Biography

 STILWELL, Silas Moore, lawyer, born in New York city, 6 June, 1800; died there, 16 May, 1881.

His ancestor, Nicholas Coke, brother of John Coke, the regicide, emigrated to this country early in the 17th century, where he adopted the name Stilwell. Stephen, the father of Silas M. Stilwell, a soldier in the Revolutionary war, went in 1804 to Woodstock, Ulster County, New York, where he established a glass-factory. The son was educated at Woodstock free academy until 1812, when, his father having failed, he went to New York and entered business. In 1814 he engaged in surveying in the west, and then settled in Tennessee, where in 1822 he was in the legislature. He afterward removed to Virginia, was clerk of Tazewell county, and a member of the house of burgesses, and in 1824 was admitted to the bar. He returned to New York in 1828, and in 1829 was elected to the legislature, where he con-tinned until 1833. In 1834 he became a candidate for lieutenant-governor on the ticket with William H. Seward. He was elected alderman in New York city in 1835, and made chairman of the board; the political parties were then equally divided, and as he had the casting-vote on all appointments he became popularly known as King Caucus. He was the acting mayor at the time of the great fire in 1835. On General Harrison's election to the presidency he was offered a cabinet appointment, but, having lost his fortune in the panic of 1837, he declined, but he was with Harrison during most of the latter's short term of office, and after his death accepted the appointment of United States marshal for the southern district of New York, which he held during Tyler's administration. At this time he was sent on a special mission to the Hague to inquire as to the feasibility of negotiating a loan for the United States government. At the end of his term he resumed the practice of law.

Mr. Stilwell was the author of the act entitled "An act to abolish imprisonment for debt and to punish fraudulent debtors," which was passed, 26 April, 1831. This was commonly called the Stilwell act. He was also the author of the banking laws of the state of New York, of the general bankrupt act, and of the national banking act and system of organized credits in 1863.

He wrote a great deal on questions of finance, beginning in 1837. His first pamphlet was entitled " A System of Credit for a Republic and Plan of a Bank for the State of New York" (1838). Others were "Notes Explanatory of Mr. Chase's Plan of National Finance," and" National Finances : a Philosophical Examination of Credit" (1866). Many of his articles appeared in the "Herald," from 1860 till 1872, under the pen-name of "Jonathan Ohlbuck."