The Stewarts of Williamsport: October 2013

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Stewarts of Williamsport

Williamsport, WV

I am of the fourth generation of the Stewarts of Williamsport, West Virginia. My great-grandparents, Fortune and Rebecca Payne Stewart, are our “beginning” since we know nothing of their ancestors. They just appeared in Hardy County Virginia in the early 1800s and moved to the current Grant County West Virginia after the Civil War.

The first three generations have passed. Before my generation goes I want to capture and preserve what we know of them.

So here is our story …

I have been working on my family's genealogy for the past ten years. My maternal ancestors are well researched: Hemings, Byrd, Young, Cooper, Valentine, Dalton (from Virginia to Ohio).

It is my paternal ancestors that have been the challenge, specifically the Stewart/Payne line from Virginia/West Virginia. (The Smiths of Hardy County Virginia/West Virginia are well researched back through Pennsylvania to Germany). When WV was split from VA during the Civil War many records seem to have lost continuity, especially records for slaves and freed blacks. We have no evidence of where my great-grandfather Fortune Stewart came from (possibly the Caribbean) and we believe my great-grandmother Rebecca Payne was a slave (but we have no records of this). They just both magically appeared in records of Hardy County Virginia after the Civil War. I need help to make further progress in my search of the ancestors of Fortune and Rebecca.