Moorestown resident Samuel C. Still III is the third great-grandson of Levin and Charity Still (originally Levin and Sidney Steel), two formerly enslaved Africans from Maryland. He gave a presentation on the Still family’s early beginnings at the township library earlier this month.
Moorestown resident Samuel C. Still III started telling his family history at 13 years old in elementary schools where he grew up.
“As African Americans, we need to take the time to trace our history, even though a lot of our history can be pretty negative,” he said. “But even in that negative, we can find a bright light and bright things in our history to make us proud. Even though our ancestors were slaves and thought of as property in this country, many of them did amazing things, and I think that those stories need to be told, so that we can take pride in ourselves.
“The saying goes, ‘You have to know where you came from in order to know where you’re going,’” Still added, “and I believe that our ancestors have left bread crumbs or blood trails for us to follow, to trace, and I think that the more we expose, we’ll find out that a lot of us are all somewhat kind of related, or that we can respect each other a lot more – in this country – as Americans.”
Still is the third great-grandson of Levin and Charity Still (originally Levin and Sidney Steel), two formerly enslaved Africans from Maryland who would eventually settle in Shamong. His third great grandparents were the parents of William Still.
Three of Levin and Sidney’s male children – James, Peter and William – would become notable historical figures in the 1800s. Peter (1801-1868), who was left in slavery as a young boy and survived 40 years to reunite with his family; William (1821-1902), a conductor of the Underground Railroad; and Dr. James Still (1812-1882), a self-taught herbalist who became one of the wealthiest African Americans in New Jersey during the 1800s.
Over the years, Samuel Still has given presentations about his family’s history at local schools, universities and celebrations of Black history. He is a former U.S. Coast Guard commissioned officer, a construction project manager and a historian. He has done significant research on the Levin and Charity Steel-Still progeny, and is executive director of the Dr. James Still Historical Office Site Association in Medford, a nonprofit made up of a few direct Still family descendants and citizens of New Jersey.
It is dedicated to teaching, restoring and preserving the legacy of Dr. James Still, the “Black doctor of the Pines.”
The state of New Jersey purchased the office of Dr. James Still in 2006 for the purpose of historic restoration, and the site was placed on New Jersey’s 10 most endangered historic sites for 2016. In 2021, a stabilization project funded by the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Parks and Forestry reinforced the building’s foundation and returned the office to its original structure, including its exterior trim from the 1800s.
The advisory committee of the Dr. James Still Historical Office Site Association is committed and looks forward to the full restoration of the office project. Donations to help support the education and visitor center, site improvements and/or programming can be made by visiting www.drjamesstillcenter.org.
“My work with the Dr. James Still Historical Office Site Association has been enlightening,” Samuel Still noted. “It has been challenging at various times, but I am very delighted to see that the restoration is almost complete, and now it’s time for the Dr. James Still Historical Office Site Association …
“We’re up to bat now.”
