What's in A Name?

I don't know who my grandfather was; I'm much more concerned to know what his grandson will be. -Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

The Stillwell Name:

Information assembled by avocational genealogical researcher Ranelda Hunsicker.

Stillwell is an old English surname, and its first recorded use was in Farnham, Surrey, next to tiny Dockenfield -- the home of C. S. Lewis's chosen illustrator, Pauline Baynes. Like the name Lindskoog, the name Stillwell indicates where its first bearer lived -- by a well. The "still wells" which abounded in this area were constant, deep and pure. They bubbled and sparkled and never froze. Many people considered them holy places with curative powers. Those who lived beside them and took their name were thought to possess the same characteristics.

Nicholas Stillwell, Kathryn's immigrant ancestor, evidently moved from England to Holland about 1638 to escape religious persecution. A devoted Calvinist, he eventually immigrated with many Dutch Reformed people to New York and settled on Manhattan Island. Later he moved to Gravesend on Long Island, a town founded by America's first woman mayor, Deborah Moody. A successful businessman and plantation owner, Nicholas helped to defend New Amsterdam from Indian attacks and efforts by the English to claim the Dutch colonies. Later he moved to Staten Island where he died.

After the Dutch surrendered to the English in 1664, the Dutch church struggled for survival. Then a large number of French Huguenots came to America and strengthened the Dutch Reformed church. James Stillwell (b. ca.1754), Kathryn Stillwell Lindskoog's great-great-great-grandfather, was a member of this blended religious society. As a young man he lived in Queens County, New York, where he enlisted in the cause of the American Revolution. During the fighting, James was seriously wounded and crippled for the rest of his life. After the war he settled in Ulster County, New York. James married Catherine Lounsbury, part of another distinguished colonial family. They named their second son Edward (b. 1786) and he was baptized in the Marbletown Nether Dutch Church, as were at least five of his twelve siblings.

In the early 19th century James and Catherine Stillwell, along with several of their children including Edward (Kathryn's great-great-grandfather), moved to Hector, New York, in the Finger Lakes region. According to legend, the slender bodies of water here are the imprint left by the Creator's hand when he pronounced a benediction on this ruggedly beautiful land. The first women's rights convention met in this area in 1848.

The Stillwells made their living as farmers and weavers. Edward Stillwell and his wife Sarah Ferris stayed in Hector and had ten children. Their seventh child was Richard Lounsbury Stillwell (b. 1819). After growing up in Hector, young Richard launched out on his own as a schoolmaster. He taught first in Erie County, Pennsylvania, and then in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, where he married Clymena Daggett and became a devout Methodist. In 1842 he was licensed to preach. Until 1891, when he retired to Philadelphia, Richard was a Methodist circuit rider and pastor in north central Pennsylvania and central New York.

In 1883 Rev. Richard L. Stilwell (as he preferred to spell his name) compiled his sermons and reminiscences in a book (published by Phillips & Hunt of New York and Walden & Stowe of Cincinnati). His daughter Emma became a schoolteacher and author as well. For several years she taught at the distinguished Ogontz School for Girls, and several of her poems appeared in Harper's magazine.

Unfortunately, all Stillwell family connections and information were lost to Kathryn's branch of the family shortly after 1900, and only now has some of it come to light. Discovering the family legacy of love for God, education, and language has been a delightful surprise.

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