Notes for Nicholas Stillwell, Lt

Family Group Sheet

Notes for Nicholas Stillwell, Lt

!Source

!Note: Denzil Stilwell Records:
Death might be 22 Dec vice 28 Dec.
Arrived from Leyden in Hull around 1638.
Has m Hopton abt 1630 in England.

!Note: Arr from Leyden in Hull abt 1638
Nicholas's death also given as 22 Dec
Name Stilwell started c 1450 near Warborough in Surrey County. From certain
wells in the area. In AARON BURR by Samuel H Wandell and Meade Minnigerode,
vol 1, GP Putnam's sons NY London, The Knickerbocker Press 1925---Nicholas had come to Yorktown Va as a tobacco planter. In 1639 he "viewed" crop burning. In 1645 in a dispute with Md over trading post in the Chesapeake he fled to Manhattan. Was called Valiant Stillwell for his Indian fighting.
There is a marriage recorded in Long Island on 6 Feb 1671, just less
than a year before his death, between a Nicholas Stilwell and a Catherine
Morgan (widow). It seems likely that this was the one rather than his son,
Capt, who would have been 36 or so and already has 3 marriages indicated.

MARR DATE abt 1642/3 in Holland to Annetje Van Dyck

Quote
By 1639 Nicholas Stillwell was well established as a tobacco planter on
the York River between king creek and Sandy Point in Virginia. FOr political
reasons he had left England for the new world in the year 1634-1635. Records
show that in the early 14th Century the Stillwells had "considerable estate" in the County of Surrey, especially near Farnham, south of London.

Because of the lack of protection from the Indians between the York and
James Rivers at the time, it was necessary to have an armed force in constant
readiness. Nicholas Stillwell was a Lieutenant in this army. A brother in law
of the Indian Chief Powhatan hated the whites and until his death kept the
Indians stirred up against them.

There was also trouble with the Dutch over Fort Nasseau. The Dutch had
abandoned the fort, but when the Virginians occupied it, the Dutch attacked and recaptured it along with several prisoners including Lt Stillwell. The
prisoners were taken to New Amsterdam but returned to Virginia soon after.

The Kent Island matter proved more serious. Kent Island along with some
other Virginia territory was granted by the King to Lord Baltimore and included by him part of Maryland. Claibourne, acting for the Governor of Virginia, was holding this territory. He left Lt. Stillwell, who ahd served with him in the Indian Wars, in charge. Finally the Governor, finding himself in an untenable position, ordered Stillwell to return. Stillwell refused, and having liked what he had seen of New Amsterdam decided to abandon his plantation and possessions in Virginia and go to New Amsterdam. This was in 1645-46.

Stillwell bough land on Turtle Bay but the Indian situation became so
dangerous that he had to abandon it. He next settled at Gavesend, where he
bought a farm for his son Richard for 900 weight of tobacco. In 1659 he was
elected Magistrate and for several years thereafter. In 1654 he was elected
president of the Court Martial for trying pirates.

In 1663 Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of New Amsterdam, engaged Lt. Stillwell as a office to "assist in protection and security of the Province" requiring a "good and expert person speaking the English language". Two officers, Stillwell and Capt Marshall had been credited with ending the Indian War which doubtless influenced Governor Stuyvesant.

Connecticut began to claim Long Island and sent James Christie to stir upthe people against the Dutch. Stillwell arrested Christie and returned him to New Amsterdam for trial. There was an atempt to hold Stillwell as hostage but he escaped. Unrest continued for a while.

In 1664, English ships came into the harbor and captured New Amsterdam for England. Stillwell sold his plantation and bought another on the south eastern shore of Staten Island, where he died in 1671. He was survived by his wife Ann and Sons Richard, Nicholas, Jeremiah, and Joseph Stillwell.
Above article written by Eugene Cass Haller, appeared in the Grand Prairie Historical Society Bulletin, Vol IV, No. 4 October 1963.