The most wanted person in this record is the father of the Daniel Stillwell who was born about 1812, married Phebe Ann Hiller, and died in 1852. We have assumed, largely based on the chronology of birth records and the work of Raymond J. Stillwell, that this father's name also was Daniel Stillwell. This other Daniel, born about 1795, may have been the son of Elias Stillwell, who also was the father of Joseph Stillwell and the one who emigrated to Ohio from New Jersey about 1819. We have no proof of this relationship and thus far an examination of the records in Miami County and Darke County, Ohio have yielded no solid evidence on the matter. The following material is based on the work of John E. Stillwell, Volume Three.

One of the children of Nicholas Stillwell, b 1699, son of Elias Stillwell, b about 1663, son of Capt. Nicholas Stillwell, b about 1636, son of Lt. Nicholas Stillwell the Progenitor, b. 1603, was named Elias, b about Feb. of 1740/41. This son Elias was mentioned in the will of his father, Nicholas, dated 20 Dec. 1759, with a bequest of £50, to be paid at age 21, one year’s schooling, and was later to be put to a trade (John E.Stillwell, vol. 3, p. 28). If he were a minor in 1759 then he must have been born after 1738. With eight children named in the will before Elias, each having lesser bequests and with two of them specified as the youngest (JESv3p28), he may have been born about 1743, assuming the birth of eight children two years apart before 1759.

Following this line of inference, Elias might have been born between 1738 and 1743. (In June of 1998 we saw a tombstone of an Elias Stillwell in Raper Chapel Cemetery, Troy, Ohio, which indicates a birth date of about January of 1747.) 

This Elias [born about 1743] is the subject of the following quotation from John E. Stillwell:

"63 Elias Stillwell, son of Nicholas Stillwell
"1759. He was a minor in his father's will.
"1789. Elias Stillwell took Anadoslia Emmons, Reap Brinley and Wm Brinley, town poor, of Shrewsbury, N. J.
"1798. Elias Stillwell and Ann Crawford, of Middletown. N. J., had a bastard child born. This allusion to Elias Stillwell may refer to Elias Stillwell, son of Obadiah Stillwell, commonly called 'Old Toad Nose.'
"Elias Stillwell moved to Burlington County, N. J.
"1812, May. "New Jersey Ss: The State of New Jersey: to our Sheriff of our County of Burlington Greeting: We command you that you Summon Elias Stillwell . . . to appear before the Justices of Our Supreme Court . . . of New Jersey to be held at ........ City of Trenton on the first Tuesday in September next to answer unto Joseph Tallman Senior in a plea of Trespass and also to a Bill of the said Joseph . . . . against the said Elias for breach of Covenant to the damage of the said Joseph Eight hundred Dollars . . . ."

"From 1812 to 1819 this country was in a most depressed state: the bottom fell out of everything as old Geo. Stillwell expressed it. Lambs sold for $1.75 and calves for $5., and there was no market for produce. It was so discouraging that many decided to move to the "new countries," a term vaguely applied to Northern New York (the Lake regions). and to Ohio. Elias Stillwell. Jos. Stillwell, Talbot and Ware decided to emigrate and started with two large covered wagons from Burlington County, N. J. When they got as far as the present site of Red Bank, the reports from the West were so discouraging, that Jos. Stillwell and Ware decided to go no further, but Elias Stillwell and Talbot continued on their way. Elias Stillwell was accompanied by his oldest son Joseph, who was about 25 years old, and who had recently married Miss Claypole, a remarkably pretty woman, living in New Egypt, and by his son Daniel, who was about 20 years old, and single. This emigration occurred about 1818. Joseph Talbot, who had married Catharine Stillwell, had four boys; one bearing the name James, and perhaps other children. They went with him.

"I have no exact knowledge in what part of Burlington County Elias Stillwell resided, nor where he took up a new home. Martha Johnson says: he moved to the Miami district.

"Issue:

145 Joseph Stillwell
146 Daniel Stillwell
147 Benjamin Stillwell (supposed)
148 Elias Stillwell
148a Eliza Stillwell (supposed)"

[This is the end of the quotation from J. E. Stillwell, vol. 3, pp. 48-49.]

This detail has been included to show the basis for our decision to identify the ancestry of Daniel Stillwell [#146 above], the great-great grandfather of Forrest. We hope for more evidence to be able to connect what we have clearly documented from Daniel to the recent family with the earlier families as discussed by John E. Stillwell and other researchers.