Aunt Lillian and Uncle Charlie

Aunt Lillian was really Dad’s first cousin.  She and Uncle Charlie had the farm next to our house; and their house was just up the lane.  They worked very hard and long days on the farm.  Aunt Lillian also worked in the Woodruff and Reed homes in Burlington several days a week.

They loved children.  Even though they never had children of their own, they always had some child, usually a boy, to take care of.  Many of their foster sons went into the military when they came of age; they returned whenever possible to check on their foster parents, always showing their appreciation for the loving home and guidance they had received.  And our mother, who trusted our care to so few, allowed us to spend lots of quality time with Aunt Lillian and Uncle Charlie. 

                        

Uncle Charlie raised cattle, but he loved horses.  He and Aunt Lillian named cows for everyone in our family.  He had worked for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.  When I interviewed him for a school project, my teacher tried to discredit my story.

After completing the eighth grade Aunt Lillian was the substitute teacher for the community’s “colored” school.  She loved going to church and was a life-long member of St. Paul United Methodist Church in Williamsport.  She patiently taught the primary Sunday school class; and if we were well behaved we would be rewarded with a quarter of a stick of chewing gum.

Uncle Charlie was very patient too.  He had a grinding stone in the back yard under the old mulberry tree where he sharpened his axes and scythes.  One day as the mulberries were falling from the tree, some landing in the trough of the grinding stone, I got the bright idea to make wine by spinning the wheel around and around.  So my sister and I added more berries and some water and had mulberry juice flying everywhere.  The wheel turned purple; and apparently we ruined the stone.  As Uncle Charlie came around the house to wash his hands for lunch he saw what we had done.  With a look of disbelief he asked us to leave so he wouldn't be tempted to punish us:  “Little girls it’s time for you to go home!”  But he forgave us and we were allowed to return to play in the ice house the next Saturday.

Aunt Lillian was famous for her cakes.  Her caramel icing would be almost as thick as the cake; it was like eating a hunk of fudge with your cake.  She would invite her extended family to her birthday party each June for all to enjoy her huge birthday cake.  Her fruit cakes and hickory nut cakes were a holiday treat purchased by everyone in the area.  She would begin baking them as early as August, wrapping them in cheesecloth and storing them in large tin cans in her attic to soak up the booze she would add regularly.  (Note:  Aunt Lillian was a teetotaler, but giggled during the holidays as she served her famous cakes to visitors.)

Saturday mornings spent with Aunt Lillian were filled with shelling peas, snapping beans and churning butter on the front porch.  (When we visited we always had to do our chores before playing.)  Rainy days were spent with her reading us stories from her stash of children’s books and building architectural wonders with Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs.  But the best afternoons were spent making paper dolls from the Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs.

And then there was the chicken coop!  We would collect eggs with Aunt Lillian, knowing goodies would be the outcome.  But having to catch and carry home a live chicken was a nightmare I would love to forget.  After Aunt Lillian cornered the chosen hen, she held it while I tied twine around its feet.  As I carried the chicken by its legs the chicken pecked at my arm the entire walk home.  But I knew I would be in BIG trouble if I let it get away; my forearm was very pecked raw by the time I got home.

                          
A couple of months after Aunt Lillian passed, Uncle Charlie took ill.  (He really missed his soul mate.)  After a very brief stay in the hospital he checked himself out and began the twenty-mile walk home.  He was picked up by a neighbor who offered him a ride, but my mother intercepted them in the lane and insisted he be brought to our house.  While our mother cared for him, we got to spend our evenings listening to stories of his adventures.  We so enjoyed having him with us, but within a month he passed away.

I still have one memento from their estate sale:  a pink ceramic piggy bank I found under the front porch of their house.  I used it to collect my savings throughout my teen years.  It is still a treasure on display in my home.

Discovering Cousin Obe

In December 2014 I accidentally came across information about a cousin I had not heard about, one that was only a name in my family tree with no real information about him other than his existence.

This is my great-aunt Fannie.  Frances was born to Rebecca Payne Stewart in Hardy County Virginia in 1852.  She was married to Strother Hilliard on May 6, 1968 by Rev. William George at the home of Edward Williams in Grant County West Virginia.  According to the 1870 census, Strother was working for Edward and Mary Williams as a farm laborer. They had several children.  There are very few records documenting their family; I hit many dead-ends in researching them.

But one night while investigating a possible connection to another Stewart family in the Piedmont, West Virginia area I noticed that they had a border by the name of Obe Hilliard living with them. Recognizing the surname as prominent one in the Stewart family it took me off on another one of my investigative tangents. 

I noted Obe was a  coal miner, a typical job for the area.  And the only hint given by Ancestry.com about him was in a Pennsylvania death record database.  That's when I happened upon the death record for Obe Hilliard.  It tells a story that brought me to tears.

Not only did I discover that Obe Hilliard was a son of great-aunt Fannie, but I learned of his tragic death.  Obe's coal mining job afforded him the opportunity to travel on the coal trains between the mines around Piedmont, West Virginia and the steel mills in southwestern Pennsylvania.  Apparently on November 14, 1908, Obe suffered a broken neck when he was hit by a train near Bridge Street Crossing in Monongahela, in Washington County Pennsylvania.  While it was determined his mother was Fannie Hilliard of West Virginia it was disturbing that he was not sent home for burial, but rather buried nine days later in Monongahela.  This caused me to wonder and worry ... 

This is everything I know about Obe.  He seems to have left our family without the proper send-off and only a very few people knowing what happened to him.  He wasn't ever discussed within the family ... he just faded away.  But I found him and have done my best to honor him as a part of my Stewart family.

Finding James Edward Stewart

While the biggest challenge of my ancestry research has been the total lack of origins for my great-grandparents Fortune Stewart and Rebecca Payne, it has also been a challenge to put together the stories of their sixteen children.  One of the biggest mysteries has been what happened to their fifth and youngest son James Edward Stewart.

James Edward was born September 3, 1874 in Williamsport in Grant County West Virginia and in 1880 he was living with his parents there.  On March 8, 1899 he married Elizabeth Washington in Mineral County; she was the daughter of Garrett and Sylvia Washington, born April 2, 1880 in Petersburg.  In 1900 James Edward and Elizabeth were living in Piedmont at the home of his widowed sister-in-law Margaret Washington Cooper and her son Harry.  He was a laborer at the pulp mill in Luke, Maryland.  

While living in Piedmont in 1901 James Edward and Elizabeth had their first daughter Dorothy R (09/29/1901-11/24/1972) who would marry Jasper Harold McBride and Scott Charles Farley. After marriage she moved in New Castle, Pennsylvania.  It appears Dorothy had but lost a son. 

Before 1906 James Edward and Elizabeth moved to Allegheny County Maryland where James Edward Jr.  was born.  They then moved to Ogden Row in Clarksburg.  James Edward Jr. (11/06/1906-09/1978) would marry Juanita Y Barnett on October 12, 1930 in Clarksburg.  Juanita had been born in Alabama, but was raised in Clarksburg.  They had one daughter in 1932 and continued to live in Clarksburg. 

In 1914 James Edward and Elizabeth had twins in Clarksburg:  an unnamed son (11/30/1914-11/30/1914) and Juanita Edith (11/30/1914-09/29/2002).  Juanita Edith would marry Richard E Ogden on October 17, 1938. They lived in New Castle, Pennsylvania where they had a daughter and a son.

In 1920 Elizabeth was living on Clay Street in Clarksburg with three of her children:  Dorothy (19), Edward (14), and Juanita Edith (5).  She was a laundress working out of her home. (James Edward may have been living in Parkersburg in 1920.)  In 1930 Elizabeth was living in Clarksburg with her daughter Juanita Edith (18).  On February 17, 1934, Elizabeth died of diabetic mellitus in her home at 510 Water Street in Clarksburg.  She was buried in the Stonewall Burial Park in Clarksburg.

In the 1930s James Edward moved to Braddock in Allegheny County Pennsylvania.  In 1940 James Edward was living on Wilkins Avenue in Braddock with his second wife Jennie.

After recently finding a major database of Pennsylvania death records I got lucky in finding one for James Edward Stewart Sr.

James Edward died February 26, 1947 in Braddock in Allegheny County Pennsylvania of a cerebral hemorrhage.  He had been living at 1164 Paxico Street with his wife Jennie.  His daughter Dorothy Farley of 929 Rear Moravia Street in New Castle, Pennsylvania was the informant of his death.  He was buried in Braddock Cemetery.  His birth date appeared significantly different from census records and his first marriage certificate.  His daughter did not know who his parents were.  There is no evidence that he ever returned to Williamsport after his parents died.  He may have had some contact with his older brothers who lived in Parkersburg and Belpre, Ohio.  But it would appear he has lost contact with his family after 1930 and his children had no ties to their roots.

The Stewarts Go to Parkersburg, West Virginia

Three of the sons of Fortune and Rebecca Payne Stewart moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia by 1900. They sought jobs beyond the farming skills they developed working in Williamsport.  They raised their families there, taking advantage of the education available to black children beyond elementary/grammar school that was not available in Williamsport.  They also provided a home to their nieces, nephews and cousins from Williamsport so that they could get an education.  (See Sumner School highlight below.)

Preliminary note:  Parkersburg is a city on the western boundary of West Virginia.  Just across the Ohio River, less than a mile away, is the city Belpre, Ohio.  When the Stewarts of Williamsport moved west they settled in either city.

In 1900 Daniel Stewart, the oldest son of Fortune and Rebecca Payne Stewart, and his wife Emma Sargent were living with her parents in Belpre with their first child; he was a fireman. By 1910 they were living on Walnut Street with their five children. and he was a station fireman at the Parkersburg Mill Company (see highlight below).  Dan and Emma were still living on Walnut Street with four of their children in 1920; Dan and his oldest son were working at the mill.  Also by 1920 Dan and Emma's oldest daughter had married and was living close by.  Daniel passed in 1927.

By 1900 Nancy Stewart, the oldest daughter of Daniel Stewart and Mary Clifford, had moved from Williamsport and was working as a servant in the home of John B McCann in Belpre.

In 1900 Henry Stewart, the second son of Fortune and Rebecca Payne Stewart, and his wife Lizzie Watkins were living at 912 Clay Street.  They had married in 1899 and never had children.  In 1930 Henry Stewart and wife Elizabeth Jackson (married in 1927) lived together at 912 Clay Street until she passed in 1939.  In 1940 Henry Stewart (65, widowed) lived at 912 Clay Street with his two nephews, Brownley and Stanley, and two lodgers.  From 1912 through 1942 Henry Stewart was a driver for Citizens Transfer & Storage Co. Henry passed in 1943. 

By 1900 George William Stewart, the third son of Fortune and Rebecca Payne Stewart, and his wife Mary Jane Susan Redman were living on Monroe Street in Parkersburg with five children; and he was working at a transfer company.  By 1910 they had moved to 8th Street. Mary Jane Susan Redman died August 16, 1927.  George William Stewart married Bessie Cameile Wilson Grant on May 15, 1928.  George lived at 508 Gale Avenue in Parkersburg until his death August 20, 1937.

In 1920 Lizzie Washington Stewart and her children (Dorothy, Edward, and Edith) were living at 814 Clay Street.  (They were the family of James Edward Stewart, the fifth son of Fortune and Rebecca Payne Stewart.)

In the late 1930s and before World War II, the three youngest sons of Homer Wilson Stewart also moved to Parkersburg to take advantage of job opportunities beyond farming around Williamsport.  Kendall Smith Stewart, followed by Brownley Thornton Stewart, and then Stanley William Stewart stayed with their uncles in Parkersburg.  All three went into the Army in the early 1940s and served overseas during the war.

Also in the 1930s Edna Kent and Mary Thornton Elizabeth Bruce moved to Parkersburg to attend highschool.  Edna Kent became the wife of Wilson Alfred Stewart after she returned to Williamsport. Mary Thornton Elizabeth Bruce was the daughter of Sarah Thornton Stewart (the youngest daughter of Fortune and Rebecca Payne Stewart) and Alfred Stanley Bruce; she became the wife of Stanley William Stewart after she completed her education and was a certified teacher.

 The Chancellor Hotel

The Chancellor Hotel, seen here circa 1910, was built in 1901 by Johnson N. Camden and Colonel William N. Chancellor on the southeast corner of 7th & Market, replacing a Methodist church that had stood there since 1858. For many years the 220-room Chancellor was Parkersburg's premier hotel. It was torn down in 1977. 

Three of Homer Stewart's sons (Kendall, Brownley and Stanley) worked at the Chancellor Hotel when they moved to Parkersburg from Williamsport.

Parkersburg Mill Co.

Management of the Parkersburg Mill Co. at 2nd and Green streets which succeeded the original Caswell, Gould & Logan Co. on March 20 1865 had developed the firm into one of the greatest milling and wooden novelty works by the turn of the century. C. L. and W. S. Caswell were still active in the firm in 1865 when it became Parkersburg Mill Co. It was first established in the early 50s by Caswell. Gould and Logan. The Parkersburg Mill Co. eventually became the Parkersburg Lumber Co. It employed more men and boys than any other individual enterprise in the city by 1896 with over 150 men on the payroll in the mills and yards.The company yards and mills covered 12 acres and three large buildings accounted for 45,000 feet of floor space.Products from the Parkersburg Mill Co. flowed into all parts of the world including Germany, Scotland, England, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick. Canada and all portions of the United States.  The company was important in the tremendous growth and prosperity of Parkersburg during the period. In 1896 the company. produced 100,000 corn popper handlesfor example. Handles of every kind, for home and industry. were special ties of the company at the turn of the century.The planning mill was responsible in those days for a capacity of 30,000 feet a day. The plant's location was situated along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad near the conjunction of the Ohio and Little Kanawha Rivers. The company has consistently been a significant leader in the industry As far back as 1896 the firm handled transactions for 14 million feet of poplar and oak lumber for example. The firm has always surrounded itself with ample facilities for accurately responding to the demands of its trade. Parkersburg Lumber has closed down and is no longer in business.

Sumner School

In 1862 the Sumner School in Parkersburg was the first free school south of the Mason-Dixon line for African-American children built by seven African-American men to provide education for their children.  The Sumner School closed in 1954.Sumner School, built on the east side of Avery Street just north of Tenth Street, was established during the Civil War and became the nation's first free school for black children below the Mason-Dixon line. Led for over forty years in the early 20th century by Principal J. Rupert Jefferson, it stood as Parkersburg's black all-grade school, from first to twelfth grade, until the Supreme Court ended school segregation in 1954. Sumner closed down in 1955. It was later reopened for children with mental disabilities. Eventually the school was demolished except for its gymnasium, which had been built in 1926. 

Great-Aunt Ren

Mary Renoix "Ren" Stewart was born in 1867 in Grant County West Virginia to Fortune Stewart and Rebecca Payne.  She grew up in a very large family.

Ren married William T. Brooks on November 27, 1889.  They were married by Charles Price supposedly at Rebecca Stewart’s home in Moorefield, West Virginia. 

William T. Brooks was born June 14, 1850 to Andrew and Martha Peterson Brooks.  Andrew Brooks was a farm laborer and Martha Peterson Brooks was a domestic servant for W. M. Randolph in 1870. 

Ren and William had four children:

1. Raymond Augustas Brooks (11/22/1890 - ).  
2. James L Brooks (07/18/1892 - 04/12/1958).
3. Pearl Andrew Brooks (02/22/1893 - 08/23/1976) married Jennie Meyers (03/1897 - 08/1978).  
4. Martha A. Brooks (09/1896 - 10/1986).

Tragically Ren committed suicide at age 30 on July 14, 1897 at her home in Moorefield, West Virginia.  She was buried the very next day.  Her family had indicated that she had hung herself, but research determined that she actually cut her throat and experienced a long agonizing death.

William T. Brooks married Kate Scott Strawder on April 2, 1899 in Hardy County West Virginia.  The couple had three children before they married.  They went on to have large family.  William died July 11, 1943.

From the time I heard of Ren's death as a child I had questions.  After doing this research I have many more.  Why were we led to believe she had hung herself?  Where were her children at the time of the incident?  Had she taken them to her in-laws early the morning of July 14, 1897?  (Hopefully the children were spared seeing the incident.)  Where was William at the time of the incident?  Why was she compelled to take her life?  Surely a toothache would not have been a motive for her suicide.  Why was her name not mentioned in the newspaper article?  

A great-grandson of William T. Brooks and Mary Renoix Stewart says the oral history indicated Ren had been murdered by either William T. Brooks or Kate Scott Strawder who was known to her.  And from information he gathered from his brother some of their cousins, Kate was present when Ren died. 

Ren's children went to live with William's parents Andrew and Martha Peterson Brooks and their Aunt Gertrude "Bertie" Brooks after their mother’s death.  The children even moved to Cumberland with their Aunt Bertie to go to high school.  

Rebecca's Daughters

It is believed that Rebecca Payne was born into slavery in Virginia.  She married Fortune Stewart sometime around the end of the Civil War.  She had eleven daughters and five sons that lived to maturity.  The first five of Rebecca Payne's daughters may have also been slaves in Hardy County Virginia; Fortune Stewart treated them as his daughters once he married Rebecca.  

Five of Rebecca's daughters (Mary Catherine, Frances, Margaret, Luhr, and Emma) married five Hilliard brothers.  Edward, Strother, Hyder, Andrew, and Charles were the sons of Werter Hilliard and Hulda Sall and the grandsons of Pryor and Phebe/Eda Hilliard and William and Amy Sall.  

Mary Catherine "Kate" Ford/Stewart 

Kate Stewart was born in September 1849.  She was married to Edward Hilliard (born August 1850) on August 11, 1870 by Rev. Joseph Arnold at his home in Mineral County. They had six children:

1. Hinkle Hilliard was born September 9, 1871.  He married Lillie ? and had one son George Robert Hilliard on October 25, 1911.   Hinkle died April 5, 1930. 
2. Gertrude Hilliard was born in 1873, had a child with Thomas Stallings, and then married George Method.  They had one daughter Rosa L "Rosie" Hilliard/Method (1889 -) who on June 6, 1911 married George E. Bruce (1879 -).  Gertrude died March 18, 1936.
3. Andrew H. Hilliard  was born in 1877.  He married Lula Clifford (1885 - 1911) on October 20, 1906; after Lula passed, he then married Lilly C Bruce (1890 - ) on September 17, 1911 and had at least three children: George R Hilliard (1912 -), Rosa C Hilliard (01/25/1914 -), Mary Madeline Hilliard (10/25/1920- ) who married a Pulice.  Andrew died in 1932.
4. William Hilliard was born on September 6, 1881. He married Edith Armstead (03/06/1893 - 11/02/1922).  They had two children:  male infant Hilliard (10/24/1889 - 11/30/1889) and Inez Hilliard (11/06/1921 - 12/26/1988) who married (07/09/1976) Roosevelt Gist.  William died on August 30, 1922. 
5. Rosa Hilliard was born in March 1889, but died before 1910.
6. A male infant Hilliard was born October 24, 1889, but died November 30, 1889.

On June 20, 1900 Kate and Edward had been married 28 years with three of five children still living. They were living in Grant County West Virginia with two children:  Hinkle and Rosa.  Edward and Hinkle were farm laborers.  By 1910 Kate and Edward had been married 42 years and only three of their six children were still living; Hinkle (widowed) and William were living with them.  Edward Hilliard died January 2, 1924 of a heart affliction.  

In 1930 Catherine Hilliard was living with her son Hinkle (1874 -) and widowed daughter Gertrude Method, and grandchildren Robert, Madeline, and Inez.  Kate died December 12, 1933.


Jane Williams/Stewart





















Jane Stewart was born in April 1850.  Jane may have been a slave.  In 1874 she married Strother Taylor (08/08/1850 - 01/05/1927).  They had ten children:

1. male Ford (12/26/1870 - ).
2. Willie Taylor (08/1872 or 07/17/1874 - ).
3. Mollie Taylor (1877 - 09/12/1893 ).
4. Edward/Edgar Taylor (10/1878 or 10/1879 - ).
5. Annie Taylor (10/1880 or 09/1881 - ) married 02/01/1900 Harry Harvey (02/1872 - ). They had three children:  Nellie H Harvey (1900 - ); Henry Harvey (02/28/1915 - 11/12/1939) married Helen Redman; William David Harvey (02/29/1916 -).
6. Joshua W Taylor (01/1883 - 08/26/1937) married on 06/21/1904 Mollie Newman (1882 - 03/09/1928).
7. John Taylor (02/1884 - 02/05/1963).
8. Strother Taylor Jr. (05/11/1885 or 07/1885 - ).
9. Mary Virginia Taylor (10/1889 or 11/1889 - 08/06/1958).  (Mary was “Grandma Mary” who was our occasional baby sitter.)
10. Robert Taylor (01/1893 - ).

Jane died on June 15, 1924.  Strother indicated Jane’s father was a James Williams on her death certificate.


Rachel A Ford/Stewart 

Rachel Stewart was born in 1851.  Rachel may have been a slave.  She was married to William Henry Bruce (1848 -) on 10/11/1871 by Rev. Dunbar G Miller at Fortune Stewart’s home in Grant County.  William's parents were Isaac and Jane Bruce.  They had eight children:

1. Joseph W Bruce (07/13/1872 - )
2. Richard Bruce (1873 - )
3. Cora M Bruce (1875 or 2/24/1896 - )
4. Harly N Bruce (1877 - )
5. Ellen V Bruce (1878 - )
6. male Bruce (05/15/1880 - )
7. Rebecca J Bruce (12/08/1882 - )
8. Harrie R Bruce (02/27/1885 - )

Rachel died December 14, 1944.

Frances "Fannie" Stewart

Fannie Stewart was born in 1852 and may have been a slave.  She was married to Strother Hilliard (06/1846 -) on May 6, 1868 by Rev. William George at Edward Williams home in Grant County.  They had seven children:

1. Laura Hilliard (1868 -) married Richard Bickwood (1867 -) on 11/05/1890.
2. Mary Rae Hilliard (1870 - ).
3. Obe Hilliard (08/1873 - 11/14/1908) died in a rail yard accident in Pennsylvania.
4. Minerva Hilliard (03/1877 -) married on 04/29/1903 John W Streets (1869 -); and later married Charles Carroll.
5. Jemima Ford (07/10/1882 - ).
6. Arthur/Artwoodrow Hilliard (07/16/1886 - 03/09/1952) married on 05/04/1923 Maude Ross/Coleman (04/03/1881 - 11/11/1964).
7. Blaine Hilliard (06/1888 - 03/18/1908) died of heart disease.
8. Infant girl Hilliard (11/1891 -).

In 1880 Strother was a farm laborer living on the Daniel Babb farm.
In 1900 Fannie and Strother were living alone; three of their six children were still living.
In 1910 Fannie and Strother had been married 37 years and only two of their seven children were living; Artwoodrow was still living with them. 
By 1930 Fannie and Strother had only two of their seven children still living; Artwoodrow was still living with them.


Margaret "Maggie" Stewart (Redman) 

Maggie Stewart was born in February 1852.  She married Hyder Hilliard (born 1853 or 06/07/1855) on 09/27/1876 at the parsonage of the Methodist Episcopal Church by Rev. Maston.  Maggie died.

Hyder remarried 02/01/11 to Ellen Taylor in Moorefield by Rev. James T. Reed.  They were both fifty and widowed.  He died March 28, 1924.

1. Edward "Eddie" Hilliard (1877 - before 1900) married Maggie Brooks.  They had on daughter ? Hilliard (07/21/1896 - ).
2. ? Hilliard ( - before 1900).
3. ? Hilliard ( - ).
4. Mary Catherine Hilliard (07/25/1882 - 11/19/1957)  married George H. Brooks (1880 -) on 09/10/1903.
5. Albert Charles Hilliard (07/1890 - 05/26/1961) married on 12/22/1941 Peggy Taylor.
6. Hezekiah Elwood Hilliard (11/1892 - 08/02/1970) married on 05/01/1929 Georgianna A. Duffy.  They had five children:  Hezekiah Elwood Hilliard Jr. (06/10/1930 - 01/09/1952), Carlton Alexander Hilliard (08/27/1932 - 2010), Mary Magdalene Hilliard (09/11/1934 -), Justina Virginia Hilliard (05/09/1937 -), David Robinson Hilliard 06/2/1939 -).

Luhr Stewart 

Luhr Stewart was born in 1956.  She married Andrew Hilliard. Luhr died on October 3, 1907 of peritonitis.


Emma Stewart

Emma Stewart was born in 1861.  She married Charles Robert “Petey” Hilliard (1859 or 09/26/1854 - 02/23/1927) on April 12, 1883.  Their daughter Lottie Hilliard was born in 1887, but died in a fire in March 1891.  Their son Fred Hilliard (03/1888 - 06/19/1963) who married Blanch Method (1909 -) on June 13, 1927.  Emma died December 20, 1892 of diabetes. Charles then married Mary Bruce on September 25, 1894, had a daughter Bessie in 1895, married Sam Robinson 09/15/1921, and died February 23, 1927.

Belle Stewart

Belle Stewart was born in 1866 in Hardy county.  She married on 01/19/1888 Ambrose Kent (1864 -), son of James and Lucinda Kent of Hardy county. It is not known what became of her.  She died sometime before 1910.

Annie Stewart 

Annie Stewart was born about 1865 in Hardy county.  She married on 12/29/1881 Ambrose Kent (1862 -), son of John H. and Rosa Virginia "Jinnie" Kent, at her parent's home in Grant county.  It is not known what became of her.


Mary Renoix "Ren" Stewart

Ren Stewart was born in 1867.  She married William Brooks (06/14/1870 - 07/11/1943) on 11/27/1889.  They were married by Charles Price at Rebecca Stewart’s home in Moorefield, West Virginia.
William parents were Andy and Martha Peterson Brooks; Andrew Brooks was a farm laborer and Martha Peterson Brooks was a domestic servant for W M Randolph in 1870.  Ren and William had four children:

1. Raymond Augustas Brooks (11/22/1890 - ).  
2. James L Brooks (07/18/1892 - 04/12/1958).
3. Pearl Andrew Brooks (02/22/1893 - 08/23/1976) married Jennie Meyers (03/1897 - 08/1978).  Pearl registered for WWI and WWII drafts and served in WWI (inducted 06/23/18 as a Private, promoted to Private 1st Class 11/22/18, 154 Dep Brig; Co B 333 Serv Bn 7/16/18, honorably discharged 7/8/19, served overseas from 8/31/18 to 6/28/19).
4. Martha A. Brooks (09/1896 -).

Ren committed suicide at age 30 on July 14, 1897 at her home in Moorefield, West Virginia. Ren's children went to live with William's parents Andrew and Martha Peterson Brooks and their Aunt Bertie after their mother’s death.  William Brooks then married Kate Scott Strawder and had another family.

Sarah Thornton "Sallie" Stewart 

Sallie Stewart was born on September 3, 1880.   She married on 10/05/1904 Alfred Stanley Bruce (10/10/1889-06/16/1967).  Sallie and Stanley had four children and adopted a daughter:

1. Lillian E Stewart/Bruce (08/20/1896 - 10/18/1964) married (01/28/1928) Charles Day (08/01/1886 - 03/07/1965).
2. Stanley Stewart Bruce (06/20/1908 - ) married Frances Page.  Their children were:  step-daughter Gertrude, step-son “Bummy”, son Stuart Calvin Bruce.
3. Mary Thornton Elizabeth Bruce (03/24/1909 - 01/03/2003) married Stanley William Stewart (05/13/1919 - 12/23/2003).  They had one son, Stanley Homer Stewart (12/22/1950-05/20/1992).
4. Dailey Randolph Bruce (10/08/1913 - 10/29/1989) married Beulah Clifford (10/05/1919 - 04/16/2012).  They had two children.

Sallie died April 28, 1969.  She was the last of Rebecca's daughters.  She was the only one of Rebecca's daughters I knew.