Stewart

52 Ancestors – Week 6 – Social Media

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Yep another post today. This one is for week 6 of the 52 Ancestors challenge being hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. The topic is social media.

Social Media is a great tool to use in genealogy and I love connecting with family. Those of you who have been following for a while know that I love the <a href="http://&lt;!– wp:paragraph –> <p>Social Media is a great tool to use in genealogy and I love connecting with family. Those of you who have been following for a while know that I love the </p> NYS Historical Newspaper website. I have discovered so much about my ancestors and newspapers were an integral part of life back in the day.

I have discovered so many vital facts about my family from where my great grandparents were married in 1890.

to this query looking for the siblings of Jassiel Preston. I need to remember to look into this query and see what I can find out even if it is from the 1920s.

to this week finding the obituaries for my 2X Great Grandmother Ella Mayo Stewart. This first one appeared in the Plattsburgh Papers.

This second one is the obituary that appeared in the Massena, NY paper in the neighboring county where she actually died and is much more in depth.

I have been trying to break down the brick wall of who were the parents of Ella’s mother Jane A. West? I will break down my hypothesis in a future post. I think DNA is going to be crucial in deducting this so I am going to have to figure it out.

So back in the day, newspapers were the Facebook of the time. Also you can always hit me up on my social media if you want to connect.

52 Ancestors – Week 1- I’d like to meet

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Yes I am going to attempt it yet again. Life seems a bit calmer at the moment and this is something I want and need to do for me. So here we go with prompt number 1 which is who would I like to meet and boy this is going to be super hard to pick just one so I am going to go with my top 3 or 5 and they will be in no random order.

  1. Sarah Larkin Beardsley my 2 times great grandmother. I have written about her extensively in previous blog posts and I feel a great kinship with her.
  2. Minerva Winchester Beardsley, my 3 times great grandmother. She lived from 1823 until 1843. She is the mother of my 2X great grandfather Leslie Winchester Beardsley. I would love to know who here parents were.
  3. David Weatherwax – My 4 times great grandfather. I would love to hear about his Revolutionary War experience and to ask where he is buried.
  4. Micheleangelo Moro and Chiara Ludivico my 2 times great grandparents on my Dad’s side. I would love to hear about why they came to America and then left and returned to Italy and if they had more children than the 2 I have found and any history they would share.

and lastly I would like to meet John Stewart (1755 – 1835). This is as far back as I have gotten my Stewart line. I believe they are originally from Scotland but I haven’t been able to go further than John and his wife Isabelle Armstrong in County Monaghan, Ireland. I would love to know if this line is truly from Scotland. There is a lot of family story but who knows.

52 Ancestors – Week 1 – Foundations

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From Merriam-Webster

When I saw the topic of foundations for the week, my Grandma immediately came to mind. I have many a memory of cemetery trips with my Grandma and Grandpa.

Who is my Grandma? Frances Mary Stewart was born 30 July 1922 in Clinton County, New York. The daughter of Charles Stewart and Mildred Shumway. Frances married Earl Elmer Witherwax 6 October 1940 in Schuyler Falls, Clinton County, New York. Grandma and Grandpa had 7 children and did many different jobs. She developed an interest in genealogy and she spent a huge amount of time researching my Grandpa’s family. She left me so much information and I have loved following through with her work. Sadly my Grandma passed away in 2004 in Washington County Arkansas and not a day goes by that I don’t think of her .

Coming from a family who are contractors, you know the foundation needs to be the strongest to hold up the rest of the building. So when I think of a genealogy foundation I think of my grandma. She was the heart of my family and the glue that held us all together.

I am excited to be starting the 52 Ancestors Challenge again and can’t wait to dive back into my family history after a crazy insane 2021.

Ancestor Profile – James Stewart

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I have been working on filling in missing pieces of the family tree. especially shrubbing the tree out. This becomes especially helpful in the world of DNA. I have spent the last 2 weeks working on Gs family so I decided to look at one of my lines and see what I could do.

James Stewart was born March 1878, most probably in Clinton County. He is the sone of Joseph Gardner Stewart and Ella May.

He appears to live with his parents during all the census records I found him in beginning in 1880, 1892, 1900.  I really knew nothing about him until I found a picture on Ancestry of the July 26, 1927 Plattsburgh Sentinel about a Funeral for James. It was a fairly long obituary.

When I find things like this I head to one of my favorite sites NYS Historic Newspapers. So I performed a search of 1927 and James Stewart. Oh poor James.

James died in a horrific car crash. The following are 3 different articles from 2 different papers The Lake Placid News, The Plattsburgh Sentinel and The Plattsburgh Republican.

 

The Plattsburgh Republican had so many details (one of the things I love about old newspapers. It gives me the 2 men in the car with James. It gives me where his brother William lived in NYC (how did I not know that William lived here in NYC). It also told me the type of car a Nash Touring Car. I had heard of Nash, I even think there was a movie about them though I could be wrong. So a quick google search to see what a Nash Touring Car looked like yielded this picture.

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I think this is about a 1923 or 1925 Nash. Most of the pictures reveal that they were soft top cars. The guilt poor William must of lived with.

James Stewart died July 22, 1927 in Peru, Clinton County, NY. I am going to research and see if I can find the road they were driving on. I have probably been on it at some point growing up.

James Stewart’s funeral was held at the Redford Methodist Episcopal Church and he is buried in the Redford Cemetery from what I found he never married and never had children. He was 49 years old when he died and he should be remembered.

So much fun…

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I spent some time colorizing some old photos I had taken pictures of and oh my what fun that was. My Heritage has a tool to colorize your old photos in seconds. Here are a couple of photos that I had already in my computer. I can see this getting addictive really fast.

You know I had to start with my favorite relative Dr. Sarah Larkin Beardsley. I have an actual copy of this picture that I am going to redo this with.

Next up is my Beardsley Sibling picture. The men are George Beardsley and my 2X great grandfather Leslie Winchester Beardsley and their sister Helen Maria Beardsley Weston.

 

Then of course is my husband’s 2X great grandfather the infamous scoundrel Henry Morissey Bass that I am sadly still trying to piece his sad life together including his death.

and I had a couple of pictures of my grandma’s side of the family. We will start with Joseph Gardiner Stewart.

and my great grandmother Mildred Arvilla Shumway Stewart. This one I think I prefer the black and white version better.

and let’s finish with 2 of my absolute people in the world who I miss every day. My Grandpa and Grandma. I am not sure where I put the black and whites on my computer but here are the colorized photos.

Isn’t this just fabulous. I have a stack of photo’s from Gerard’s family that I am excited to try this on including my in-laws wedding photo.

To my family I would love photos to put in my tree and you can always email them to me.

52 Ancestors – Week 10 – Strong Woman

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So for this prompt for the 52 Ancestors Challenge I wanted to choose a different relative in my family. I decided Sarah “Sally” Sawyer Preston would be my choice.

I believe Sally Sawyer Preston was born in 1769 to Joseph Sawyer and Judith Kelly Sawyer in New Hampshire. She married Abner Preston on 12 September 1787 in Cavendish, Vermont.

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Sally was 18 years old. I am not sure where Cavendish is in relation to her home in New Hampshire but even today Vermont is not a very populus state so it may of been remote.She had 3 children while still in Vermont.

In the  1800 US Census,  her husband Abner is listed in the town of Jay in Essex County, NY. As you know Jay for me is the black hole when it comes to genealogy research. Maybe when this pandemic is over I can visit and make some headway in all the research I need to do there.

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Sally and Abner had several more children in New York. At this time Essex County was just beginning to be settled and even today it is an extremely rural town in northern New York.

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Back in its heyday Jay was a logging town, but at the time the Prestons arrived the land still would of need to be cleared and this town is in the middle of the Adirondack State Park. This would not of been an easy life for the Preston family.

Abner Preston died 17 November 1835 and is buried in Wilmington, New York. Sally Preston lived to be 85 years old. She died 15 August 1854.

Abner Preston, Sally Sawyer Preston

To live such a long life in this time period takes a strong person. I hope to someday learn more about Sally Sawyer Preston’s everyday life.

 

Love the headline..

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This weekend I was working on my Stewart Line and I stumbled across this obituary for my 2X Great-Grandmother, Ella Mayo Stewart.

ellamayostewartobit

Bang really in your face, a bit of sensationalism anyone. This obituary appeared in THE Plattsburgh Daily Press. Ella is the widow of Joseph Gardiner Stewart of the previous post. Back in the post Never Stop Searching I wrote about hearing on a podcast about searching neighboring counties and/or towns. Well this obituary states that Ella died at her daughter’s home in Massena. (I couldn’t remember if Massena was in Franklin or St. Lawrence county.) Thanks to Google, I found it is in St. Lawrence County.

A quick search of NYS Historic Newspapers for St. Lawrence County resulted in this Obituary.

Ella Mayo Stewart Obituary Massena Observer

You can find the full obituary that appeared in The Massena Observer here. This obituary had so much more detail that the other obituary. So it definitely pays to read and search the papers for neighboring towns and counties.

Joseph Gardiner Stewart (1851-1912)

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Joseph Gardiner Stewart was born 4 Oct 1851 in Redford, Clinton Co, NewYork to  William Stewart (1811-1872) and Elizabeth Davis Stewart (1826-1897). Joseph Stewart is my 2nd Great-Grandfather.

Joseph Gardner Stewart

Joseph first appears on the 1860 census in the Town of Black Brook, Clinton Co, NY along with his parents, William (49) and Elizabeth (30), sister Mary (9), Elizabeth (5), William (3) and Margaret (11/12).

stewart1860census1860 Census from Ancestry.com

In 1870, Joseph (19) is still living in his parents household and they are now living in the town of Saranac. Also living in the house are Mary Jane (20), Elizabeth (17), William (14), Margaret (11) and Emma (11/12). Also listed with the household is Horace Wilson (21), a day laborer. (According to the 1900 Census Horace and Mary Jane were married in 1870).

stewart1870census1870 Census from Ancestry.com

In 1880, Joseph (27) is listed as the head of household. He lived in Garlick Falls, Clinton County, NY. He is married according to the census to a Hellen (21), with children James H. (2) and William (2/12) William is also listed as a jobber.

stewart1880census1880 Census from Ancestry.com

The 1900 census is a wealth of information for Joseph (51), it lists his birthday as September 1841, which does not agree with his first appearance on the census in 1860. He and Ellen have been married for 23 years and he is listed as a farmer and they are living in Black Brook, Clinton County, NY. Also in the household are James (22), William (20), Joseph (18), Gertrude (16), Charles (14) (my great-grandfather), Mabel (12), Ruth (10), John (8), Ethel (6), Samuel (1) and Henry (3/12).

Also living in the house are Nicholas Mayo (76) listed as a border but he is also Ellen’s father and George Soper (23) a servant.

stewart1900census1900 US Census from Ancestry.com

In the 1910 Census Joseph and Ella are still living in Black Brook with Ethel (16), Samuel (11) and Henry (10). It would seem the rest of the children had moved on with their lives.

Josephstewart19101910 US Census from Ancestry.com

Joseph Gardiner Stewart died on 25 March 1912 in Clayburgh, Clinton County, NY.

josephstewartdc(Death Certificate is part of my personal documents).

He is buried in the Redford Cemetery in Redford, Clinton Co, NY.

 

 

 

79 years ago…

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79 years ago, two of the most important people in my life, my Grandma and Grandpa were married. They married in Schuyler Falls when my Grandpa was 30 and my Grandma was 18. They were married for over 60 years until my Grandpa died in 2001.

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courtesy of New York Historical Newspapers.
Appeared in the Plattsburgh Daily Republican on October 11, 1940.

Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa!!

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Sometimes Rabbit Holes can be profitable

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I have done a deep dive into the world of genetic genealogy and spent a huge amount of the past weekend messaging matches and hoping for responses. Low and behold one of those responses led me down a path tonight.

It didn’t take me too long to figure out whee she belonged in my tree but I also knew these families had a habit of intermarrying and was it possible they were on both sides. Still not 100% sure on that which lead me down this path and following census records as back as far as I could.

Then I said let me run the name Heman Preston in the Northern New York Newspaper site. You know I love my newspapers. Well, look at what I found.

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courtesy of the Northern NY Library Network.

THis little gem appeared in the September 28, 1933 issue of the Adirondack Record. You see the name Abner Preston. My 4th Great Grandfather is Abner Preston who married Delia Hudson. My 5th Great Grandfather is Abner Preston who married Sarah “Sally”  Sawyer and the son of my 6th Great Grandfather. I need to get some tighter links and I am hoping this little gem just might help me break through a wall or two.

Wish me luck on hopefully breaking through the wall as this would finally give me a Revolutionary War Patriot on my Grandma’s side and would open up another line for my family.