, was brought to America by his father in 1638. ln 1649 his father purchased for him a plantation at Gravesend, Long Island, where he settled and married, 1st, in May, 1655, Mary, daughter of Obadiah Holmes, of Salem ; 2d, his cousin Freelove (who subsequently assumed the name of Mercy), daughter of John Cooke, the regicide.

In 1664 he was appointed, under the Duke of York, one of the Justices of the West Riding of Yorkshire, comprising Staten Island and the western portion of Long Island.

[Note inserted from a different source: "On February 16, 1670, Governor Lovelace appointed a committee, Richard Stillwell, Nathan Whitmore, and Nathaniel Brittaine" to treat with the Indians for the purchase of Staten Island. The purchase was completed in 1670.^[2]]

In 1680 he removed to Staten Island, where he took up 160 acres of land, upon which his uncle and father-in-law, John Cooke, had originally located. He died at Dover, on Staten Island, in 1688-9, leaving six children :

1. John, born May 18, 1660;

2. Nicholas, born January 11, 1664;

3. Thomas, born December 4, 1666;

4. Richard, born June 25, 1671;

5. Jeremiah, born October 26, 1678;

6. Mary, born July 13, 1668.

Richard died intestate, and his lands descended to his elder son, John, who, however, made provision for the two younger children. (See, deed, Richmond County Clerk's office. Lib. B, page 575.) The inventory of his estate was filed Feb. 12th, 1688-9."

Note that the claim Mary was the daughter of John Cooke, the regicide, is not credible - Freelove Cooke married John Gunthorpe on 13 June 1674 in England.

John E. Stillwell gave a somewhat different account of Richard's wives and children:^[3]

"Though doubt may envelop Richard Stillwell's marriage to a daughter of John Cooke, the Regicide, there is incontestable proof that he did marry Mary, daughter of John Cooke, the magistrate, of Gravesend, Long Island. I have no knowledge at what date this alliance occurred, but Richard Stillwell was the father by this wife, Mary Cooke, in 1679, of two children Thomas and Martha Stillwell, one of whom, Thomas, at least, was one of the younger children of Richard Stillwell, as he was married, as late as 1703, to Alice Throckmorton." ...

"When I carefully review the facts, I, am at times, forced to believe Lydia Watkins was romancing when she wrote Ezra Stiles her remarkable letter setting forth her descent from John Cooke, the Regicide. It would have been very easy for her to have confounded the Gravesend magistrate with the more prominent Chief-Justice of Ireland, yet the fact that John Cooke, of Gravesend, left legacies, solely to Thomas and Martha, children of Richard Stillwell, while we know that he had several other children, would tend to establish the fact that they were the sole issue of Richard Stillwell and Mary Cooke, and create the suspicion that Richard Stillwell had more than one wife, and one who may have been the Regicide's daughter." ...

"Issue:

12 John Stillwell, born about 1663-4

13 Richard Stillwell, born 1671

14 Mary Stillwell, born prior to 1672

15 Martha Stillwell, born prior to 1679

16 Thomas Stillwell, born prior to 1679

17 Jeremiah Stillwell, born 1681: deduced.

18 Gershom Stillwell, born 1683

19 Sarah Stillwell (supposed).

19a Nicholas Stillwell, (supposed)"

"... his demise took place at a comparatively early age. It occurred in 1688, and was sudden, for in this year Richard Stillwell, Thomas Lovelace and Jacob Garretson sat as Justices of the Court of Sessions held in Richmond County whereof Thomas Stillwell, his brother, was the Sheriff. He left a modest estate and no will. Administration was given to his chief creditor.

1691, Oct. 29. William de Meyer petitioned for administration on his estate"^[4]

Birth

1636

possibly Leyden, Holland

Alternate birth location: Guilford, Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Mary Freelove Stillwell (Cooke)

Father of

1. Capt. John Stillwell, Esq.
2. Martha Walton (Stillwell)
3. Nicholas Stillwell
4. Thomas Stillwell
5. Sarah Stillwell
6. Mary Britton (Stillwell
7. Richard Stillwell
8. Jeremiah Stillwell
9. Gershom Stillwell

Occupation

Appointed under the Duke of York, justice of ther west riding of Yorkshire, comprising Staten isalnd west Long Island

1664

Death

1688

Land Records

9 April 1679 - Captain George Carteret, Captain Jaques Cortelyou, Captain Elbert Elbersen, and Captain Richard Stillwell purchased land from Native Americans:^[5]

FROM: Arrorikan (Sachem of Aquenonque); Indians; Mogquack; Woggormakameck

CONVEYANCE. Aquenonque, Bergen County. Payment: "…Two Hundred Fathem of White Wampen, Eleven Guns, fifty pounds of Powder, six Blankets, three Cloth Coates, six fathem of Read Broad Cloth, twelve fathem of Duffeild, seven small kettles and one great one, ten hatehets, ten hoes, one paire of men shoes, ten paire of stockings, one anker of Rum, twenty knives, one Auger and one drawing knife…" Property includes seven small islands. (See also: Book 1 (Part 2) p.129).

OTHERS NAMED: John Berrie (Captain) (Owner of Adjoining Land); Hans (Alias Sewackemein, Witness); Sewackemein (Alias Hans, Witness)

LOCATIONS: East Jersey; Bergen; Indian Land; Aquenonque (Bergen); Patackpain Creek (Bergen)

30 July 1681 - WARRANT. Aqueqnonke (along the Pisawack River). To Captain Jaques Courtilieu, Captain Elbert Elbertsen, Captain Richard Stilwell "and Company" to lay out "a tract of land bought of the Indians". [Acreage unrecorded].^[6]

Captain Richard Stillwell of Staten Island was deeded land in East Jersey:

1682 April 14. Do. Do. to Philipp Carteret, Capt. Mathias Nichols, Jacop Courtillou, Christopher Hoghland, Capt. Albert Albertson, Capt. Richard Stillwell, Hendrick Smok, Robert Yoost and associates for 5320 acres, a tract called Aqueyquinunke, along Passaiack R. S - The Saddle River tract, between the Passaic and Saddle rivers.^[7]

1687 March 25. 'Do. to Captain Richard Townley of Elizabethtown, Albert Albertsen of Flatlands, L. I., Jacob Cortillew of New Utrecht, L. I., Richard Stillwell of Staten Island, William Nicholls, Catharina Hoogland, Peter Jacobs, Ruhosten Jacobsone, and Hendrick Machielsen, all of New York, for 4,000 acres at Acquikanuck betw. Pisaick and Sadie Rivers.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Stilwell, Benjamin Marshall. Early Memoirs of the Stilwell Family Comprising the Life and Times of Nicholas Stilwell. New York: National Printing Company, 1878, pages 274-275. https://archive.org/details/earlymemoirsofst00stil/page/275
2. ↑ Leng and Davis, Staten Island and Its people, volume 1, p. 115
3. ↑ Stillwell, John E.. The History of Captain Richard Stillwell, Son of Lieutenant Nicholas Stillwell, and his Descendants. New York: unknown, 1930. page 10.
4. ↑ Stillwell, John E.. The History of Captain Richard Stillwell, Son of Lieutenant Nicholas Stillwell, and his Descendants. New York: unknown, 1930, page 11.
5. ↑ Liber 1, Part B (EJ) : Folio 210 / 129 (SSTSE023)
6. ↑ East Jersey Patents: Liber 2, a Book of Warrants and Surveys, Part B : Folio 128 (PEASJ003)
7. ↑ East Jersey Patents, etc., Liber No. 4. page 8, in Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Volume XXI, ed. William Nelson, (1899).
8. ↑ East Jersey Deeds, Etc., Liber B. page 105 in Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Volume XXI, ed. William Nelson, (1899).

• Stillwell Tree, part of HayGenealogy.com.

• Find A Grave: Memorial #175582158

• Geni profile: Captain Richard Stillwell

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Greg Wendt for creating WikiTree profile Stillwell-210 through the import of Wendt.ged on May 26, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Greg and others.