Martha Green Stillman was born at Independence, N. Y., April 13, 1829. she was the youngest of five children born to Isaiah Wilcox and Elizabeth Bassett Green. In 1839, at ten years of age, she publically professed faith in Christ and was baptized by Elder Stillman Coon and united with the Seventh-day Baptist Church of Independence.
In 1841 her parents moved to Alfred where she availed herself of the advantage of Alfred Academy, from which she graduated in 1845. When Alfred University was chartered with degree-conferring power in 1857, she was given the degree of E. L., and was the oldest living alumnus with a degree.
On June 17, 1847, she was married to David R. Stillman of Alfred. Together they established their home in the Stillman homestead, the house of David R.'s father. The house, later the home of Charles Stillman, now the farmhouse of the State School of Agriculture, is one of the first residences built in the village of Alfred. Mrs. Stillman early transferred her membership from Independence to the First Seventh-day Baptist Church of Alfred, where she remained a faithful and loved member for the rest of her life. She was active and interested in all that pertained to the welfare of the church. She was a member of the Ladies' Aid Society, and of the Evangelical Society.
Mrs. Stillman was particularly devoted to Alfred University and to the welfare of the students who were away from home while attending school here. Her large and sympathetic heart made her hospitable home a retreat for students, through many years.
After the death of her husband, in 1899, she made her home for a few years with her daughter, Dr. Martha Rode Stillman of Plainfield, N. J., where she also made many friends. During the last prolonged illness of Doctor Stillman they removed from Plainfield and made their home with her daughter, Mrs. Lillis S. Rogers, wife of Dr. Thomas W. Rogers of New London, Conn. Here she remained until her death.
In the sweet Christian faith which she had consciously enjoyed for more than seventy years, she answered the summons and passed to the heavenly home, June 9, 1911. Farewell services were held at the home of Doctor Rogers in New London, June 11, conducted by Rev. Andrew J. Potter, and again at Alfred on June 12, where in the Alfred Rural Cemetery, by the side of the graves of her loved husband and daughter, many old friends gathered with flowers and songs and loving words to lay away the body of our loved one, whose beautiful spirit God had taken to himself. Boothe C. Davis.
