William Stewart

This family history e-mail explores our 5th great grand uncle William Stewart(1706-1800). William is the guardian of our 4th great grandfather Daniel Stewart after the early death of Daniel's father Alexander.  William is notable for having four wives and also introducing us to another Scottish Clan, the Campbells. Hannah Campbell is William's first wife. Hannah is the mother of five children and dies when her youngest is only two in 1743.  Four of his children with Hannah all die within a few weeks in August 1749. This leads me to believe that some disease hit Haddam,CT during that summer.  His remaining son Nathan provides us with some interesting information through one of his children.

Nathan marries Martha Shaw, another Scottish Clan, in 1760.  Their first child is Jared Stewart. Jared Stewart at age 15 enlists in the Continental Army under Captain Bezaleel Beebe. As a side note, the Beebe family is also in our tree. Jared fights in the Battle of Fort Washington located in Harlem Heights, NY. The two generals in the battle are Washington and Howe. Jared Stewart was among the captured Americans after the fort fell. Jared was taken prisoner and died in a British prison ship in the harbor January 1777. I think about Jared Stewart and the sacrifice he made for our family each morning when I put out our American Flag.


Link to the Battle of Fort Washington:

http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/battledetail.aspx?battle=13


William's second wife is Sarah Buck. The Buck family has caused my hours of fruitless searching. The Buck family makes several appearances in our tree. If you remember Amanda Stewart's letter, she mentioned that Daniel's daughter Phebe marries Parsley Buck and moves to Vermont. At that point the family lost contact with them. The early years of the state of Vermont don't provide great genealogy information. Sarah has one child, Sarah, before she dies in 1745. Sarah, the daughter, marries Justus Seeley and part of the family moves to Canada.  There is a division in this family between Americans and Loyalists. Sarah,Justus and three of their children move to Canada. One son Guy settles in St Louis at the time when it was still part of the Louisiana Territory and dies in the early 1818. I thought I'd hit a dead end with this branch when I started looking for their other son Justus Azel Seeley. And then a discovery happened.... Justus Azel Seeley was one of
the original Utah Mormon Pioneer families. One of his sons, David Seely, settled in San Bernardino, CA.

At one time the Mormons had a settlement in Nauvoo,IL which is located on the Mississippi River in Hancock County. Hancock County is not far from Cass County. In 1846, Nauvoo had a greater population than Chicago. That year is also important for the Reynolds side of the family.  In 1846 William Pearn and Mary Elizabeth Mutton Pearn immigrated from England and settled in Beardstown. 

The Nauvoo area is beautiful and they had a winery and blue cheese factory. 

Here is a link to the history:

http://www.cofchrist.org/history/nauvoo.asp

And a link to modern day Nauvoo:

http://www.beautifulnauvoo.com/index.html

In the history portion, you'll see that the Mormons reorganized in 1860 in Amboy,IL.  Amboy is in Lee County not far from Steward and Dixon.

William's third wife is Thankfull Graves. Thankfull married William in 1745 and dies the following year.  There were no children from this marriage.

William's fourth and final wife is Mary McWilliams.  Mary has four sons, William, Samuel, Joseph and Benjamin and a daughter Hannah.  William, Samuel and Joseph all served in the American Revolution. The brothers moved first to Vermont after the War but then eventually settled in New York. William and his fourth wife Mary McWilliams are buried in Milton Cemetery and in the same row our 4th great grandfather Daniel Stewart's 1st wife Phebe Chapman Stewart is buried.  And it makes me wonder if Daniel Stewart is buried there too.

  The Stewart family is starting to move further west in western parts of New York. We'll begin to see the counties of Steuben, Otsego and Herkimer as places of residence. 

There is also another settlement in central Illinois.  Jane Stewart marries Elon Eldred around 1827 and moves to Greene County which is south of Cass County. 

Almost thirty years later, her cousins Mary Jane Stewart, Rosamond Stewart and Charles Stewart settle in Greene County. Mary Jane marries William Marshall Potts, a Civil War Veteran. After Mary Jane dies in 1885, Rosamond marries William Marshall Potts. William's brother James Franklin Potts also serves in the Civil War and later becomes a surgeon. Mary Jane's son Herbert Potts also becomes a surgeon and in the early 1900's lives in Evanston,IL. 

Mary Jane and Rosamond's sister Alice Ann bring our family it's first supreme court justice. Charles H Brown served on the Eighth Judicial District in New York State.  This side of our Stewart family provides the information about our family in the Stewart Clan Magazine.

James Franklin Potts

William Marshal Potts