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Clarence Still, Still family patriarch, with Verline Still at the 1998 Still Family Reunion
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The Still Family
A Local Legacy
You may not know it, but there is royalty in America. Although we don't honor royalty as people in other countries do, the Still family, which has been in New Jersey since the early 1600s, is descended from a Guinean prince from Africa. The prince and his people intermarried with the Lenape Indians, who lived in the area.Before the Civil War, the Still family was active in the anti-slavery movement. At the time, many slaves in the South escaped through the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was made up of a network of people who secretly helped slaves escape to the Northern states or Canada. While many white Americans were a part of the Underground Railroad, free blacks gave the most assistance to runaway slaves. The Still family hometown, Lawnside, New Jersey, was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Two members of the Still family, William and James Still, were conductors -- people who helped out along the way. In 1872 William Still wrote the classic book The Underground Railroad about the heroism of the runaway slaves, many of who stopped at his house on their way to freedom, and the people who helped them escape. If you want to learn more about the people on the Underground Railroad, this would be a good book to read.
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About Local Legacies
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