Thomas Shaylor 1643 - 1692 or 1705? One of the Founders of Haddam,CT

Our 8th great grandfather Thomas Shaylor, began his life in Warwickshire,England in 1641.  Warwickshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands which is interesting because the sea dominated his life.  What we know of his early life in England is that his father's name was Roger and his mother's name is Elizabeth.  There is no record of his mother's name.  Roger and Elizabeth had another son, John Shaylor, who was born about 1638 and a daughter Elizabeth Shaylor baptized in 1647.  And interestingly, Warwickshire is the home of another of our ancestors, Christopher Smith and Alice Gibbs.  There is a burial record for Roger Shaylor dating 1671 but no records when his mother Elizabeth died.  And neither John or Elizabeth seem to have emigrated to America.

While researching Thomas Shaylor, I did locate another Shailer family in Killingworth that is connected to our family.   The Wilcoxson/Wilcox family are another of our original immigrates to America, our 9th great grandfather is William Wilcoxcon of Derbyshire England. The Wilcoxson family left England with their minister on the Planter and settled first in Stratford in 1639 and later Killingworth,CT.  It's William's son Joseph Wilcoxson, (our 8th  grandfather), where the other Shailer family member appears.  From the book, Descendants of William Wilcoxson of Derbyshire,England, and Stratford,CT by Thomas Wilcox published  1963, "It is pretty well established that the wife of Joseph Wilcoxson, Anna was a Shailer. In one place it is noted that a descendant of William Wilcoxson is the inheritor of 12 acres that were originally Goodman Shailers". Goodman Shailer is Anna Shailer's father.  The book mentions that this branch of the Shaylor/Shailor also lived in Warwickshire,England.  The Goodman Shailer's family first home in the Americas was the Island of Jamaica.  The family didn't remain long in Jamaica because they are mentioned as one of the first planters in Killingworth. The book also mentions that one of the early planters of Killingworth was Thomas Shailer. From: THE TWO HUNDEEDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF HADDAM, CONNECTICUT,  Our Thomas Shaylor, first lived in Killingworth and then removed to Haddam.  Given that Thomas Shaylor and Anna Shailor have different fathers, the closest relation would be cousins.

But back to our Thomas Shaylor, his residence in Haddam is established in 1669.  In either 1669 or 1670, Thomas marries our 8th great grandmother, Marah Allice Spencer, daughter of our 9th great grandparents Gerrard Spencer Jr and Hannah Hills Spencer. An interesting side note on Marah Allice Spenser is that in some records her name is reversed to Allice Marah. One record makes it clear that she wants to be know as Marah were it states "Marah not Alice". This seems to be a family trait that has been passed down to subsequent generations.    Thomas Shaylor is actually Marah Allice Spencer's second husband.  Her first husband is Thomas Brooks. The children of Marah and Thomas Brooks are:

Sarah Brooks - born 1662 m. William Lord 1677, 2nd Samuel Ingram 1702
Thomas Brooks - born 1664 m. Susannah Arnold 1695 d. 1734
Mary (Marah) Brooks - born 1666 m. Henry Smith 1689 d. 1701
Alice - born 1668 d. 1668

The Brooks family provides us with more aunts and uncles and cousins. Captain Samuel Brooks, our 2nd cousins marries our 6th great aunt Dorothy Smith, daughter of Lt. David Smith and Dorothy Brainerd.

The children of Marah and Thomas Shaylor are:

Capt. Thomas Shaylor (our 7th great grandfather) -  born 1670 m. Katherine Clarke
Abel Shaylor - born 1673 m. Elizabeth Ackley, 2nd Mary Parents, 3rd Hannah
Timothy Shaylor - born 1675 m. Elizabeth Parents, 2nd Martha
Nathaniel Shaylor - born 1677
Hannah Shaylor - born 1683 m. John Clarke (Katherine Clarke's brother)

The original town of Haddam is divided into the Upper and Lower Plantation.  The Connecticut River separates the two sections.  I've included a map of the town and you'll see some of  our familiar ancestors, Smith, Arnold, Spencer, Brainerd/Brainard,Cone, Clarke, Gates,Wells & Brooks in the Upper Plantation and the Parents, Shaylor, Ventres,Ackley in the Lower Plantation.

In either 1692 or 1705 depending on the source, Thomas Shaylor departs Haddam for a sea voyage and is never heard from again.  Some believe that he was on a trip to the West Indies and other sources believe that he was on a voyage to England to depose of some property still held by the family.  Thomas is not declared dead until after our grandmother Marah dies in 1714.  At that time the estate is divided among the living sons Thomas, Abel and Timothy.  Nathaniel Shaylor reportedly dies earlier in 1714.

The Haddam Historical Society website has some interesting information about the Shaylor and Tyler families.  The area of the Lower Plantation is renamed Shailerville.  From the Haddam Historical pages:

 Shailerville is the small village located just south of Haddam Center in what was originally called the Lower Plantation. The Shailer (also spelled Shaylor) Family created a tight-knit community that avoided outsiders. They were very wealthy ferrymen, merchants and sea captains who owned most of the land in the area. They deliberately isolated themselves from the rest of the town and were ardent Baptists. Many intermarried with first and second cousins rather than seek partners outside their community. Shailerville at one time boasted a post office, schoolhouse, factories and commercial stores.

The Shaylor family had close connections with the Tyler family who had their own community called Tylerville.  The Tyler family is the same branch that Amanda Smith Stewart mentions in her letter when she states that Alice Smith (Capt. James Smith's daughter) marries Joseph Tyler. Within the Shailerville-Tylerville communities is a cemetery called Shailerville Tylerville where many of our relatives are buried.

The Haddam Historical Society website also has a section on the Revolutionary War and privateering.   It is recorded in 1779 two British ships, the York and the Tyron were captured on the Connecticut River by Haddam made ships captained by Simon Tyler and Samuel Shaylor.  They are our 2nd cousin and 1st cousin respectively.   Seems like a good opportunity to contact the Haddam Historical Society to include our Capt. James Smith

Naaman Spencer and Family

Before I tell you about Naaman Spencer, let me explain who the Spencers are to our family. Our original immigrant ancestor is Gerrard Spencer who was born in England in 1614 and immigrated first to Massachusetts and later settled in Haddam,CT.  It is from his descendants and siblings descendants that make up the Spencers in America. 

I first came across Naaman Spencer through our 3rd great aunt Eunice Amanda Stewart. Eunice is the daughter of our common 3rd great grandparents Ira Stewart and Amanda Smith Stewart.  Eunice married William Stephenson Jenkins and William's brother,James Henry,married Naaman's daughter Lucinda Spencer.  Naaman's Find A Grave obituary gave me more information to connect him to our family.  The obituary mentions that he was born in Hartford County,CT and came first to Elkhorn Grove, Carroll County,IL in 1838 with his son Allen B Spencer. So this meant that he was living very close to our great great grandfather Hiram McNamer.  

I pulled the 1840 census for Carroll County and found both A Spencer and Hiram McNear. They are listed very close to each other in the census.  The 1840 Census combines the whole county and doesn't breakdown by township. And the census takers handwriting is terrible.  I corrected Hiram's last name to McNamer. 

Naaman's obituary also mentions that he later moves his family to Eagle Point,Ogle County,IL.  And he is living very close to our 3rd great uncle John Wilcox Stewart family and Michael O'Kane who's son Edwin O'Kane marries our 2nd great aunt Nellie McNamer. If you look at our Ancestry tree in Naaman's son Naaman Jr along with Jasper Davison are issued a patent for a gang-plow. He manufactured and sold the Defiance Gang Plow.  So Naaman Jr. is in direct competition with John Deere.  There is a plaque west of Polo,Il on Telegraph Road on the site of the plow factory.

I was also able to go back another generation through Find A Grave to Naaman's father Michael Spencer. There is an interesting letter that has been posted on his Find A Grave Memorial. From Michael Spencer, I was able to go back another generation and that's when it got interesting.

Michael Spencer's grandparents are John Spencer and Mary Hubbard. Let me stop there and explain how the Hubbard family is related to us.  Our original immigrant Hubbard ancestor is George Hubbard who also was born in England and settled in Haddam,CT. George Hubbard was born in 1601 and arrived in Haddam about 1635. Our common 5th great grandmother Mary Hubbard is a descendant of George Hubbard and she married our Capt. James Smith.

It was time for me to pull our my One Thousand Years of Hubbard History book by Edward Warren Day, to find out how Naaman Spencer's great grandmother Mary Hubbard fits into our family. Mary is born in 1713 and dies in 1802.  It turns out that this Mary Hubbard is our 2nd cousin making Naaman Spencer our 5th cousin, several times removed for both. Mary Hubbard's husband is John Spencer, our 3rd cousin. The Hubbard History book covers the years 866 to 1895.  I use it frequently to trace the family lines. 

Naaman Spencer, Sr (1789 - 1873) - Find A Grave Memorial

Michael Spencer (1766 - 1846) - Find A Grave Memorial

Naaman Spencer Sr

Naaman Spencer Jr

The Lockett family of Adair County,KY and Carroll County,IL

Adair County, KY July 6th 1851 Dear Sir, I take this opportunity of addressing you a line by way of inquiry. I recd a letter from my Nephew William Lockett dated April the 1st 1850 he informed me that himself and his brother James would start the next morning to California and if he lived to reach his place of destination he would instantly write to me and inform me where they were and also request me to write to him as soon as should receive a letter from him. I have not recd a line nor heard a word from them since that time. I therefore make this request of you that you write to me immediately on the receipt of this letter and give me some information Respecting them whether they went and whether James took his family and whether you have heard from them where they are and all the information you can about them. Also inform me how you are all coming on in that country. I should be truly glad to see my connections in that country if there are any of them still remaining there. Brother David felt near and dear to me so does his children and grand children - my self and family are in common health at this time. During last fall and winter seven of us had Typhoid fever we lost our second daughter Martha Frances. She departed this life on 2nd day of March last in the 14th day after taken. Myself and wife and three of our little boys had long and sever spells. My Self and wife were confined to our beds forty days the children not quite so long. Our oldest son had a light attack in the fall - Daniel Lockett lost his wife and five children during the fall and Early part of the winter only leaving him one child David Thomas he is about 25 years old. He lay about two months he was given up by Physicians and friends but finally recovered. - The health of our country is rather better this summer thus far than it has been for 2 or 3 summers past. Our country is in a prosperous condition at this time produce and stock sells readly at good prices - wheat crops is tolerable good corn and tobacco crops look promising at this time. Nothing more at present give my love to all my connections in that country and your daughter in particular. Write to me immediately for I am very anxious to hear from you all - Direct your letter to graidville Post office Adair County Ky. Accept my best wishes while I remain yours - Solomon Lockett To - Mr Hiram Mc Neamer Nanette White  - has given us the background for this letter. Through her efforts we can now read the "story" (April 28, 2012) I continue to find family information for my family in Carroll County . This letter is to my gg grandfather Hiram McNamer from Solomon Lockett. My grandfather Hiram McNamer was married twice; his first wife was Emeline Lockett. Hiram and Emeline were married in Daviess County , Ky in 1833. Shortly after marrying, Hiram and Emeline move to Carroll County , IL between 1834-1835. My great grand aunt Martha (Mattie) McNamer is the only child to survive from that marriage. Family legend has a story that Emeline died during childbirth along with the twins she was carrying in 1843. After Emeline died, my grandfather married Maria Elizabeth Stewart from whom all of us are descended. Last year I came across your interesting obituary for James Howard Lockett in the Carroll County Genealogy site. Since I wasn't sure how he might be related to Emeline Lockett, I just kept the info in the back of my mind. The discovery of the letter explains the full story of James Lockett and the rest of the Lockett family. James Lockett married Juliamiah Webster in Carroll County in 1845. I located an 1850 Census for Elkhorn Grove that lists his wife and three children (Elvira, Isabella and James William) and a William Lockett age 22. I decided to work backwards and try to locate birth records for Emeline and James Howard. Early records in Kentucky are very hard to locate. The state and Daviess County in particular have been plagued by numerous fires in their county court buildings so I used the letter and the Carroll County probate records to piece together the family history. David Lockett is the father of Emeline, James Howard, Martha,Susan and William Lockett. David Lockett, Solomon, and Daniel Lockett are brothers and were born in Virginia or what may be modern day West Virginia . David Lockett moved his family to Carroll County about the same time that my grandfather Hiram McNamer came to the county. The Carroll County Probate records have David Lockett's will which lists the children and his "beloved wife". David Lockett died in 1844 and his will is probated in December 1844. I can't locate any information on his "beloved wife" or daughters Martha and Susan. So what happened to the rest of the people in the story? Solomon Lockett moves his family from Adair County , KY to Lavaca County , TX sometime between 1853-1860. I located the family in an 1860 Census minus Solomon. His sons David, William and Joseph join the Texas militia and later the CSA. There are no further letters that I could find between Solomon Lockett and my grandfather Hiram McNamer. I don’t think James Howard returned to Kentucky before Solomon moved his family to Texas . Daniel Lockett and his remaining son David Thomas disappear after the 1850 Adair County Census records. William and James Lockett do leave for the Gold Rush in Colusa County , Ca. And they do arrive there alive. But by the time Solomon Lockett writes the letter to my grandfather Hiram McNamer, William Lockett is dead. The Carroll County probate records discover that he died in November 1850 in Colusa County , Ca. It's not until 1856 that Carroll County officially declares him dead. The Carroll County Probate records indicated that William Lockett’s Estate took care of the needs of James children ( Elvira, Isabella and James William). Juliamiah not knowing that her husband James Howard is still alive, marries Henry K. Taylor in 1866.  Both Juliamaih and Henry are buried in the South Elkorn Cemetery. Obituary for James Howard Lockett from the Carroll County IL GenealogyTrails site.  Original letter posted on same site. JAMES HOWARD LOCKETT - Word was recently and surprisingly received of the death of James Howard Lockett formerly of Milledgeville. Mr. Lockett had been presumed dead since his departure to the California Gold Rush in 1850. In a letter recently received by his son Will Lockett it seems Mr. Lockett not finding his riches in the gold fields returned to his native Kentucky until the time of the War of the Rebellion. He enlisted and served with Company A 10th Kentucky Calvary CSA until the end of the late war, he then settled in Natchez Mississippi where he resided until the time of his death. His Burial took place in the CSA Cemetary in Natchez on 5 Nov 1893. He was the father of Mrs Ephraim , Elvira, Pay, Mrs . George , Isabella ,Green and Mr. Will Lockett all of Milledgeville. Contributed by Gary Shaw

Philo Penfield Stewart

Philo Penfield Stewart is our 2nd cousin, of course 4x removed.  His parents are Philo Stewart and Sarah Penfield. The senior Philo died at an early age in 1812. Philo Jr, then went to live with grandfather John Penfield in Pittsford,VT. Philo Jr's mother Sarah remarried Thomas Hammond. Thomas Hammond is mentioned in an article attached to John Penfield from our site.

Philo Penefield Stewart is the second Indian missionary in our family. David Brainerd is the first on the Smith side of family.  Be sure and take a look at David Brainerd on our site.  I was able to find a painted picture of him and his grave.




PHILO PENFIELD STEWART (1798-1868), STOVE DESIGNER AND RELIGIOUS REFORMER - From the History of Rensselaer County NY-  Just a century ago, in 1868, there died in a house on Fifth Avenue in Troy a man who occupies an unusual place, not only - in Troy's, but also in our national history. The man was Philo Penfield Stewart, and he exemplified, as did many others of his time, the various types of men who lived and labored in Troy during that period of great activity and growth in the city's history. Like many others at the time, Emma Willard, General John Wool, Amos Eaton, and William Marcy, to name only a few, Philo Stewart was not a Trojan by birth. Born in Connecticut, like others of Troy's early leaders, Philo Stewart grew up in Vermont, at Pittsford, where he lived with his grandfather and was apprenticed to his uncle, a harness maker at Pawlet, Vermont. He showed early talent for mechanical inventiveness and he expressed it in a wide variety of whittling devices. 

Young Philo also developed strong religious interests, although he was never ordained to the ministry. He was converted to many of the reform movements of his time, among them temperance, anti-tobacco, abolition, and the like. At the age of 23, he enrolled with the American Missionary Board and departed on a long horseback ride for Mississippi, where he engaged in missionary work among the Choctaw Indians, teaching school, preaching, and performing many other useful labors. 

Here, in Mississippi, young Stewart married a fellow-missionary, also from Vermont, and the couple, remaining childless, jointly dedicated their lives to many good causes. They made their way to Elyria, Ohio, where they found Philo's schoolmate, the Reverend John Jay Shipherd, serving as a minister there. The two men now embarked on an ambitious venture, no less than the foundation of a college and colony. It was to be no' ordinary college, but a novel and radical experiment in education. This was "Oberlin Collegiate Institute," now Oberlin College, established in 1833, in Ohio's Western Reserve. It was the first school to adopt a system of full co-education for both sexes, and it accepted Negro students in a program of complete integration. Stewart also sponsored the idea of combining education with labor for the support of the students. For several years Stewart and his wife headed the boarding and labor department of the new college, like the
students, working only for their keep. 

At this time, too, in connection with his work in Ohio, Stewart applied his mechanical ingenuity to practical purposes. He developed a planning machine, and he particularly began. work on an improved stove, which was at first called the "Oberlin Stove." In 1837, Stewart left Oberlin College and came east again, somewhat disappointed with Oberlin's lack of what he considered proper zeal and dedication. It was a year of great depression, and the Stewart couple experienced poverty and deprivation. Stewart, however, became the more determined to improve his earlier stove design and to make it most economical for the poor to use, He succeeded with what was now called the "P.P. Stewart Summer and Winter Cooking Stove." Then arose the problem of its manufacture and distribution, for which Stewart lacked the means and facilities. 

It was in 1838 that Stewart "fixed on Troy as the place for making his stoves." Troy was already then a stove-manufacturing center of some importance, and it was, indeed, developing a reputation as a growing industrial city, especially in the metal field. Stewart, too, knew Troy, since he had visited it previously on his trips to and from Vermont. Here he settled in 1838 and remained for the remainder of his life, until his death in 1868. He entered into an agreement with Fuller, Warren and Company for the manufacture and distribution of the stove. It was a successful arrangement, and both parties prospered. Over the thirty years of Stewart's business career, 

The firm made more than ninety- thousand stoves in its Clinton Foundry, still standing south on River Street and now occupied by several small industries. The Stewart stove became nationally known, and President Eliphalet Nott of Union College, himself a stove designer, praised it highly: "All that is of value in other stoves is taken from the Stewart." After Stewart's death, his stove continued to be the basis of Fuller, Warren's prosperity. 

For Stewart, however, the successful manufacture of his stove was not the end hut a means toward a higher purpose. His object, as he put it was "not to make money for himself, but to provide a boon that cannot be reached by dollars and cents." He lived simply and sparingly in a house on Fifth Avenue, recently razed in connection with urban renewal. His profits from the stove were largely distributed among many good causes, including in particular the continued support of Oberlin College. He was concerned with right living as well as right doing, and he espoused many reform movements. His house in Troy was "open wide to care for all visiting missionaries, Christian agents, ... and to God's poor and sick of whatever race or creed, though I divide my last loaf." He maintained there a school for the education of illiterate servant girls. His religious zeal extended to embrace such aspects of "right living" as "proper diet, modes of dress, and all habits and
practices of body, soul, and spirit." 

Although, or perhaps because both Stewarts were sickly, they developed great interest in "diet, rest, and exercise. " Stewart even established for a time in Troy a "hygienic institute" which relied on a "water cure" as a "depurator or cleanser" of the body's ills. He developed an unusual system and philosophy of gymnastics, which anticipated modern theories of exercise in some -respects. Altogether this was an unusual couple living in Troy a century ago, combining business with religion and reform. 

His death, on December 13, 1868, was mourned by many. 

This article is from the Good Time Stove Company.(http://www.goodtimestove.com/)


Link to Oberlin College:

http://new.oberlin.edu/about/history.dot

Philo Penfield Stewart

Phebe May Stewart

 Phebe May Stewart is the daughter of our 3rd great grandmother Amanda Smith Stewart. This is our gg grandmother Maria Stewart McNamer sister.  And Phebe is a twin with her sister Anna L Stewart who marries Benjamin Smith,son of Fredrick Smith, our 5th great uncle. In 1835, when our 3rd great grandfather Ira Stewart dies, Amanda moves most of  her 11 children and spouses to the Carroll/Ogle County area between 1845-1846. Anna L Stewart and Benjamin Smith remain in Jefferson, Schoharie,NY. Prior to the move, the family was living in Rome, Genesee County, NY.  The city of Rome doesn't seem to exist now and I have no idea where Ira Stewart might have been buried. This bothers me because I would like to find his final resting place.

Phebe May marries Thomas C (Clark) Ellis in 1834 probably in Genesee County, NY. Their children are Amanda, Hannah, Albacinda, Hammon, Cornelia, Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth and Emily. If you look at our tree on Ancestry, you can see their children and spouses.  Thomas Ellis dies in 1860 while living in Ogle County,IL and Phebe then moves the family with the exception of Amanda to Appanoose County, IA.  Sometime after the 1870 Census, Phebe moves again to York County,NB.  Phebe is mentioned in the York County Genealogy Site as being one of the pioneers of the county.  Phebe dies in 1878 and is buried in Lushton Cemetery, York County, NB.  I thought I needed to give you some background so you can follow the next part of my story..... 

Phebe purchased property through the Homested Act, 80 acres in York County,NB Section 34 Township 9, Range 3 West. Certificate 7032.  The witness was Joseph Ellis (son) and years later her grandson James Bellows (Amanda Ellis Bellows son) home.  There is an X on the homestead records for Phebe's signature.  Some people speculate that Phebe could not write. *  

Phebe and her children also carry the Stewart names into the next generations.  Phebe names her first daughter Amanda Ellis in honor of her mother Amanda Smith Stewart. She has has a grandson Ira Flock names for Ira Stewart and Marilla Larkin named for Marilla Stewart.

*There is a footnote in the Stewart Clan Magazine that addresses this very situation.  "The X was originally used as a symbol that the signer pledged himself by the Christian faith to the truth of the matter to which he affixed it." page 53

But the story doesn't end here.... Now we move on to two of her children.  Amanda Ellis marries Charles Wesley Bellows in Polo in 1852.  One of their children is Laura Bellows. Two months ago, another Ancestry member contacted me asking if I would be be interested in a photo of Laura Bellows Glandon that she found in an Oregon State antique store.  She had contacted two other members who would be cousins. Laura never had any children, so cousin would be the closest relationship. I thought I might lose the chance to retrieve the family photo when the woman mentioned that in the same group were some Sweet family photos. I told her that my aunt Jessie McNamer married William Sweet and that sealed the deal. The photos are also on our site.  Laura is living in Dixon in the 1900 Census and Denver in the 1920 Census.  Laura died in Denver in 1952. 

The Sweet family helps me segway into the next Ellis child, Albacinda.  I located an 1860 Appanoose County Census  record for Albacinda Sweet with her husband Dayton and Dayton's either brother or cousin Valentine Sweet.  BTW, Valentine, is a male :) In the 1870 Census the family is living in Jordan,Whiteside County, IL.  In the 1880 Census they are living in York County along with Joseph Ellis, Miles Bellows, Miles Osterhoudt(another Dayton Sweet, yes there are two in the Sweet family marries an Osterhoudt), James & Luther Bellows, Hammon Ellis and Milton Ellis. 

I located this obituary for Nelson Sweet in the Ogle County site that will help explain the family:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilogle/nelsonsweetbio.htm

The last discovery happened last night when I was looking on Find A Grave for the Ellis family in Nebraska.  I started with David Ward Ellis and then was able to hopscotch back several generations and states to my "Oh My" moment.  So follow the links with me:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=23021707

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21795356

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26908547&

The parents of Margery Hubbard ( Daniel Hubbard & Eunice Clark) was the connection I was looking for.  Amanda Smith Stewart's father is Hubbard Smith.  His mother is Mary Hubbard.  Daniel Hubbard is our 1st cousin!  So the Ellis family is not only related to us through the Stewart family but the Smith family too.

1. Homestead Act for Nebraska can be located on Fold3

Amanda Ellis Bellows

Charles Wesley Bellows

Laura Bellows

Luther Rawson Marsh/Jeannie E. Stewart

Since I first sent the email in 2011 about the Alvan Stewart family, I've been able to find more information on Alvan Stewart's children.  Jane "Jeannie" is the oldest daughter of Alvan Stewart and Keziah Holt Stewart.  It's through her influential father, that Jeannie meets her future husband Luther Rawson Marsh.

Luther Rawson Marsh met the Stewart family while they were living in Utica.  This was the point in Alvan's life where the the anti-slavery movement had become his passion and generated his writings on the subject. Both Alvan and Luther were lawyers by profession and used their contacts to promote the anti-slavery movement.

Our cousin Jeannie Stewart Marsh had a poem written about her by Mrs. Fanny Osgood:

Jeannie Marsh of Cherry Valley,
In whose name muses rally,
Of all the nine, none so divine,
As Jeannie Marsh of Cherry Valley.
A sylvan nymph of queenly grace,
A goddess she in form and feature,
The sweet expression of the place,
A dimple in the smile of nature.

In 1845, the Alvan Stewart family and the Marsh family move to New York City.  The two families live together on 15th street.  Jeannie Stewart and Luther Marsh have no children.  Our cousin Jeannie passes away in 1887 and her husband Luther then moves to Orange County,NY.  The Stewart and Marsh families are all buried in the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn,NY.  While looking through the cemetery records, I located Jeannie's brother Alvan Stewart Jr who died in 1856.  The Stewart Clan Magazine provided information that Alvan Stewart Jr. has two sons, Alvan III and Douglas.
I haven't been bale to locate either son.

Is there a Vintner in the House part 2

Our cousin Mary Stewart Dean, and her three sons move after the death of Gilbert Dean to Poughkeepsie,NY. In 1877, Mary moves the family to Portland, Chautauqua County, NY and settles on a farm not far from Brocton, NY.  The three sons, Luther Rawson Dean "Ross", Stewart and Clyde start the grape growing business in the region.  This is the Lake Erie Wine region in the western part of New York State bordering Pennsylvania.  And not far from the Stewart family counties of Wyoming and Genesee NY. 

Ross Dean was not just a grape grower, he also studied the chemistry of the soil and the climatic effects of grape production. He was one of the largest grape growers in the country, shipping over one hundred cars of grapes to the outside markets in a given year.  The three brother increased their initial 100 acres to over 400 hundred acres of grape production.  

In 1897, Ross built the house pictured in this e-mail where his wife Emma Frances Corell and mother Mary Stewart Dean lived.  Mary died in 1904 and is buried in the Portland Evergreen Cemetery along side her husband Gilbert Dean.  Most of the family are interred at the Portland Evergreen Cemetery and with the exception of Gilbert Dean, I manage their memorials on Find A Grave. 

Mrs.Emma Dean is a lover of flowers and gardens and most of the current gardening members in our family can relate to her hobby. The family also seems to follow the Stewart family affiliation with the Methodist Episcopal church.

The three brothers own the farm until 1935 when the last brother Clyde dies.  Ross dies in 1918 and Stewart in 1929. 

Dean Home

Emma Corell Dean

Ross Dean

Mary Stewart/Gilbert Dean

Alvan Stewart had three know children, Jane "Jeannie" , Alvan Jr and Mary. I'm having a hard time trying to trace Alvan Jr. but Jane and  Mary Stewart, our cousins, has proved to be easier :) 

Mary marries Gilbert Dean in 1855 after the death of his first wife in 1850. Mary is Gilbert Dean's second wife.  His first wife is Amelia Smith, yes the Smith family follows us everywhere. :) Amelia Smith is the daughter of Seabury Smith and Harriett Lockwood of Sharon,Litchfield,CT.  This family is the the direct descendant of Rev. Cotton Mather Smith.  Does this Smith family intertwine with our Smith family in CT... only time will tell.

Gilbert Dean has a certain noterarity of his own.  A Democrat, he represented New York's 8th and 12th Districts in the Thirty-second and Thirty-third Congresses, serving from 1851 to 1854. 

Dean graduated from Yale College in 1841, studied law, and set up practice in Poughkeepsie, New York. He had no political experience prior to his election to the US House in 1850. In July 1854 he resigned from Congress to accept appointment as a justice of the New York Supreme Court, filling the vacancy caused by the death of Seward Barculo. Leaving the bench at the end of 1855, he resumed private law practice in New York City while maintaining a summer residence in Poughkeepsie. 

As an attorney Dean's most notorious client was Captain Nathaniel Gordon, the only man ever put to death in the United States for international slave-trading. He unsuccessfully appealed the verdict to President Lincoln, arguing that a city prison (The Tombs in New York) could not be used to execute someone convicted of a federal crime; Gordon was hanged in February 1862. 

The Gordon case was tried twice.  The first case resulted in a hung jury.  In doing some research on the case, I discovered that Gordon was a pirate by trade.  Most of his activity prior to the slave trading was confined off the coast of the United States. What brought this case to the attention of the public was the fact that of the 897 Africans loaded on the ship Erie, most were children. The Erie was captured 50 miles from the African port by the USS Mohican on August 7, 1860.

Dean died in Poughkeepsie in 1870. Originally buried at the Presbyterian Cemetery in his native Pleasant Valley, he was later reinterred at Portland Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, New York.

But is really our cousin Mary and her three sons that are important to us.....

Gilbert Dean

Alvan Stewart

This is our cousin Alvan Stewart. His great grandfather is James Stewart our 5th great grand uncle. Alvan was born in 1790 in Washington County,NY and died in 1849 in New York City.  A very short period of time for a Stewart. It is his time period and location that play an important role in history.  In the History of Chautauqua, Alvan is mentioned as a son of Uriel Stewart and was a descendant of an ancestor who was in the Siege of Londonderry, Ireland in 1689. 

Shortly after Alvan is born, his parents Uriel and Anna Holgate, move the family to Westford,VT. From the age of five he lived on a farm in Westford, Vermont, and attended district schools in the county. He entered the University of Vermont in 1809, leaving in 1812 to take a teaching position in Canada. He was arrested in Canada as a spy after the outbreak of war and was for a time held as a prisoner. Upon his release he returned to the United States, continuing to teach and beginning the study of law in Cherry Valley, New York. After a few years in Kentucky, Alvan returned to Cherry Valley where he acquired the reputation as a brilliant lawyer. About 1819, Alvan married Keziah Holt, daughter of Major Lester Holt and Catherine Clyde.  Alvan and Keziah are the parents of five children.  So far I've been able to locate Jeannie E.Stewart, Alvan Stewart Jr. and Mary Stewart. The children deserve their own post.

Our cousin is credited for devising and putting into operation the Underground Railroad.  He was associated with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Charles Sumner, John Brown and other leaders who strongly believed in the Anti-Slavery movement.  These beliefs are a constant theme that keep appearing from one generation to another and from one branch of our Stewart family to another.It helps gives us some insight into the minds of our ancestors. 

In 1831, Alvan decides to travel through Europe and chronicle his journey through a journal. If any of you have a Nook, or Nook app on tablet, Barnes & Noble offers a free download of several of Alvan's writings, speeches and legal arguments  against slavery. Also, the University of Miami Libraries have The Alvan Stewart Papers.  Here is a link to their site so you can view Alvan's Diary.

http://scholar.library.miami.edu/stewart/diary1.html 

In 1832, after travels abroad which are detailed in these diary pages, Alvan moved with his family to Utica,NY, where he continued to practice law, but devoted a great deal of time to temperance and anti-slavery causes. In 1835 he formed and became president of the New York Anti-Slavery Society where he raised money, organized meetings, and held public debates. Several times his planned affairs were broken up by angry mobs. Alvan argued that slavery was in violation with the Constitution and should be abolished. After a brief attempt at a political career, receiving only a few hundred votes for New York governor, Stewart retired to a more private life, though remaining a member of the New York Anti-Slavery Society. 

Hotel Stewart - San Francisco,CA

In the early 1900's, there was a Hotel Stewart run by the Stewart family.  The address of the hotel is 353 Geary in Union Square.  The hotel is still standing but run by another firm. The article was written in 1925 and mentions a fire "about 20 years ago". This must be the earthquake and fire of 1905. Below are the two entries in the Stewart Clan Magazine. 

"The armorial emblem of the Hotel Stewart in San Francisco, Calif., is reproduced here because of its showing a portion of a Stewart coat-of arms. One of the proprietors of this hotel

is Charles A. Stewart (the other is Margaret Stewart) and he was born in Scotland, a member of the old noble family of Stewarts of Appin. He came to the United States when he was about 6 years old. He has long been a member of the Stewart Society, which has its headquarters in Edinburgh. The emblem here shown is not the complete coat-of-arms, as the wreath surrounding the escutcheon and the figure at each side have been eliminated. The full coat-of-arms is displayed, however, over the entrance to the hotel. 

Charles A Stewart of San Francisco states that his father's papers, together with an old Andre Farrera rapier, given him at the death of his father in Waterloo, Ia., in 1895, were destroyed in the San Francisco fire about 20 years ago.  The sword, made in Italy, was taken in the Battle of Culloden in 1746, from an English officer whom he had killed, by one of Mr. Stewart's ancestors who was fighting for Price Charlie (Bonnie Prince), and had been handed down from one generation to another.  Mr. Stewart's father brought the sword to America from his old home at Lassingtoloch, near Loch Rannoch,Perthshire, one of the seats of the Stewarts of Appin."

Is there a Vintner in the house?

In the last e-mail, I talked about our 5th great grand uncle William Stewart and his children.  One of his children Joseph Stewart, moves to Pultney,Steuben County,NY.  If you look at the photos of Joseph and his family on our site, the photo indicates that they are buried on someone's vineyard. Through census records, I've discovered that several of his children,grandchildren and even son-in-laws are grape growers in Steuben County,NY.  Joseph's wife Lydia has a Stuart maiden name.  Part of our uncle William's family started using the Stuart name instead of Stewart.  I have yet to locate Lydia's parents but since one of their son's name is Selden Stewart, I'm thinking there is a connecttion.

Some links to Steuben County sites:

http://trailmaps.pbworks.com/w/page/22412508/New%20York%20-%20Steuben%20County%20-%20Penny%20Gaudino%20CET%204583

http://www.fingerlakes.org/about-the-region/county-information/steuben-county

And a final link to a cemetery where some of the Stewarts are buried. The family in the picture honoring Phineas Parker, would be distant relatives of ours. Phineas's daughter Polly, is the wife of Selden Stewart, our second cousin.

http://www.paintedhills.org/STEUBEN/PulteneyOldPresybyterialcem.htm

Jospeh Stewart and family