Roger Butler Williams, Jr.

Stillwater Reservoir is dotted with a number of small islands. Almost all of them are part of the state-owned Adirondack Forest Preserve. The islands that exist today were once hilltops along the course of the upper Beaver River. When the state created the current reservoir in 1925, it acquired the private property lying below the projected high-water line as well as the many of the hilltops that were judged too small for any future use. Only a few of the larger hilltops became privately owned islands. 

Williams Island, situated about a third of a mile east of the current Stillwater boat launch, is one of these private islands. It was named for Roger Butler Williams, Jr., an investment banker from Ithaca NY. Between 1925 when it first became an island and his death in 1938, Williams owned most of the four-acre island that bears his name as well as its small nearest neighbor, Chicken Island. 

 

Roger Butler Williams, Jr. was born in Ithaca, NY on Dec. 29, 1879. He was the son of Roger B. Williams (Sr.) and Carrie L. Romer Williams. His father was a leading Ithaca citizen, bank president, president of the local school board and a long-time trustee of Cornell University.

 

Roger B. Williams, Jr., graduated from Ithaca High School in 1896 and from Cornell University in 1901 with a degree in Civil Engineering. For a few years he was active as a civil engineer designing modern septic systems. In 1903 he opened an engineering firm in New York City. In 1904 he married Louise Miller, daughter of Judge Rumsey Miller, a New York Supreme Court judge from Bath, NY. They had four children, Roger B. 3d, Henry M., Georgina E. and Louise.

 

In mid-September 1915 Roger B. Williams, Jr., his wife Louise and their 2-year-old daughter, Georgina, visited the Beaver River Club, then located on 200 acres of mostly low-lying meadows at the confluence of the Beaver River and Twitchell Creek. From its founding in 1893 until it was flooded in 1925 the Beaver River Club was a favored summer retreat of wealthy and influential families from Syracuse, Utica and elsewhere in central New York [see my post of 5/3/21].

 

The Williams family joined the Beaver River Club in the spring of 1916. They immediately purchased three lots at the north end of the club property that had been owned by Syracuse industrialist, William K. Pierce. These lots each contained a large cottage as well as several outbuildings.

I can find no record of how much the Williams family used these camps. Nonetheless they must have grown to love the Beaver River country and clearly intended to remain as long as possible. Even after it was widely known that the Beaver River Club was to be completely flooded, Williams bought six more lots, all of which contained substantial buildings.

 

When he made these purchases, Williams would have known that the state intended to acquire the land about to be flooded and that it was the owner’s responsibility to remove any existing buildings or face having them destroyed. It stands to reason that Williams had plans for the buildings he purchased. 

 

In August 1924, Williams sold all his Beaver River Club lots to New York State. At the same time, Williams acquired approximately four acres of property on two nearby hills that he knew would not be flooded. He arranged for his main camp, dubbed Camp Wild-a-while, to be moved intact to a new location on the property that would soon become an island. He also moved a boat house, several other outbuildings and a close friend’s cottage to his future island. He had the rest of his buildings dismantled and used the material to build a two-story dining hall and two duplex cabins for his children.

 

When he bought the island properties in the summer of 1924 Williams was 45 years old and fairly wealthy. His family had a house in Ithaca and an apartment in New York City. He and his wife both had strong family ties in upstate. The Williams’ four children, two boys and two girls, were in their teens. Their new island camp at Stillwater would have been the perfect family summer retreat.

 

The Williams family regularly used their camp until at least 1931. Stories handed down locally suggest that Williams even occasionally used the camp in the winter and went so far as to have his automobile adapted for travel over snow. The camp had a full-time caretaker who lived in the employees’ quarters on the second floor of the dining hall when the camp was in use. Other servants such as a cook and maid probably traveled to camp with the family.

 

Louise Williams, Roger’s wife, died of a sudden illness on January 30, 1932. By that time the Williams children had reached their majority except for the younger Louise who would have been 14. It appears that Roger Williams only occasionally visited the camp after his wife’s death, although he did continue to employ a caretaker to maintain the property.

 

Williams married Sara T. Mero on August 6, 1936. His new wife was a lawyer working in Washington, D.C. There is no evidence that she ever visited the camp. Roger B. Williams, Jr. died of a stroke on Dec. 5, 1938, aged 59. Sara Mero Williams put the island property, including all the camp furnishings, up for sale in early 1939 almost immediately after her husband’s death. 

 

As it happened the Rap-Shaw Clubhouse at Beaver Dam Pond burned down in the early spring of 1939 [see my post of 5/16/21]. After briefly considering rebuilding the old camp, the club saw the wisdom of buying the already existing camp on Williams Island. It was a good decision. Rap-Shaw Club members are still relaxing at the island camp built by R. B. Williams, Jr. back in 1925.

 

Photograph of Roger Butler Williams, Jr. courtesy of the Thompkins Center for History and Culture