Hi!  It has taken a lot of research to obtain the information that I have to share here about my  Stilley origins.

    Until recently, all I ever knew about the Stilley name was what my Dad laughed about as he reported an old story he had heard from his father.   The old tale was that "there were two brothers from Ireland; one went North and one went South", and that was the extent of what we knew about our family's origins, until my wife Lynette  began to research in the mid-1980's.  We didn't  know then there were so many Stilleys!

GETTING STARTED    As all good genealogists know, documenting lineage is prime, and Lynette worked diligently with each piece of information we gathered about our line.  We knew it would involve much correspondence to obtain necessary records; birth, death, marriage, census, probate, etc., from courthouse records, census lists and personal contact with other sometimes-distant relatives.

By the time we were to leave for a two-year assignment as Peace Corps volunteers in 1989, as far back as we had documented was the following (from the 1850 Perry County, Illinois federal census)

444/45 (household)

This Mary, the "mystery woman"  sparked our interest. Doing the quick math to estimate Mary's birth year, it registered that the oldest person in my family I had been able to trace - - was a woman named "Mary", obviously now a widow, and that she had been born in North Carolina in 1799!

Now, on with our STILLEY story...Based upon factual research, it is the common consensus of these above-mentioned researchers (and myself)  that the origins of the Stilley name traces back, not to Ireland, but to Scandinavia!  (see Van Stilley's GEDCOM re: Olaf Stille)    But I digress...I must first return to  my story about "mystery Mary".  Solving the riddle of  Mary  was the key to learning who my Stilley ancestors really were...

Next, a breakthrough.. Researching in southern Illinois...the estate settlement of Hezekiah STILLEY, who died in 1836...provided documentation of the relationship between Hezekiah and Winfield, father of our Thomas K. Stilley I... 

    The probate papers prepared after the death of Hezekiah Stilley contains 16 pages, and records  names of many other Stilleys also  living in the vicinity who had come for the sale of goods to settle the Estate.

    This file was really a break-through, because it named the  minor children the time of their father  Hezekiah's death in 1836.  The Washington Co., IL Probate Court papers gave the full name and date of birth of minor children of Hezekiah and Mary Stilley- -

 Elizabeth, 
*Winfield
 James,
  Alfred 
  Sara ("Sary") Ann
and the final settlements to each upon  reaching their maturity some years later. 

*(my line descends through Winfield)

On The move--               

 I traced the family's movements from Washington Co. to Perry Co. Illinois, all the way to Collin Co., Texas, and back home again to Murphysboro in  Jackson Co, Illinois....

Mary went with her son, Winfield to Texas and stayed with daughter Elizabeth (who had married Jessie Hutchings). Mary is buried in Collin Co., north of Dallas, also  Elizabeth and some of her children, and brother Alfred, who died there in Texas of pneumonia at age 23. 

But Winfield and his wife, Pernina (Mason) came back to Illinois.  They were residing in Tamaroa, Perry Co. in 1870, and in Blissville, Jackson Co. in 1880.

Winfield and Pernina were recorded on the 1900 Jackson Co census as living with their son, Thomas K,  his wife Josie and their 4 children in Murphysboro. (see their family portrait, below)    

My dad, Thomas K. II, was born the next year.  At this time, I still  have not located  Winfield's final resting place.   But I have "casts my nets" and I am in hopes that this information will become available shortly.  Stay tuned!

1902 Photograph

 Grandfather Thomas K Stilley Sr. holding my father on his lap.  Taken at Dagle Studio, Murphysboro, IL in 1902.  My dad's mother, Josie GUY ,  is  the lady standing behind Grandpa.  She died in 1907 when my dad was only 5 years old, leaving Grandpa with 5 small children to care for. 

 Eight  years after his wife died, Grandpa was living across the Mississippi River in Bollinger Co., Missouri.  One hot summer afternoon in 1915, he had stopped by the yard at a place for a drink of cool water, and fell into a conversation with the resident.  

 LulaBelle (Jackson) EAKER had recently become a widow, and had four small children to care for. Three weeks later, they married.

Click here to visit GEDCOM files of the entire 8 generations at my FAMILY TREE MAKER SITE. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the Reports section and you will see "Hezekiah Stilley"

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Lynette's Family History Pages�1999