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Paul Reuben Stillee
Born May 9, 1784 Natchez District
Died by Oct 28, 1815 Claiborne Co. MS

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Father
Mother

SPOUSE	CHILDREN
Mary Polly Clark m. by 1803 ?Claiborne Co. Miss. Terr. b. by May 1790? ?Natchez Dist. d. after 1830? ?Rapides Parish LA	Elizabeth b. by Aug 1803? Claiborne Co. Miss. Terr. d. after Jul 1860 ?Carroll Parish LA	Sarah (Polly) b. 1805? Claiborne Co. Miss. Terr. d. Claiborne Co. MS	Susan b. 1808? Claiborne Co. Miss. Terr. d.
In April 1781, a person named "Stille", a messenger for the merchant Alexander McIntosh, with whom he resided on St. Catherine's Creek, was forced to be part of a plan to take over the Fort of Natchez from the Spanish guard. Among these rebels was John Alston, who forged the message using his skill in handwriting [JFH Claiborne, pp. 127-8].
Map of the Natchez District as it may have looked between 1779 and 1799.
In Oct 1781, John Holloway was shot and scalped by Indians five leagues (about 12 miles) east of the Fort of Natchez. At the time, he was apparently working as "an overseer" of the plantation of Joshua Howard on Second Creek. Widow Elizabeth Holloway was seven months pregnant with their eighth child at the time. The son George was tied with a rope but escaped during the night.
After her husband's death, Elizabeth Holloway, who was seven months pregnant, was appointed guardian of her six minor children. His estate was conveyed to her in a court proceeding on Oct 24, 1781. The estate inventory, completed on the same day, included carpenter and plantation tools, animals, and livestock belonging to daughter Elizabeth and son George. Son-in-law Cader Raby was present for the inventory and signed it (with a mark). And there were also four slaves: one man "Samuel", 50 years old, and three females (Sarah native of Barbados, aged about 30, and her daughters Bella, about 10, and Dorinda, 8, both born in SC). In 1797, Bella, aged about 26, and her 2 ½ year old child Rose were sold by Elizabeth and John Stillee to John Girault of Natchez for $600.
In May 1782, 13 families arrived in the Natchez District after a flatboat journey down the Mississippi River, including the families of brothers James White, and John White, and the family of William Dewitt, who had just married Catherine "Cary" White, daughter of Elizabeth's brother William White.
After the brutal death of her husband, the widow Elizabeth Holloway purchased an improvement also on St. Catherine's Creek from Thomas Comstock. There she probably met John Stillee. John Stillee owned land on St. Catherine's Creek. In 1793, A William Kenner patented "764 f. [arpents] On waters of St. Catherine's creek" that was originally a Spanish grant to "John Stittlee" [American State Papers, vol. 1, register A, p. 868].
1895 Map of Natchez from the Ancestral Trackers website, shows the likely locations of St. Catherine, Second and Sandy Creeks in 1792.
In 1783, John Stillee married the widow Elizabeth Holloway and they had three children over the next three years. They lived in Natchez where her husband is said to have bought a store or tavern "in the country" in partnership with a Jean Vauchere.
On Feb 5, 1785, a deposition was made by John Stillee, certifying that William Dewitt "had asked John White and his wife [Elizabeth] to go to New Orleans to testify that a deed of gift was just." John White, who was Elizabeth's younger brother, asked the Commandant Grand-Pré for a passport, but was required to pay his debts first. Stillee said John White asked him to be security and "he would repay since Dewitt would pay White upwards of 100 Dollars for his trouble" [Wells, p. 52].
On Apr 30, 1785, there is an agreement between John Stillee and a James Brown in the Natchez District, that [aged 18 and about 17 year old stepsons] "George and William Holloway or two others as good would work in the crop along with four able negroes." It was witnessed by "H. Manadue" [Henry Manadue Sr. or a family member] and certified that George Holloway worked with Still Lee at $1 per day in the crop of James Brown "to make it fit for sale" [Natchez Court Records, Book F, p. 243].
In a suit Mar 8, 1786, "John Still Lee represents that he was condemned by the award of arbitrators to pay a certain [James] Brown whom he had hired as an overseer last year... Brown only worked 12 days... having hired himself to work elsewhere." Arbitrators, Abraham Mayes and William Daniels, chosen by Still Lee and Brown, in a statement signed on May 29 of the previous year 1785, said the plantation was "in good order, containing 21 acres of corn and 7 acres of tobacco" and the award was judged by Charles de Grand-Pré, and the two parties mutually agreed on a deduction from the award [Natchez Court Records, Book F, p. 243].
About this time stepbrother George Holloway was "sent" to live with his uncle, William White, and his grandfather, James Taylor White, in NC, where part of the White family had become patriots in a part of the country that was being "pacified", that is, freed from Indian threats.
On Sep 3, 1786, wife Elizabeth gave birth to her last child, Michael.
On Mar 23, 1787, "two negro women and one negro girl" belonging to the indebted John Stillee were guaranteed surety by Natchez resident Arthur Cobb at the Fort of Natchez. These three slaves were identified in the court records only as "Belinda" and "Dorinda" but would actually be Bella, aged about 16, and Dorinda, aged about 14, both of whom came to Natchez with the Holloways, and Lucinda, aged about 17 [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book C, p. 171]. Two of John Stillee's slaves, a "mulatto named Frank" and another named "Bright" were sold at public auction to John Vauchere, a creditor and former partner of Stillee [McBee, p. 40]. He also purchased at least 400 acres of the Stillee land on St. Catherine's Creek at the auction [McBee, p. 107].
By May of 1787 John Stillee and Elizabeth, along with their three children, Reuben, Sally, and Michael, and the slaves Bella, Dorinda, and Lucinda, had left the Natchez District when Carlos de Grand-Pré authorized the settling of the "affairs of John Stilles, absconded" by having three disinterested persons examine the "books and accounts" of Stillee, and meet any debtors mentioned in the books along with George Fitzgerald, who would defend the "absent party" [Wells, p. 125].
The Stillee family relocated to the Tombigbee settlement (now in southern Alabama), and resided there until about 1796. That year the population of the "Tombigbee settlers was 287" [Elliott, p. 35 ref. Holmes, Jack D.L., "Notes on the Spanish Fort San Esteban de Tombecbe" in Alabama Review, XVIII, 286].
All three of the Stillee children were baptized on Nov 17, 1788 by Rev. Miguel Lamport of the Old Mobile Parish of the Immaculate Conception. In the transcription of the original in Spanish baptism records, Rueben's brother was referred to as Michael Washington Lee, born Sep 3, 1786 and his parents are written as "John Stilly Lee and Isabel White, Protestants, natives of North America, residents of the Tombigbee River in this District". In the Stillee bible, Michael is referred to as Michael Lamport Stilley born Nov 22, 1786. Michael's middle name was changed to honor the Pastor. The twins were baptised as "Mary Sally Lee" and "Paul Rubin Lee". Godfather of the three children "was Cassian Castenares, Sacristan". A sacristan was an officer of the Church with duties similar to a custodian.
The Spanish took a Census of the Tombigbee District in 1789. The 38th family of the 44 listed was identified in the extracted version as "Juan ?", aged 37. This would have been the age of John Stillee for all of 1789 except the first few weeks. The spouse information in the record is blank [AL Genealogy, website].
On Jul 13, 1792, stepbrother John Holloway and son-in-law Cader Raby signed an agreement with Col. Manuel Gayoso de Lemos regarding travel outside of the Natchez District. Cader's son Cader named a son Gayoso Carney Raby in 1826. Translation of the document that was handwritten in Spanish.
Gayoso succeeded Grand-Pré in 1792 and changed the name of the mansion built by his predecessor to Concord. Postcard showing the mansion before it burned down in 1901.
In the mid-1790's, stepbrothers John and James Holloway, along with Reuben White (1765?-1835?) and James T. White (1770?-1842?), moved into what became known as Holloway Prairie (now northeastern Rapides Parish LA), where they obtained Spanish land grants and engaged in the cattle business. Many of the Anglo families of the nearby Deville area came there from Natchez MS.
A Spanish patent of 764f [arpents] situated "on waters of St. Catharine's creek" was granted to "John Stittlee" on Jan 20, 1793 according to the Jul 1805 certificate record (Vol. 2, Page 137) for William Kenner [American State Papers, vol. 1, register A, p. 868].
On Jan 31, 1795, "Cader Rabey", husband of stepdaughter Elizabeth, petitioned the Natchez court to ask for the vacant 400 acres on Sandy Creek so that his family of "7 grown persons" may live without renting [Land Claims Book F, p. 21]. The land was sold by Cader Raby in Dec 1800.
On Apr 10, 1795, it was decreed by Gayoso that "John Vaucheret" owed "John Still Lee" $470 and he should also pay all costs of the suit filed by Stillee [McBee, p. 422}.
On Apr 18, 1795 "John Still Lee" witnessed a sale of a tract on a branch of St. Catherine's Creek by John Foster, who had bought the land from Joseph Calvit, a son of Anthony Calvit and Mary Dean Higdon [McBee, Natchez Court Records, Book C, p. 113].
Stepsister Mary Holloway married Alexander Freeland by the middle of 1796, when Elizabeth calls him her son-in-law on Oct 24, 1798 in her deposition regarding lending him a slave named Peg to him in mid 1796. In the 1790s, Alexander Freeland received a land grant in an area called Little Lake (just east of Catahoula Lake) in what became Catahoula Parish LA.
Parents John and Elizabeth moved back after Manuel Gayoso de Lemos became governor. The new governor oversaw the withdrawal of Spain from the east side of the Mississippi River under the Pinckney Treaty.
By May of 1797 John Stillee and Elizabeth had returned to the Natchez District when she sold the slave Bella, who had been with the Holloway family since her birth about 1771 in South Carolina. She was then about 26 years old and had a 2 ½ year old child named Rose. Both were sold to John Girault of Natchez for $600 [Wells, p. 144-5].
On Mar 14, 1798 parents John Stillee and Elizabeth were recorded in a deed transaction in Natchez, as being of Bayou Pierre, witnessed by Henry Milburn, second husband of Cary White, a niece of Elizabeth Stillee. [Transaction with survey from MDAH roll #5336 p. 89-90]. The land was described as "764 acres (more or less)" [764 arpents in the survey] bounded on the west by "Dewiet and Armstrong". This was the same land that John patented in Jan 20, 1793 [American State Papers, vol. 1, register A, p. 868]. The Stillee family was not a household in the Natchez District in 1792 when the Spanish Census was taken. But in the "Bayou Pierre" subdivision were single male households under the name Jese (Jesse) Dwet, and Moises Armstrong, who both seem to have become neighboring land owners by 1798. However the $138 estate of Jesse Dewitt was appraised in Jul 24, 1794 for benefit of creditors. Jesse Dewitt was the son of the deceased William Dewitt and stepson of Elizabeth's niece Catherine White Dewitt, now married to witness Henry Milburn. In 1789 Dewitt's land was granted to Mary Dewitt, wife of Ezekiel Dewitt, possibly a brother of William Dewitt. On Feb 24, 1804 the Dewitts sold the 400 acres on Catherine's Creek, described as being "adj. to John Stilley [Still Lee]" according to claim #590 [Natchez Land Claims, Book C, page 73, p. 411].
Bayou Pierre runs through what is now Claiborne Co., created in 1802 from Adams Co., Miss. Terr. (see present day map). Claiborne Co. now borders Jefferson Co. (see present day map for location).
In Apr 1799, the Governor at Baton Rouge attempted to settle the dispute between Elizabeth and Freeland over the loan of the slave named Peg to Freeland. The next month, John Girault certified that Elizabeth had placed in his hands by authority of the Spanish government sufficient property to pay the five heirs of her late husband, John Holloway, namely, John, Robert, George, Elizabeth and Mary, their respective shares of their father's estate, "agreeable to the tenor of my hand dated 5 Dec, 1797" [McBee, "Louisiana Spanish West Florida Records"]. At that time, son James was too young and son William was living outside the District.
Reuben Stilley married Mary Polly Clark (1790?-1830?) by 1803. She was the daughter of Gibson Clark (1760-1822) and Susannah Phillips. They had three daughters; Sarah Polly married Lewis Clark Jr. on Jul 19, 1818 in Claiborne Co. MS, Elizabeth married Angus McIntyre in 1824, and Susan married Ephraim Davenport in 1831 ["The Stilley Family", angelfire.com, website].
In the 1792 Census for the Natchez District, future father-in-law "Gibsen Clarke" headed a household with 6 white persons and 5 slaves on 500 arpents of land in the Bayou Pierre section (became Claiborne Co. MS) [Adams Co. Mississippi Genealogy & History Network}.
A grant of 600 acres situated in Big Black to "John Still Lee" was entered Apr 9, 1807 and recorded Apr 8 that year. According to the deed record, the land was originally a grant by "occupancy" to Jesse Edwards on Mar 30, 1798 [American State Papers, vol. 1, register B, p. 895].
Father John Stillee died on Sep 30, 1808. "Reuben Stilly" and brother-in-law George B Watson were administrators of his estate. They reported to the Claiborne Co. Court that there were not enough assets to pay all of the debts of the deceased.
In 1809, John's widow "Elizabeth Stilly" with her son Michael, was listed as settling in St. Helena [Parish LA], under Claim no. 35, with the remark "Continued until 1813" [American State Papers, vol. 3, p. 75].
St. Helena Parish was founded in 1810 (see present day map for location), and borders Mississippi.
Feliciana Parish LA was founded in 1810 (see present day map for location), and borders Mississippi south of Natchez.
Brother Michael Lamport Stilley married Delilah Starnes about 1808. She was born Jul 3, 1789 in Madison Co. KY and died Jun 19, 1823. In 1805, Michael and Jacob Starnes, Delilah's father, had arrived in an area of eastern LA that became St. Helena Parish and then became part of Livingston Parish in 1832. On May 18, 1815, after Delilah's mother Elizabeth died, stepbrother Robert Holloway helped the Justice of the Peace of St. Helena Parish find the "absent heirs" of the Starnes estate [M.L. Ragland, p. 15].
"Reuben Stilley" was listed on page 9, line 10 of the Claiborne Co. Tax Roll for 1810 as having 2 slaves but no land, in the same county as Reuben White, Dempsey White, and Thomas White, Jr, who owned land in the Bayou Pierre part of what used to be the Natchez District.
On line 4 of page 4 of the 1816 Claiborne Co. MS Census, "Reuben Stelly" headed a household of: 1 male aged over 21 (Reuben), 1 males under age 21 (a son?), 1 females aged over 21 (wife Mary, b. 1790?), 2 females under age 21 (Elizabeth, Susan), and 4 slaves [MDAH, microfilm]. Also in the same census were Reuben White, son of Thomas White Sr [LA Spanish West Florida Records, Ragland, p. 8].
According to the Stillee Bible, sister Maria "Sarah" Stilley married George B. Watson. He and son Reuben were executors of the estate of John Stilley in 1809 in Claiborne Co. MS. Sarah and George later moved up the Mississippi River north of Vicksburg (in what became Desha Co. AR in 1838).
In Dec 1811, the widow Elizabeth "Stilley of St. Helena Parish in the Territory of Orleans", granted to her son James Holloway, as his share as heir of his father, the negro woman, Lucinda ("Lucey"), and her two children Jeffrey and Isaac, and in the future $200 "due by me as guardian to the said James in the year 1800" [McBee, Deed Book B, p. 67]. James turned 21 in 1800.
On Aug 31, 1817 an ill mother Elizabeth died at the Highland in East Baton Rouge LA. The day before, her longtime slave Dorinda, aged about 44, was sent to her along with some of her clothes and some money found in her trunk, at Elizabeth's request. Three years later, a female slave aged over 45, was counted in the St. Landry Parish household of "William Milbourne", likely the son of Elizabeth's niece Cary Dewitt Milburn from her marriage to William Dewitt. Her household is listed as "Cary Milbourne" in the same parish not far from Baton Rouge.
Daughter Sarah "Polly" married Lewis Clark Jr. on Jul 19, 1818 in Claiborne Co. MS.
In the 1820 census for Claiborne Co. MS, on line 10 of page 14 "Lewis Clark" (Sr.) headed a household of only one male aged over 45, and many slaves [S-K].
Daughter Elizabeth married Angus McIntyre on or about Feb 2, 1824 when Elijah Clark, her uncle and guardian, consented to the marriage [genealogy.com forum post, Jan 28, 2002].
In the 1850 Census of Carroll Parish LA (dated Aug 7), p. 32, Western District: A. McIntyre, aged 62, a school teacher, born in NC Elizabeth, 47, born in MS John H., 25, planter, born in MS (real estate $4,350), Mary J., 23, MS (Mary Jane Oldham, John's wife since 1846, Ruben A., 21, MS, Margaret A, 18, MS, Hugh L., 13, MS, Flora, 10, MS, Nancy, 4, LA, Daniel, 2, LA. This reveals that Reuben's daughter Elizabeth was the eldest child who had her son John in MS by Aug 1825 and the family moved to LA between Aug 1840 and Aug 1846 [genealogy.com forum post, Jan 28, 2002].
Carroll Parish was formed in 1838 in the NE corner of the state, and later replaced with East and West Carroll parishes (see present day map for location of West Carroll Parish).
Grandson John Henry McIntyre was born Jan 27, 1824 (?) and died Jul 18, 1867 in Pioneer, West Carroll Parish LA [Find-a-grave, website].
Reuben died before Oct 28, 1815 when Elijah Clark, "Adm. of the estate of Gibson Clark [father of Mary Clark Stillee], deceased, the following as her share of her father's estate": negro man Jim ($600), negro girl Rachel ($350), negro girl Silvie ($150), ... woman Beck ($250), ... entitled to Elizabeth" [genealogy.com forum post, Jan 28, 2002].
On line 19 of page 98a and page 98b of the 1830 Rapides Parish LA Census, a "Mary Clark" was head of a household of: 1 male aged 20-30 (?), 1 female aged 10-15, 1 female aged 5-10 (?), 1 female aged 30-40 (Reuben's wife Mary, b. after 1790), and 8 slaves, 4 males under 10, a male 10-24, and three female slaves, the oldest being 24-30 [possibly Rachel and Silvie inherited in 1815].
SOURCES: Adams Co. Mississippi Genealogy & History Network, "1792 Census for Natchez District (under Spanish Government control)", 2009, 1792 Census. Alabama Genealogy, "1789 Spanish Census for Tombigbee District", website, posted Aug 22, 2022. American State Papers, Documents, ... of the Congress of the Unitied States, ... 1789-1809, vol. 1, Gales and Seaton, Washington DC, 1832, register A, p. 868, register B, p. 895. American State Papers, Documents, ... of the Congress of the Unitied States, ... 1815-1824, vol. 3, Gales and Seaton, Washington DC, 1834, "Claims West of Pearl River", p. 75. Baldwin Co. AL, "1810 Citizens of Baldwin County, Mississippi Territory", website. Burke Co. NC Land Grants, "Land Grants - Burke County", The North Carolina Collection, at Morganton-Burke County Public Library, transcribed by George M. Holloway. Claiborne, J.F.H., Mississippi as a Province, Territory and State, with Biographical Notices of Eminent Citizens, vol. 1, Power & Barksdale, Jackson, MS, 1880, pp. 126-131. Claiborne Co. MS, "1810 Tax Roll Details", trans. by Lee Kohler, website. Elliott, Jack D. Jr., The Fort of Natchez and the Colonial Origins of Mississippi, rev. 2013 of article in Journal of Miss. Hist., 1990. "John Holloway, 1851", File H-3, on p. 208 of "The MS Cains", website. "Inventories Conveyance... re: death of John Holloway" and "Court proceedings and inventory of estate of John Holloway", Oct 24, 1781, in Natchez Court Records Book A, Jul 21, 1781 - Nov 1787, p. 304, photocopy from research of Mary Lois Ragland, Oct 1990. John Stillee Bible. Records of Old Mobile Parish 1781-1850, Sec. 8, Bk 2, record nos. 125,126, transcribed from original photocopy in Spanish (signed by Rev. Miguel Lamport) by Bernadette Mathews, Archivist, The Catholic Center, Mobile AL, Feb 11, 1999. McBee, May Wilson, comp., "Land Claims", in Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Book C, pp. 113, 411, Book F, pp. 19, 21. McBee, May Wilson, comp., Natchez Court Records, 1767-1805, Greenwood MS, 1953, v. 2, pp. 8, 40, 107, 171, 422, Book F, p. 243. MS Dept. of Archives & History (MDAH), Jackson MS, vol. B, roll #5336. MDAH, Territorial Census Records, mdah.ms.gov, website, microfilm box 1816 Claiborne Co., p. 4. "Natchez District 1792 Spanish Census Index", in USGenWeb, Early Southwest Miss. Territory, Census Index. Ragland, M.L., comp., "Holloway Succession Records of St. Helena Parish, LA", Greenwood MS, May 1990, p. 15-16. Rowland, Dunbar, The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, Centennial Edition, 1917, Madison WI, pp. 85-89, 1816 Claiborne Co. Census. Scott, W. W., Annals of Caldwell Co., Lenoir NC, 1930, pp. 64-65, 118. "The Stilley Family", angelfire.com, website. U.S. 1820 Census, Claiborne Co. MS, skcensus.com website, S-K Publ., 1995. U.S. 1820 Census, St. Landry Parish LA, Index, S-K Publications, 2021. Veach, Damon, "Louisiana Ancestors", article in Sunday Advocate Magazine, Baton Rouge LA, Feb 21, 1982. Wells, Carol, Natchez Postscripts 1781-1798, Heritage Books, Bowie MD, 1992, pp. 52, 101, 125, 144-5, 151. White, Gifford, "James White and John White", Wm Wiseman & the Davenports, Pioneers Of Old Burke County, North Carolina, v.2 by M.L.Vineyard & E.M.Wiseman, Franklin NC,1997, p. 111. White, Gifford, James Taylor White of Virginia and some of his descendants into Texas, Austin, TX, 1982.