| Notes |
- Harold Stillwell married Loicey Bassett in 1811. After she died in 1815 he married her sister, Charlotte Bassett.
A Territorial Arkansas Pioneer: Joseph Stillwell
by Robert W. Dhonau, Little Rock, Arkansas
Joseph Stillwell came from far away New Jersey and made two other stops before coming to the frontier country in Arkansas about 1798. It was truly in frontier country then because it was part of the Louisiana Purchase obtained from France in 1803. All travel was by steamboat or horseback and communication was very slow. A census of 1798 showed only 368 people in Arkansas.
The fourth generation of his family in America, he was born March 3, 1752 in Monmouth County, New Jersey, at Middletown. His parents were Sarah Shepherd and Joseph Stillwell, whose forefathers came from Surrey County, England, to Virginia about 1638. Joseph Stillwell saw action in the Revolutionary War as a private in the First Regiment of the Monmouth County Militia of New Jersey. Reports show that he was taken prisoner by the British on February 13, 1777, near the Lighthouse on the Highlands. From later service he was discharged as an Ensign on May 1, 1784.
Prior to this time, Joseph married Sarah Winters and their first child, Harold, was born on May 3, 1783. He then took his young family to Kentucky to join relatives, Elisha Winters and his sons, William and Gabriel. Together they went to New Orleans and began the manufacture of cotton rope. With their free handed, open hearted ways, they soon gained the friendship of the people in power.
An enormous grant of land was made June 22, 1797, by the Baron de Carondolet, who was the Spanish governor of the Territory of Louisiana, to the three Winters men, Joseph Stillwell and six other men. The total of this land grant was said to be one million arpens of land (old French measure - about an acre) on the north side of the Arkansas River from Argenta to Arkansas Post. The portions of land granted to Joseph Stillwell was fifteen arpens along the river and forty arpens in depth. It was known as Spanish Land Grant No. 2399. The purpose of the grant was "to form a settlement in the Post of Arkansas for the cultivation of flax, wheat and hemp".
In1798, the Winters and Joseph Stillwell families arrived at the village of Arkansas Post and began a survey of their lands. Stillwell selected land about four miles up the river from Arkansas Post and built a cabin. Improvements were gradually made by erecting permanent buildings, cultivating the land, and sheep and other livestock were brought to raise. He perfected his title by settlement and occupancy and afterwards received a patent under the homestead laws of the United States.
The Winters family selected their lands about two and a half miles northwest of the Post on the east side of Grand Prairie. They also made extensive improvements and even brought a hewn stone barn from Lexington, Kentucky, to make their boundaries. There was no such stone around the area. As later history, the Winters claim for this grant land was in the courts for over forty years, but was never perfected, and they eventually lost their lands.
Records show that Joseph Stillwell was prominent in affairs of the Territory as it grew and developed. On June 27, 1806, the legislature of the Louisiana Territory passed an act creating the District of Arkansas. The northern boundary was set at "a line beginning on the Mississippi River opposite the second Chicksaw Bluff, (about where Memphis is now located) and continuing west indefinitely" and the southern boundary "the 33rd parallel" the present Louisiana-Arkansas line. What is now northern Arkansas was included in the New Madrid District with most of Missouri.
In 1808, Governor Lewis of the Territory of Louisiana, selected officials for the new District of Arkansas. Jospeh Stillwell, Francis Vaugine and Benjamin Foy were appointed Judges of the Court of Common Pleas. Harold Stillwell, eldest son of Joseph, was appointed Sheriff of the District which included what is now about the southern two thirds of the state. It was not until 1813 that the County of Arkansas was formed, and in 1818 the northeastern corner of the present state was taken from the New Madrid District and became Lawrence County of the Arkansas District. Joseph Stillwell was made Auditor of the Accounts in 1810 and held the position until 1815. He had to travel in all parts and he was said to have learned every road and Indian trail.
President James Monroe approved the act creating the Territory of Arkansas as passed by Congress in 1819. Arkansas Post was made the seat of government. Two judicial districts were formed, the first being composed of Arkansas and Lawrence Counties and the second being Clark, Pulaski and Hempstead Counties which were newly formed. James Miller of New Hampshire was appointed the first Territorial Governor.
In 1820 Joseph Stillwell was again appointed a Judge of the Court at Arkansas Post. He could speak several languages including French, Spanish and the Quapaw dialect. When Arkansas County Representative W.C. Allen, to the First Territorial Legislature, was killed in a duel with Representative Robert C. Oden in March 1820, Joseph sought the vacant seat. His announcement of candidacy was published April 29, 1820 in the Arkansas Gazette in both English and French for the benefit of the old settlers who knew only French. The French version was labeled "communicated" to show it was not written by the editor. This paragraph is the only one in the history of the Gazette to appear in French. In the election Stillwell defeated Richmond Peeler by the vote of 94 to 82. While he was in the legislature, Independence County was created and the Capitol was moved to Little Rock in 1821.
Joseph Stillwell died at his home on September 10, 1822. He was buried on his homestead and in 1971 a grave marking ceremony was held under auspices of the Stuttgart Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution and Grand Prairie Historical Society. Since there were no schools in the territory during his lifetime, Joseph Stillwell taught his own children. Harold Stillwell, following in the footsteps of his father, after serving as the first Sheriff of the County he was their Representative in the 7th and 8th Territorial Legislature, 1829 to 1833. He married Loicey Bassett in 1811, who died in 1815, and Charlotte Bassett in 1819, both were daughters of William Bassett, a large landowner who came to the Post from Georgia.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1783 - 1850 (67 years)
d. 10 Sep 1822, Arkansas