My Genealogy Hound

Dr. William H. Stilwell is a son of Elijah and grandson of John Stilwell, who was of English descent and enlisted in the Revolutionary war at the age of sixteen (1776). His son, Elijah, was born in North Carolina, and served a short time in the war of 1812. He married Rebecca Osborn, who was also a native of North Carolina. Our subject is a direct descendant of John Coke, the public prosecutor of Charles I, of England. Through the laws of England the family were obliged to flee the country, and took refuge in Holland, where they took the mother’s name of Still and the town of Wells, combining the two. Our subject was born in North Carolina, and there lived until ten years of age, when he came with his father to Bedford County, Tenn., and there spent his boyhood days on a farm. At the age of twenty-one he began studying medicine in Lexington, Ky., and graduated at Memphis, Tenn., several years later, being one of the first who graduated from the medical school of that city. He practiced a short time in Alabama in 1838, and the same year came to Gibson County, locating about ten miles from Humboldt, where he remained until December 25, 1858, when he came to the town, being then the third or fourth family in the town. In 1866 he took charge of the post office at this place and held the same until the fall of 1885, when he returned to the practice of his profession. He has been a thorough politician in the Republican ranks, and was a strong Union man during the war. In 1860 he established a paper known as the Cosmos, and continuing the same until the spring of 1861, when his printer joined the Confederate Army and stopped the publication. In 1837 he married Mary Gibson, who died in 1843, leaving three little daughters: Cordelia H., Hannah R. and Mary A. Mary Hockaday became his wife in 1845. She died a year later, and in 1850 he wedded Mary Gillespie, who bore him three children: Ben G., William H. and Emily F. (wife of Rev. George N. Wall, of West Finley, Penn.) Dr. and Mrs. Stilwell are members of the Presbyterian Church.