Elias Stillwell I (1663 - bef. 1715)

Born 1663 in Gravesend, Long Island, New Netherland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died before 30 Nov 1715 before age 52 in Middletown, Monmouth County, East Jersey

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Biography

Elias Stillwell, son of Nicholas Stillwell and Rebecca (Bayles) Stillwell, was born about 1663 in Gravesend. In 1699, he moved to Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, where he died before 30 November 1715, when his property was inventoried after his death.

It is known from the will of his father, Nicholas, that Elias had children, but we have no records stating the name of Elias' wife or children. It is thought that the Stillwells of the Tonoloway settlement in Bedford County, Pennsylvania may have been descendants of Elias.

Biography by J. E. Stillwell:^[1]

"Elias Stillwell, son of Nicholas Stillwell, the Second, 3, was born probably prior to 1665.

He was given a legacy of £7, in the will of his grandfather John Bayles, of Jamaica, Long Island, in 1682.

1683. He appeared on the Tax List of Gravesend.

1691, Dec. 12. He held property in the Neck in Gravesend. Court Records, Gravesend.

1696, Dec. 26. He was apparently a miller, for at this time he owned a tide-water mill at Gravesend, and entered into an agreement with John Marsh, of Brooklyn, by which the latter agreed to repair the running gear and the millstones, so as to make the mill grind faster, for which be was to have a share in the said mill and its receipts. This agreement was signed by Elias Stillwell and John Marsh, and witnessed by Nicholas Stillwell, William Wilkins and Jacobus Emans.

1696, Nov. 22. He bought a lot of land in Gravesend, from Stoffel Longstreet and his wife Macikenhane (?),of the Neversinks, N. J.

1698. The King’s County Census of this year gives him:

English - 1 man; 1 woman; 0 children; 0 apprentices , 0 slaves

by which we can infer that be had only recently married, and if the deduction is right as to the probable date of his birth, 1665, he was then thirty-three years of age.

1697/8, Mch. 12. He sold to Reynier Van Sicklen lot 13, containing two acres, on Guysbert’s Island.

1698/9, Jan. 13. He sold his dwelling-house and two garden-spots of land and the build-ings thereon, in Gravesend, to John Poling, one of which he had received from his brother Richard Stillwell.

Having disposed of his Gravesend possessions, be moved to Middletown, N. J., with his uncle Jeremiah Stillwell, where he appeared in 1699, and registered his cattle mark.

1703. He recorded his earmark for cattle in Middletown, then allowed to range the country.

1706. He was a witness to a deed in Middletown. Original owned by Dr. John E. Stillwell.

1713. On the Grand Jury in Monmouth County, N. J., in the Court of Quarter Sessions, Middletown, 1st Tuesday in September.

1715. An inventory was taken of his estate.

1715, Jan. 19. His father, Nicholas Stillwell, in his will of this date, mentioned him as deceased, and devised to his children (without names) £25, and residuary interests in his estate.

Elias Stillwell was in some manner, I believe, connected with the Stanley family, of Monmouth County, N. J. When his property was inventoried, Nov. 30, 1715, amounting to £36-16-6, by Thomas Morford and Lewis Morris, he was alluded to as “late of Middletown, yeoman.” Dying intestate, Richard Stanley, yeoman, of Monmouth County, was appointed administrator of his (Stillwell’s) estate, but Stanley dying before the estate was settled, his, Stanley’s widow, Sarah, presented her late husband’s accounts as such administrator, which amounted to £36-17-9¾ , a trifle in excess of the amount of the inventory. Sarah, the widow of Richard Stanley, was a daughter of Eleazor Cottrell, of Nutswamp, in Middletown, N. J., who died about the year 1727, leaving, in addition to this daughter Sarah, sons Nicholas and Gershom Cottrell. Sarah Cottrell, the widow of Richard Stanley, married, second, Mr. Smith.

Richd Stanley by his wife Sarah Cottrell had a son John Stanley who received money from his grandfather Eleazor Cottrell. This John Stanley resident of Mid’town,, Mon Co., N. J., died in 1750, leaving a will which gave property to his widow Grace and his god-daughter Margaret Frances with remainder of his estate to “oldest brother’s son, if any, and if not to his second brother’s son.”

There is no record in existence that I know of, giving the children of Elias Stillwell. They are grouped here simply from data given under their respective names. They were of tender years when he died and were doubtless looked after by their uncle Capt. Jeremiah Stillwell.

Issue:

14 Nicholas Stillwell (supposed)

15 Elias Stillwell (supposed)

16 Obadiah Stillwell (supposed)

17 Richard Stillwell (supposed)

18 Jeremiah Stillwell (supposed)

19 John Stillwell (supposed)"

Documents

18 October 1682 - "John Bayles Senior of Jameca on Long Island in America" signed his will, which contained the following item: ^[2]

"I Give unto Elyas Stilwell Sonne of Nicholas Stillwell and my Daughter Rebecca his Wife Deceased ten pounds"

Elias was living in Middletown, New Jersey by 1699:^[3]

July ye 24th 1699

Elias Stillwill his Ear marke is A half penny on the under Side the Right Eare and a Cut in : Cros ways on the under or back Side of the left entred

pr me Will Lawrence -junyr

Recorded to Cornelius Vanhorn: Clarke

1715 Nov. 30. Stillwell, Elias, of Middletown, yeoman. Inventory of the personal estate of (£36.16.6);

made by Thomas Morford and Lewis Morris. Account of the estate by Richard Stanley of Middletown, yeoman, dec'd, handed, in by Sarah, widow of said Richard, and showing payments to Anthony Pintard, Jeremiah Stilwell, Wm. Wilkins and John Drummey. Monmouth Wills.^[4]

Elias was deceased when his father Nicholas Stillwell wrote his will on 19 January 1715/16. Nicholas' will gave £25 to "the children of my son Elias".^[5]

9 April 1716 - Elias Stillwell (along with Thomas Stillwell, Daniel Stillwell, Nathaniel Stillwell, Jeremiah Stillwell, and Richard Stillwell) was listed as a mortgagor in the inventory of the estate of John Bowne, merchant of Mattawan, Middletown, Monmouth Co.^[6]

An Alternate Biography

Benjamin Marshall Stilwell had this entry for Elias, the son of Nicholas Stillwell:^[7]

"ELIAS STILWELL, (third son of Nicholas) (B). born at Gravesend, Dec. 13, 1685; married ANNE BURBANK of Staten Island, and left children :

A. Thomas, baptized June 30, 1726; married DEBORAH MARTLING, and had a son ELIAS;

B. Daniel, baptized March 24, 1728 ;

C. John, baptized May 17, 1730; married HELEN VAN NAME, of Staten Island, and had a son, ELIAS, baptized June 24, 1752"

These statements were repeated in a subsequent genealogy by Teunis Bergen.^[8]

Dewitt Stilwell had this entry for Elias:^[9]

"II. Elias Stilwell, by first wife, born about 1665. According to Gravesend records he was on the assessment roles in 1683, owned a tide mill there in 1696. January 13, 1698, he sold his dwelling house and two garden plots in Gravesend, one of which he had bought of this brother Richard, to John Poling. He sold March 12, 1698, two acres of land on Gisbert's Island to Reynier Sicklen. He probably moved to Middletown, N. J., about 1699, where his estate was inventoried November 30, 1715. He left children, which is shown by his father's will, but their names and the name of his wife are not known. He had the ear-mark for his cattle recorded at Middletown, N. J., July 24, 1699. He could not have been the Elias Stilwell who married Ann Barbank of Staten Island, as given in some records of the Stilwell family. It was possibly a son of his by the name of Elias who married Ann Barbank and had children:

1. Elias Stilwell, baptized January 20, 1725.

2. Daniel Stilwell, baptized March 24, 1727.

3. John Stillwell, baptized May 17, 1730."

Sources

1. ↑ John E. Stillwell, "The History of Captain Nicholas Stillwell, son of Lieutenant Nicholas Stillwell, and his descendants", pages 11-12
2. ↑ Bayles, Howard Green, et al. The Bayles families of Long Island and New Jersey and their descendants.Howard Green Bayles, with the cooperation of Frederick Phinney Bayles.Houston, Tex. H.G.Bayles:1944, Page 7. https://archive.org/details/baylesfamiliesof00bayl/page/11
3. ↑ The First Town Book of Middletown, N. J., in John E. Stillwell's "Historical and Genealogical Miscellany, Volume II", New York (1906), page 191.
4. ↑ Calendar of New Jersey Wills: Volume I, (Archives of the State of New Jersey: Volume XXIII) page 442. https://archive.org/details/calendarofnewjer00newj/page/442
5. ↑ "Abstracts of Wills on File in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York", Volume 2, New York Historical Society, pages 163-164.
6. ↑ Calendar of New Jersey Wills: Volume I, (Archives of the State of New Jersey: Volume XXIII) page 52. https://archive.org/details/calendarofnewjer00newj/page/52
7. ↑ Stilwell, Benjamin Marshall. Early memoirs of the Stilwell family. New York. The National Printing Company:1878. Page 283. https://archive.org/details/earlymemoirsofst00stil/page/283
8. ↑ Bergen, Teunis G., 1806-1881. [from old catalog]. Register In Alphabetical Order, of the Early Settlers of Kings County, Long Island, N.Y.. New York: S. W. Green's sons, printer, 1881. Page 276 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t2j67sx0n&view=1up&seq=280
9. ↑ Dewitt Stilwell, "History and Genealogical Record of One Branch of the Stillwell Family", The Martin Press, New York, 1914. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066286154&view=1up&seq=73

• Ladd, Forest and Jean. Stillwell Famlies of Central Oklahoma and Their Ancestors . 2011 Copyright. Pages 11-12 http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~forladd/Stillwell-Book-2011.pdf