Alphonso Derwin Stillman
Born: April 21, 1864
Died: August 24, 1937
Details of the early life of Alphonso Derwin Stillman are unclear at present. Stillman's obituary stated that he was born 21 April 1864 in Grand City, Oregon; however, neither nineteenth century maps of that state nor Census records show a town by that name. Research in this area continues.
Stillman is credited with writing much of the fraternity's ritual during the summer or early fall of 1890. Later a committee composed of Stillman, Barnes, and Fred Kingsbury Stephens completed the work. Stillman graduated from Cornell in the spring of 1891. His activities for the next several years are unknown. In about 1902 he moved to the Kalispell, Montana area where he was a rancher and an attorney. Active in local politics, Stillman was a leader in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
About two years before his death, Stillman suffered a paralytic stroke which left him permanently incapacitated. At age seventy-three, Stillman died 24 August 1937 and was buried in the Conrad Memorial Cemetery in Kalispell. He was survived by one son, Adee Stillman of Kalispell.
Obituaries and other records suggest that Stillman's first name was actually
Alphonso, rather than Alphonse.