Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, and Me

An interesting item was posted on Facebook by the Hampton History Museum this month. I made an immediate connection between Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia and our own family history, but I had no idea that this Elizabeth was the one for whom the places in Tidewater are named! Elizabeth River, Elizabeth City County... I always assumed they were named for Queen Elizabeth I of England, as the state of Virginia was.

Posted on Facebook February 13, 2016

My ancestors were in the Bohemian Queen's inner circle! Here is an excerpt from a previous blog entry (4/12/15) that I wrote about Nicholas Stillwell, my 9th great grandfather and Abigail Hopton, my 9th great grandmother:

Nicholas Stillwell was born in Surrey, England in 1603. He fled England to escape religious persecution, becoming a soldier of Elizabeth Stuart the Queen of Bohemia who was protestant. Elizabeth is called "the Winter Queen" because of her short tenure in the winter of 1619-1620. According to tradition, he married one of her maids of honor, Abigail Hopton, in about 1630. After the defeat of Prague, Elizabeth went into exile at The Hague, and her army disbanded. Nicholas came to America and settled in Virginia.

My ancestor, Nicholas Stillwell came to Virginia around 1630 and owned a tobacco plantation on the York River (where the Colonial Parkway is today) and was a well-known leader in the colonists' fight against the Indians. Could he have been instrumental in giving the Elizabeth River its name? Elizabeth City County? It is entirely possible!

This is the story I found: 

The Elizabeth River in colonial Southeastern Virginia was named in honour of the princess, as was Cape Elizabeth a peninsula, and today, a town in the United States in the state of Maine. John Smith explored and mapped New England and gave names to places mainly based on the names used by Native Americans. When Smith presented his map to Charles I, he suggested that the king should feel free to change the "barbarous names" for "English" ones. The king made many such changes, but only four survive today, one of which is Cape Elizabeth.[47] 

 Stewart, George R. (1967) [1945], Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States (Sentry edition (3rd) ed.), Houghton Mifflin, p. 38

I find it fascinating that my family history is so deeply embedded in the history of Tidewater Virginia, especially on my maternal side.  As far as I ever knew, my mother's family came from "out west," and my father's family from Richmond and New Jersey. How they ended up here, where it all began, it such an amazing saga!

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell > Capt. Nicholas Stillwell > Nicholas Stillwell III > John Stillwell > William L. Stillwell > Catherine Stillwell > Capt. Jacob Wandell > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada Clemina Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell, Virginia colonist

My family, what would you think if I told you that one of your ancestors - my 9th great grandfather - was associated with Jamestown?

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell > Capt. Nicholas Stillwell > Nicholas Stillwell III > John Stillwell > William L. Stillwell > Catherine Stillwell > Capt. Jacob Wandell > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada Clemina Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell was the progenitor of the famous Stillwells of Long Island. We are direct descendants through my mother's paternal lineage.  There is a wealth of primary documentation about the Stillwell family.  It took some time to wade through it all, especially since many of them had the same first names and there were multiple spellings of the last name. Interesting, this Nicholas consistently wrote his name with the N backwards, so his writing is distinctive. He was a military man who led expeditions against the Indians, but he was also described as a pious man who "lived for the betterment of the human race."  He was loyal all his life to the Dutch people in America.

Nicholas Stillwell was born in Surrey, England in 1603.  He fled England to escape religious persecution, becoming a soldier of Elizabeth Stuart the Queen of Bohemia who was protestant. Elizabeth is called "the Winter Queen" because of her short tenure in the winter of 1619-1620.  According to tradition, he married one of her maids of honor, Abigail Hopton, in about 1630.  After the defeat of Prague, Elizabeth went into exile at The Hague, and her army disbanded.  Nicholas came to America and settled in Virginia.

[see this post for new info on the Queen of Bohemia]

He was a successful tobacco plantation owner on the York River in Virginia from 1635 to about 1646. His house and plantation were located "east of West Creek" (now Felgate's Creek) right off what is now the National Colonial Historic Parkway. From 1635 to 1639, he was a tobacco evaluator, inspecting tobacco for quality before it was shipped to England, so he likely was well known to John Rolfe. He aided Claiborne (future governor of Maryland) in the fight against the Indians in Virginia from 1644-1646.  Afterward, Nicholas left Virginia - perhaps because the "Claiborne Incident," whatever that implies, caused an unsafe situation for colonists vulnerable to attack by small groups of Indians, or maybe because Gov. Berkeley created an uncomfortable situation for certain protestant groups in Virginia.

UPDATE 5/3/2020:  Just discovered that Nicholas Stilwell also owned 200 acres in what is now Gloucester. The following two maps were found in The Descendants of Lieutenant Nicholas Stillwell, Volume I by Raymond J. Stillwell, 2010. Note the proximity to Warner Hall.

In 1646, he left for New Amsterdam, leaving his land to be taken by others.  He was one of the 20 original farm owners (Lady Moody colonists*) in Graves End. He traded a house in town for an outlying plantation. He had to prove he could defend himself from the Indians in order to obtain permission to live outside the town.  He led expeditions against the Indians during the Esopus Wars, which were localized conflicts between the Indians and the Dutch. In the years 1650-1653, he was the town magistrate.  He was a close personal friend and confidante of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New Amsterdam.

Graves End, or Gravesend, NY

In 1664, he purchased land on Manhattan Island.  In 1665, he moved to Staten Island directly across the bay from Gravesend.  He received the estate of Thomas Morell by will, as Morell did not have heirs.

Nicholas died on Staten Island on December 28, 1671.  

Nicholas Stillwell owned the land on Staten Island between what is now
Jefferson and Liberty Avenues, in the area of Dongan Hills.

Line of descent:  Lt. Nicholas Stillwell > Capt. Nicholas Stillwell > Nicholas Stillwell III > John Stillwell > William L. Stillwell > Catherine Stillwell* > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada C. Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia Crofford > Zaun
*some sources say Catherine's father was Stephen Stillwell, also descended from Lt. Nicholas Stillwell.  I'm still working on verifying this information.

Our family lines have crisscrossed through the generations, especially in our New England ancestry.  These links have not yet been proven, but there was a Richard Applegate (mom's maternal ancestor?) who married a daughter of John Stillwell (mom's paternal ancestor?).  I also found out that Jeremiah Stillwell (mom's paternal ancestor?) married Rebecca Ashton (dad's maternal ancestor?).

There is a book out now by Michael Philip Cash called Stillwell: a Haunting on Long Island. 180 five star reviews on Amazon!  There is a Stillwell Avenue in Gravesend, and the estates of some family members were well known on Long Island and in Queens.

*Gravesend was founded by Lady Deborah Moody, a leader of religious dissenters; she was the 1st female landowner.

Sources:
http://haygenealogy.com/hay/sources/britton/stillwelltree.html
http://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/STILLWELL
http://www.stilwell.uk.net/index.php/families/usa-stilwells/the-known-history.html
Various documents linked to Ancestry.com

Ossining

Ever since Nintendo Wii came out with Karaoke Revolution, I have been ridiculously in love with the song Ossining by Mike Doughty.  I never get tired of listening to it.

This is just another one of those eerie coincidences that I'm finding in my genealogy research.

The story, according to my great grandmother Ada Crofford, is that her grandfather Haight purchased a tract of land from an Indian called Old Sing Sing.  As part of the price, Old Sing Sing was promised a fresh loaf of bread every Christmas, baked by my 4th great grandmother. The old Indian would appear at Christmas time, and go off very happily with his prize.

William Haight > Miriam Haight > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada C. Hall > Horace C Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

This tract of land, once called Sing Sing, was officially named Ossining in 1901.

Nice story, right?  Historical accounts found online tell that a man named Frederick Philipse purchased the land from the Sint Sinck Indians in 1685 and incorporated it as the Manor of Philipsburg.  He leased the land to tenant farmers.  After the Revolution, Philipse was imprisoned for being a British Loyalist.  His manor was confiscated and sold at auction by the State of New York.  It became known as Sing Sing. Many of the farms were sold to the tenant farmers who had supported the American cause.  The Haights were among those tenant farmers who bought the land.  Ada's great grandfather William Haight was born in 1752 in Philipsburg; after the war, he purchased land he had been farming. His father, Samuel Haight had occupied the land as early as 1745 and purchased part of the manor from the state of New York in 1785.  According to The Settlement of Philipsburgh, by MacKenzie, Samuel and Joseph Haight were among the English families who settled in the eastern and northern part of Mount Pleasant after 1725.

In a manuscript about Deborah Sampson, there is mention of William Haight:

It is in this region* that William (also given as Willis) Haight had a tenant farm of 133 acres that was part of the extensive land holdings that made up Philipsburgh Manor. Unfortunately for Frederick Philipse III, he chose the wrong side in the Revolution. After the war his confiscated land was put up for sale by the New York State Commissioners of Forfeitures, and Haight purchased the land that he had been farming. XXX
The name Haight has many variations, the most usual being Hoyt and Hoit, with Hoite and Haite also used frequently. It was a relatively common name in Westchester.

*near where the borders of the present towns of Ossining, Mount Pleasant and New Castle intersect two miles due east of Ossining and the Hudson River.  In The Female Review it says "a place called, in Dutch, Vonhoite."

Interesting side notes:
Slaves played an important role in colonial life in this northern town.  One slave was named Charles Haight.
The Philipse Manor House still stands as a tourist attraction in what is now Yonkers.

Among the many famous people associated with Ossining:
Washington Irving "Sleepy Hollow"
Clement Moore "The Night Before Christmas"
Deborah Sampson, Revolutionary War soldier

Ossining lyrics:

Put my faith in the price of mud
And my lord shall match the pounds,
Ten thousand days and a night spelunking
Kill my years in the lightning round,
Confound it

Why not
Seek Ossining
These threes and foursomes
Abounded,

Why not
Seek Ossining
This time around?

No, not a maze, but like blazed-out inner star
Disclosed completely in a plain film canister

Croffords and Dillinghams and the travails of pioneer life

Our story goes back to Calvin V. Crofford, b. 1806.  I have found plentiful documentation on Calvin's life, but nothing about his parentage.  There is family lore about his father (possibly Horace Crofford or Crawford) from Scotland.  Ada Crofford wrote about Horace Crawford settling in the Genessee Valley in NY, who was known as the "Genessee Millwright." Calvin's wife, Anna Dillingham, is easy to trace, though there are questions about the identity of her grandparents.

John Dillingham > Anna Dillingham (m. Calvin Crofford) > Horace C. Crofford > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

The most important documentation of the Crofford/Dillingham connection is the 1850 census from Porter, Indiana (see below).  It was a thrill to stumble upon the Crofford (Crawford) name while researching the Dillinghams!

The most colorful stories are linked in Ancestry to Anna's father John Dillingham, my 3rd great grandfather.  Here are some highlights:

• He was born in 1773, in New England (possibly Rhode Island, Connecticut, or Massachusetts - his father's family was from Cape Cod).
• His mother was a Quakeress.
• He was a seaman in his youth, once surviving a storm in which the men cast lots to see who would be sacrificed to feed the rest.  Thankfully, they were rescued by another ship near Hartford, CT.
• At age 21 he married Clarissa Olcott and had six children, all of whom died (two of them in the Fire Lands, part of the western reserve of Connecticut in what is now Ohio).
• He was enlisted to fight the Indians under General Wayne. He had many hairbreadth escapes from the Indians, as described in the stories.
• After his discharge, he returned to Connecticut with his little family, but later moved west to Genesee County in New York (until 1809), and then to the area near Cleveland, Ohio. 
• He married Hannah Hiccox (cousin of Wild Bill) of Cleveland, and had 14 - 15 children, most of whom died at birth. Among them were Sally, Ann, John, Hannah, Betsey, King, Esther, Olcott, and Comfort.
• John and his son, Henry, served in the War of 1812.  Afterward they worked as mail carriers on the route between Cleveland and General Harrison at Camp Seneca, surviving more close calls with Indians.
• In 1836, he pioneered by wagon train to Porter Co., Indiana where he died at age 90. 

The descendants of the Dillinghams play an important part in the history of Liberty Township and still populate this ancestral home.  The eastern third of Liberty Township in Porter County was known as the "Dillingham Settlement."  Liberty Township was a quiet and law-abiding community in spite of frequent episodes with Indians, fires, storms, and train wrecks.  John was known for sheltering "wayfaring men" as there was no inn.

Interesting notes:  
1) a history of Liberty Township mentions a "William Crawford" who owned land in the northeast part of the town (Calvin V's relation?).  
2) There is a Crawfordsville, Indiana  (Text, p. 59.) established in 1823 (Wickipedia) and named after Colonel William H. Crawford from Virginia.  Coincidence? I think this is different family, but still...
3) Several sources list John Dillingham as a "Welshman." One source says that John and Hannah were natives of "Wales and Connecticut respectively."I have not found evidence of his Welsh heritage, but it makes me wonder about the accuracy of my research.  
4) Hannah's last name can be spelled many different ways, making research a challenge... Hiccox, Hickok, Hekok, Hitchcock...

The history of Porter Country documents the marriage of Anna Dillingham to Daniel Lyons in 1837 and tells us that Anna taught school in her father's house (eight or nine students).   In 1839, she married Calvin Crawford, who was one of the first settlers of the nearby Jackson Township.  They had five children:  Angeline, Cylinda, Chester, Horace (my great grandfather), and Charles.  Many young men from Liberty fought for the Union in the Civil War (including my great grandfather Horace Crofford).  

1850 Census for Porter, Indiana.  My great grandfather Horace was three years old.