Dea. William Stillman, whose death is recorded this week, was the oldest resident in this town, and has been one of its notables for many years. He was born in Westerly, May 4th, 1767, and from that time until 1793 he resided in various places in Rhode Island and Connecticut. In the spring of the latter year he removed to this village and commenced the clock and silversmith business, which he continued until 1809, when he went to building cotton machinery.
He was an exceedingly ingenious man, a trait which early made itself apparent, for, when but fourteen years of age, and never having seen a clock, he constructed a timepiece which ran for years, keeping tolerable time. The bell was made of an old bottle, and, in order to make it run for twenty-four hours with once winding up, he found it necessary to allow the weight to pass through the floor into the cellar, and finally into a deep hole in the cellar bottom; but, under the circumstances, it was a triumph of ingenuity. Having succeeded so well in this, he found a wooden clock, an article quite scarce in those days, bought it, took a pattern from it, and commenced the manufacture, when about eighteen years old.
Many are the instances related of his ingenuity in the clock business, and there is an astronomical clock now in the room he has occupied for many years past, of his own invention and construction, which is quite a curiosity, serving as it does for a perpetual almanac.
There is also a peculiar specimen of his ingenuity yet in existence and keeping time, in the shape of a clock composed mostly of wires and levers, with the least possible number of wheels in its construction. Its history is that the Deacon had agreed to make a man a clock in exchange for a cow, but finding himself cheated in the animal, he set himself at work "to make a clock worth just as much as a poor cow," and this time-piece was the result.
But, perhaps, his peculiar style of ingenuity is no where better displayed than in his bank locks, to be found on many of the banks in this vicinity, which are so arbitrarily constructed and so devoid of all regularity or system, as to defy any attempts of the professional lock-picker. Of these, the old gentleman had constructed a number in the last few years, each entirely different from all the others.
As an author, also, Mr. Stillman was not without some note, particularly in the line of versification, which was generally distinguished more for its quaintness and wit than for genuine scintillations of the poetic fire. He published a few years since, a collection of his fugitive articles in prose and verse, many of which are arguments upon theological questions, displaying much originality of thought and strong powers of reasoning.
Mr. S. had been married three times, and was the father of eleven children. He was a father and widower before he was twenty years old, having been married when he was eighteen. There are now nine of his children living, thirty-three grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren.
He was a kind and affectionate father, an esteemed neighbor and friend, a pious and efficient officer in the church, and a valuable member of society. At a ripe old age he has been gathered to his fathers. Having passed, by a score of years, the age allotted to man, he has now lain aside the labor of life, and laid him down to rest in the peaceful repose of the tomb - a rest sweet to the weary life-pilgrim, and the awakening there from the dawn of a bright and weariless day. [Narragansett Weekly.]
