Stillwell Sisters
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Last Revised November 2003
Spendlove
Leatham Genealogy
The following from:
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nwa/stillwell.html
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nwa/index.html
[email protected].
Two Brave Stillwell Sisters
Two stories are told of the Stillwell sisters, Rebecca and Sarah, daughters
of Captain Nicholas Stillwell of Beesley's Point, Cape May County, New Jersey.
Rebecca prevented a British raiding party from landing at Beesley's Point
in the Upper Precinct by firing a cannon filled with grapeshot at an approaching
British sloop. Sarah was successful in enlisting General Washington's aid
in an exchange of prisoners, in order to rescue her husband from a prisoner
ship anchored at New York.
At the time of the Revolutionary War, Rebecca Stillwell Willets, the wife
of James Willets, lived at her fathers's Ferry House at Beesley's Point.
The privateers had captured British supplies which they had stored near the
Ferry House for the Continental Soldiers which consisted of mostly food and
clothing. All men and boys of 15 years or older had been ordered into the
Army and the women were alone. The Tories had learned about the supplies,
where they were stored and that the Ferry House was unguarded and had notified
the British. The British decided to raid this storehouse.
One day, looking across the bay through her spy glass toward Somers Point,
Rebecca saw a British ship approaching. It anchored not far away and lowered
a boat filled with sailors who began to row toward the Ferry House. Rebecca
knew that they were up to no good and that she must act to protect the others.
A cannon was standing in the front yard, loaded and ready for action. The
loaded boat came closer and closer. When she thought they were within range
she fired the cannon and the load of grapeshot went its way just above the
heads of the Redcoats. The sailors stopped rowing. The leaders decided that
they must be mistaken, the Ferry House was not deserted. They turned around,
rowed back to their ship and sailed away. The store house was saved.
Capt. Moses Griffing was the husband of Sarah Stillwell. He and other Cape
May County maritime raiders fell into the hands of the British during the
Revolutionary War. Many of them, including Moses, were taken on board the
prison ship Jersey, anchored on the East River in New York. When Sally heard
of his imprisonment, she reportedly journeyed alone from Cape May County
to Sir Henry Clinton's headquarters in New York to win the release of her
husband Moses Griffing. On the way to New York, Sally visited General Washington's
encampment and obtained from him the control of a British officer of equal
rank with her husband and proceeding in person to New York, she exchanged
him for her husband.
The Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter of Ocean City, NJ, is
named "Sarah Stillwell" in her honor. The children's chapter, the C.A.R.
of Cape May, NJ, is named for Rebecca Stillwell.
Sources:
* Corson, Mary Jane, "History of The Beesley's Point
Hotels", in A History of Upper Township and Its Villages. Published by the
Historical Preservation Society of Upper Township, Township of Upper Cape
May County, New Jersey, 1989.
* Dickinson, Karl, "Rebecca Stillwell Willets" in The
Cape May County Magazine of History and Genealogy, Volume VII, Number 4.
Published by Cape May County Historical and Genealogical Society, Cape May
Court House, New Jersey, June 1976.
* Dorwart, Jeffery M., Cape May County, New Jersey,
The Making of An American Resort Community. Published by Rutgers University
Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1992.
* "Reuben Willets' Journal" in Stewart's Genealogical
and Historical Miscellany, No. 2. Published by Frank H. Stewart, President
of the Gloucester County Historical Society, Woodbury, NJ, Philadelphia,
1918.
* Stevens, Lewis Townsend, The History of Cape May County, New Jersey,
From the Aboriginal Times to the Present Day. Originally published Cape
May City, New Jersey, 1897. Reprinted for Clearfield Company, Inc. by Genealogical
Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, 1997.
Email [email protected]