Fayette County PA Archives Biographies.....Stillwaggen, Peter 1755 - December 1831
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Source: Centennial History of the Borough of Connellsville, Pennsylvania 1806-1906
Author: J.C. McClenathan, MD, Rev. William A. Edie, Rev. Ellis B. Burgess, J. Aloysious Coll, Eugene T. Norton

Peter Stillwaggen Sr., another pioneer, who deserves more than a passing 
notice here in view of the fact that more than one thousand of his 
descendants are now residents of Connellsville and vicinity,was Peter 
Stillwaggen Sr. Mr. Stillwaggen was born in Germany, and came to America 
about the year 1765. In 1775 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Poole in the 
German Lutheran church of Philadelphia, Pa. In July of the following year, 
he enlisted in the patriot army as Sergeant of a company commanded by 
Captain Homes. He was also a member of the 5th Pennsylvania Regiment. He 
took part in the battle of Colts neck, Brandywine, Germantown, Trenton, 
Monmouth and Eatontown. While out on an expedition near Eatontown he was 
captured by the British and confined in an old sugar house in New York for 
nearly two years. During his absence, his home was plundered by the British 
troops, and his wife so mistreated that she applied to General Firman for 
relief, who gave her a home with the wife of Captain Huddy. Just before the 
battle of Trenton, a company of Tories, commanded by Captain David Smith, 
again visited the Stillwaggen home, plundering it of all its remaining 
valuables and burning it to the ground. Mrs. Stillwaggen, hearing of their 
coming,hid with her two little children in an adjoining field, and watched 
in anguish while the work of destruction was carried on. She then once more 
sought refuge in the camp with her husband. The commanding officer treated 
her kindly and allowed her to stay. She made herself useful by washing and 
baking for the soldiers and caring for the sick and wounded. At the battle 
of Monmouth she distinguished herself by her courage, and carried ammunition 
for the artillery.By some she is believed to be the Molly Pitcher of 
historic fame. At the close of the war, Peter Stillwaggen received and 
honorable discharge and settled with his family at Deckertown, N.J. He was 
the father of thirteen children: David, Hannah, William, Sarah Ann, Mary, 
Catherine, Andrew, Peter Jr., Susannah, Josiah Decker, Andre Poole, Henry, 
and John. In 1802 he came to Connellsville, and established a home in the 
neighborhood of Peach and Water streets. The children at this time numbered 
nine, four of them having died. By a mere chance of fortune, Captain David 
Smith, their old Tory enemy, also came to Connellsville after the war, 
living with his son Asher Smith, on the corner of Cottage Avenue and East 
Main Street, and it is said upon good authority that some of the plunder of 
the Stillwaggen home was afterward discovered there in an old chest. 
William, the oldest son of the family, was married to Miss Margaret Wilson 
of Deckertown, and had eleven children: Peter (husband of Margaret White), 
Joshua, Sophia, Eliza (Mrs. Stephen Robbins), Josiah Decker (husband of 
Elizabeth Eicher), Sarah (Mrs. Josiah Marietta, mother of the large Marietta 
family of Connellsville), Henry Nash (husband of Mary M. Curry), Joseph, 
Mary, John (husband of Elizabeth Stouffer), and William Wilson (husband of 
Maria M. Rockwell).William Stillwaggen inherited much of the patriotic fire 
of his parents and was a veteran of the war of 1812, Sarah Ann, his sister, 
married Henry Nash, a Methodist minister and moved to Tennessee. Another 
sister married Mr. Haven, an Englishman, and lived and died in 
Connellsville. among her grandchildren were Mrs. Anne Robbins (deceased), 
Mrs. Eliza Newcomer (deceased), Mrs. Mary Enos and Mrs. Kate Kurtz. Henry 
Nash Stillwaggen, son of William was a soldier in the Mexican war, and 
received an injury while building a bridge for the artillery before Vera 
Cruz from which he never fully recovered. John Stillwaggen, son of Peter 
Stillwaggen Sr., died without issue at Broad Ford. Andrew Poole Stillwaggen, 
another son, married Miss Catherine Buttermore and removed to the west; 
Catherine Stillwaggen, a daughter, married a Mr. Conklin and died at the 
early age of 22 leaving two children, Daniel and William, another daughter 
married a Mr. Polk and removed to Tennessee; of the families remaining 
children we have no definite knowledge. Peter Stillwaggen Sr., died in 
Connellsville in December, 1831; his wife, Elizabeth, with a marvelous 
vitality, lived to be one hundred and fifteen years of age. Even at that 
advanced age she was remarkably active and able to attend to many of her 
household duties. One Monday afternoon she was left at home alone, and her 
grandson, on his return, found the interior of the house on fire. Securing 
help he put out the flames as quickly as possible, but his grandmother was 
then already dead. It is believed that she was smoking a pipe and that 
sparks from this set her clothing on fire.

Additional Comments:
pages 61 - 63

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