Historical Society of Stillwater Township

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The Historical Society of Stillwater Township

Celebrating the Men of Stillwater

Celebrating the Men of Stillwater
Dave Glueck, new owner of the general store in Stillwater, with the photos displayed for International Men's Day.
Dave Glueck, new owner of the general store in Stillwater, with the photos displayed for International Men's Day.

The Historical Society celebrated International Men’s Day on November 19th at Garris’ General Store on Main Street. This event mirrored the March 8th observance of International Women’s Day. On both occasions, the Historical Society displayed photo portraits of distinguished members of the community from earlier times. They are presented here with brief background information on each:

Donald Robbins
(1921 -2015)

Donald Robbins was a permanent fixture in the community of Middleville for more than half a century. He served as Postmaster from 1955 to 1987 and his name and face were familiar to every resident in town. The Middleville Post Office was (and still is) located in Robbins General Store which was originally built by Hampton Andress in 1837. Donald’s grandfather Alfred bought the building in 1903 and took on the job of Postmaster. Donald and his wife Shirley managed the store for thirty years until 1987 leaving a Postmaster legacy of 84 years in the Robbins family.

The importance of the general store in the daily life of isolated rural communities in America cannot be overstated. It was crucial in providing an unimaginable variety of daily necessities as well as hunting and fishing paraphernalia, work clothes, tools and even dynamite. The general store also served as the primary source of information about one’s community, county, state and the nation. Donald Robbins’ job required broad knowledge, discretion and diplomacy.

Donald was born in Middleville in 1921 and attended the one-room school house in Middleville. He graduated from Newton High School in 1938. A World War II veteran, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and served in the Pacific Theater. He mustered out with the rank of Sgt. 1st Class.

Donald Robbins made a critical contribution to the development of the Historical Society of Stillwater Township by sharing his vast knowledge, time and dedication. He served as President from 1993 to 1997, and donated a substantial number of antiques and family artifacts which have greatly enhanced the character of the museum. The ground floor exhibition is an interpretation of the early Robbins General Store with glass cabinets displaying vintage items sold throughout the 1900’s.

Donald Robbins

Augustus Samuel “Gus” Roof
(1917- 2008)

Gus Roof

Gus Roof and his wife Elsie are warmly revered by the people in Stillwater who were fortunate enough to know them. Village elders of days gone by, they symbolize the ethos of the town when residents were members of a close knit community. Gus Roof was born in 1917 in the oldest house in Stillwater, built in 1742 by town founder, Casper Shafer. He grew up here and attended primary school at the Academy which now houses the Stillwater Historical Society. Elsie was a founding member of the Society and Gus was an active volunteer throughout his life.

Roof was a dairy farmer and the millwright of the iconic Stillwater Gristmill. He worked grueling hours; his day began well before dawn when he milked the cows and loaded 100 of cans of milk onto his truck and made deliveries throughout the township. Calm and soft-spoken, Roof served as an elder at the First Presbyterian Church, superintendent of Stillwater Cemetery and as a 20-year volunteer forest fire warden. Like his father and grandfather before him, he also served as Stillwater committeeman.

Gus Roof died in 2008 in the Shafer house where three generations of the Roof family lived and carried the torch for the town elders before them.

A 2008 interview with Gus and Elsie Roof is available in the oral history archives of the Society, both on the website and at the Academy.

Lawrence William Earl
(1922- 2019)

Lawrence Earl has left an indelible footprint on Stillwater’s landscape. He and his father William were the most prolific designers and engineers of the modern-day built environment in Sussex and Warren counties, operating under the name of their construction company, William C. Earl and Son. Their portfolio includes countless homes, schools, churches and commercial buildings as well as simpler structures at the numerous summer camps in the region.

Born in 1922 on Maple Avenue in Stillwater, Lawrence attended primary school at the one-room schoolhouse on Maple Avenue and graduated from Newton High School. He was a hard-working and enterprising young man and his first business venture was catching skunks, weasels and nightwalkers for local clients. His childhood was full of adventures that evoke Mark Twain novels. The cast of characters included peers like Donald Robbins and Floyd Monroe. In a 2008 interview produced by the Stillwater Historical Society, he recalled a lifestyle without the conveniences of ice, electricity and plumbing , but rich with an abundance of community, local tradition and country culture, such as cow-milking contests on the stage of the Newton Theatre. For more of Lawrence’s stories about Stillwater in the past, see the oral history section of our website.

The first in his family to graduate from college, he obtained a B.S. degree in civil engineering from Newark College of Engineering. Lawrence was a veteran of World War II and served in the Army Corps of Engineers and Air Corps. He continued service in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, retiring with the rank of Colonel, USAFR.

In 1949 he married Helen Gaisler and they built a home on Catfish Pond where they raised two children, William and Jan. Lawrence was a distinguished member of the community and served for many years as Elder and Trustee at the Stillwater Presbyterian Church and as Chairman of the Stillwater Township Zoning Board for ten years. He and Helen had enjoyed more than sixty years of marriage and many cross-country trips when Helen passed away in 2013. When in his 90’s, Lawrence met the second love of his life, Barbara Moran, with whom he spent his final years.

The Stillwater Historical Society honored Lawrence Earl as “Outstanding Citizen of the Year” in 2019, only weeks before he passed away on October 20 at age 97. His legacy will remain in the memories of those whom he touched and through the valuable documents that he has entrusted to the Historical Society research archives.

Lawrence Earl

Hiram Lincoln Beegle
(1865-1954)

Hiram Beegle

Hiram Beegle was a life-long resident of Stillwater whose rich collection of antiques and artifacts launched the establishment of the Museum of the Stillwater Historical Society based in the “Academy” building. Beegle donated hundreds of objects ranging from ancient Lenape stone tools to dainty ceramics of the Victorian era. His collection of weapons and military paraphernalia from is particularly impressive.

Beegle was born in Fredon and grew up in Stillwater where he attended primary school at the Academy. A jack-of-all-trades, he made a living as a cooper (barrel maker), carpenter, lumberjack and a beekeeper. He spent most of his life in an 18th century house which still sits on the Paulinskill River near the edge of town.

Beegle maintained a close connection with the Academy until he died in 1954. In 1909 the school moved to a new one-room schoolhouse on Maple Street and the Academy building was sold to the Patriotic Order Sons of America, of which he was a member. When the building was sold in 1941 to serve as the library for the newly established Stillwater Consolidated School, Beegle became the caretaker. He befriended the “Library Ladies”, mostly mothers of school children, who volunteered as librarians and who appreciated the old gentlemen’s care and devotion to the building. Then in his 80’s, Beegle would light a fire in the pot belly stove every morning to warm up the unheated building for the shivering volunteers. In his Will and Testament, Beegle bequeathed his beloved collection of artifacts to “his girls” at the library. In 1954 Charlotte Jones of Middleville funded an addition to the Academy to provide space for the objects and for a new endeavor. Christened the Hiram Beegle Exhibition Hall, the room is located on the second floor and exhibits an eclectic array of objects which illustrates early life in our region as well as the passion of a self-educated cultural historian.

Amos Frederick Dixon
(1877-1965)

Amos Dixon served as the Mayor of Stillwater Township from 1943 to 1953. An engineer who worked at Bell Labs for thirty-eight years, he was granted sixty-two patents for his own work, concerned mainly with the telephone dial system and the coin box mechanism. In 1941 he purchased several hundred acres of farmland in Stillwater where he ran a dairy farm.

Dixon’s wife, Mary Dixon, was the first principal of the Stillwater Consolidated School which opened in 1941. The Dixons purchased the Academy building shortly thereafter to provide library space for the students. When the school expanded several years later and could accommodate a library on its premises, the Dixons donated the Academy building to Neighborhood House. It also housed the Mary Dixon library which was open to the public. In 1977 the Historical Society of Stillwater Township was established with the Academy as its permanent residence, thanks to the generosity of Amos and Mary Dixon.

Amos Dixon

Emmett Marvin, 1925, James Ormsbee Chapin

Emmett Marvin, 1925, James Ormsbee Chapin

D. Emmett Marvin was a member of the Marvin family who owned a farm in Middleville from the early 1800’s when it was called “Gin Point.” Born in 1883, Emmet Marvin was the son of David D. Marvin (1830-1918) and Sarah Bunn Marvin (1837-1916) who had nine children. Painter James Ormsbee Chapin (1887-1975) rented a log cabin on the Marvin farm from 1924-1929 and created a series of works called the “Marvin Family”. These works were highly acclaimed by American critics at the time and influenced the work of artist Grant Wood and the style known as “American Gothic.” The painting, Emmett Marvin is now in The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Emmet Marvin died in Swartswood in 1964 and is buried in Stillwater Cemetery.

James Ormsbee Chapin was born in West Orange, NJ and was the grandfather of folk singer Harry Chapin.