The Legacy of a Generation

This was the eulogy presented at the funeral of Brownley Thornton Stewart on January 8, 2011.  He was the last of eight children of Homer Wilson Stewart and Mary Elisabeth Smith to pass away.

We have come to the end of a generation with the passing of the last living son of Homer and Molly Stewart.  They raised six sons and one daughter right here in this community, in this church, during the depression.

 

Those who knew them would agree that the Stewart brothers epitomized brotherhood, fatherhood, and neighborhood.  The work ethic and values instilled in them by their parents served them well.  They supported and cared for each other, their families, and their neighbors.  They served their country.  They shared everything they had.  They earned the trust and respect of all who knew them.  I believe the community benefited from them living and working here.

The advice and life lessons they gave to their children, and anyone else who would listen, has served us all well in our lives.  The variety of skills they taught us and the motivation to get the best education possible prepared us for life even in the worst of times.  The Stewart family is truly blessed to have such a heritage and role models.  We got to enjoy their collective wisdom and unique personalities; we really had six dads.  While we miss them, we have so many memories and are much the wiser for having them in our lives.

Now the torch has been passed to our generation.  We, as a family, are obligated to preserve the legacy and pass it on; we have big shoes to fill, but they gave us the tools to be successful citizens.  I only hope and pray we can do as good a job as our fathers and grandparents did.  I want to challenge us all to be the best we can be; let’s make them proud of us. 

The Stewart Brothers
(l-r:  Stanley, Wilson, Brownley, Kendall, Ernest, Pearl)

Molly and Homer Stewart

Sipper Stewart

The Magical Ruth

My father's cousin Ruth was always "Aunt Ruth" to us.  She was this bigger-than-life person who visited us in the 1950s and 1960s.  She lived in Parkersburg, West Virginia.  She would arrive in Keyser on the Baltimore and Ohio passenger train, my father would pick her up at the station and bring her to stay with us for several days.  She would visit all of her country cousins.  But my sister and I were transfixed by her bubbly personality.  She was so tiny, about 4-foot-nine!  She always had a smile on her face enhanced by her red lipstick, nails painted bright red, perfectly coiffed hair, and the greatest earrings.  She had so many stories about our Parkersburg relatives, especially about her successful children who had careers in New York and California.  But then she would be off to Petersburg to visit her other cousins before returning to Parkersburg. Her appearances were magical moments during our childhood.

When our family made its trek west to southern Ohio to visit my mother's relatives we always stopped in Parkersburg and Belpre to visit my father's relatives.  And of course that included at least an hour with Aunt Ruth. 



George William Stewart (12/1869-08/20/1937) and Mary Jane Susan Redman (03/10/1872-08/16/1927) married in 1885. They were born and raised in Grant County West Virginia and moved to Parkersburg in Wood County West Virginia. They had thirteen children; not all surviving childhood. Their youngest was Ruth Mona Stewart.

Ruth Mona Stewart was born May 2, 1910.  On May 7, 1928 she married Harold Fairfax Young who was born September 5, 1907.

Ruth and Harold had  five children:  

1. Harold Fairfax Jr. 
2. Fawne who married Milton Clay 
3. Roxy Young who married Lonnie Bradford 
4. Ivan Young 
5. Carlton D. Young 

Ruth Mona Stewart passed in September, 1976 and Harold F Young passed July 10, 2001.

The Shepherd

Wilson Alfred Stewart was born in Williamsport October 7, 1909.  He was the oldest son of Homer Stewart and Mary Elizabeth Smith.  Wilson lived in the Williamsport area his entire life.

At the insistence of his mother he completed the eighth grade at the local school for black students, but did not leave home to attend a black high school miles away.  He loved books and became an avid reader at a very young age.  (I found and bought a book he had owned at an auction after he passed.)  He always had the latest farming magazines stacked by his rocking chair for his evening reading pleasure and education.

Wilson became a farmer learning from and working with his father.  He supported his family by working on one of the largest local farms which was originally owned by the Williams of Williamsport, then owned by the McDonalds, and finally by the Hartzlers.  He worked on that farm for more than 50 years!

On April 8, 1931, Wilson married Edna Bess Kent, the church musician (pianist and choir alto),  They raised three sons:  Howard Wilson, Lewis Edward, and Elmer William.

While he was working for others he was able to amass a large farm of his own over the years. Given the mountainous terrain in West Virginia, he chose to raise sheep with a focus on the Dorset breed.  He supplied the rams for a local college mascot.  He was recognized in a prominent farm journal.  (He even adopted our pet lamb after it got too big for our yard.)

Wilson became the patriarch of the Stewart family upon the death of his father in 1953.  All of his brothers looked up to him.  (As a small girl I was very fond of him.  But he did embarrass me once when I as stung be a bee on my thigh and he put chewed tobacco on the spot to alleviate the pain and swelling.) 

Wilson was a life-long member of St. Paul United Methodist Church and taught the adult Sunday School class for about ten years after his Uncle Stanley Bruce died.  He was on the Board of Trustees and was the church treasurer.  And he always made sure there was a bag of candy and an orange for each child after the annual Christmas program.

Later in life Wilson suffered multiple mini-strokes eventually limiting his abilities.  He lost his wife Edna in a fire on Christmas Day 1989.  He spent the last three years of his life in the local nursing home.  Wilson passed December 14, 1992 at the age of 83.

Stewart's Place

Kendall Stewart started his farm after WWII.  He helped his brother Brownley, a newly minted carpenter, build a two-story home on the farm.  They shared the home until Brownley built his home across the road.  Kendall continued to add acreage to the farm over time, amassing about a thousand acres.  He raised cattle, milking some for his personal use; he also had a horse, some sheep and goats, and occasionally pigs .  He harvested corn and hay to feed his livestock. (That's how my sister and I learned to drive a John Deere tractor !!! At the end of a full day of making hay my sister and I got paid a quarter for our labor which was immediately spent on a small coke and a candy bar.)

Kendall then built and opened a store right next to Patterson Creek Road to provide necessary provisions for a five-mile radius (so those in the community didn't have to go to the Stottlemeyer or Porter stores in Medley, to the Weaver or Wilson stores in Burlington, or even further to Keyser, Petersburg, Romney,or Moorefield.).  He called the store Stewart's Place.  At least once a month he went to Keyser and Cumberland to get supplies.  The Stroehmann bakery, Coca Cola and Pepsi trucks made regular deliveries.  The store also served as a social spot for local farmers to discuss farming experiences, politics, etc. each evening.  And on Friday and Saturday nights in the late 1950s it was a hang-out for blacks from Keyser, Romney, Moorefield, and Petersburg.  He had a jukebox, pinball machine, and table shuttle board for entertainment.  He served soft drinks, beer and some food.  (I assume a BYOB policy covered everything else since the place was packed and lively!!!)  But by the mid-1960s it was just a store.


Kendall was constantly on the move.  He gave meaning to the phrase:  Make hay while the sun shines.  You would hear the pickup or the tractor at six o'clock every morning.  He would work until at least six o'clock each evening, many times later.  He never weighed more than 150 pounds.  He couldn't sit still for longer than fifteen minutes.  He even ate standing up at the counter in the store.

Because the store was almost on the county line the school bus parked there and it was the first and last stop for the local children.  My sister, brother and I would go to the store early each morning to take Uncle Kendall our dad's newspaper from the previous day; in return he would give us a nickle.  Then we would board the bus at seven o'clock and we were returned to the store at four-thirty at the end of our school day.

My last big event at Stewart's Place was Uncle Kendall's 1978 birthday party.  It was the first time I could get a picture of all six Stewart brothers together; I believe it was also the last picture of them together.  (Kendall was very camera-shy.)

The store remained open until Kendall's death December 31, 1979.  Even though he was gone, the plan for the first and only Stewart Family Reunion at the store in 1980 continued in his honor.  It was a bitter-sweet success; cousins, some of whom had never met before, came together in the only known community where Fortune and Rebecca Payne Stewart lived and raised their sixteen children and Homer and Mary Elizabeth Smith Stewart lived and raised their seven children.

After the settling of Kendall's estate, the store became the home of his oldest brother Wilson Stewart and his wife Edna until the 1989 Christmas tragedy, a fire which took the life of Edna.  The structure was totally destroyed and eventually the ruins were removed.

Brownley's Love of Cars and Speed

Brownley Stewart moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia around the age of sixteen.  Living with his uncles he worked at the oldest hotel in the city.  He had several jobs from busing tables to providing room service. He was very conscientious; he did every job to the best of his abilities, he sent money home to his parents.  But he worked long hours and extra shifts, saving as much as he could.

As soon as he had saved up enough money he bought his first car for approximately $150. He found that he loved to drive, especially at excessive speeds.  He would race trains between the cities along Route 50.  In some cases the road crossed the tracks; so the goal was to beat the train to those crossings in order to win the race.

Brownley always took very good care of his automobiles.  He could perform most automotive repairs.  And he loved to regularly hand wash them. 

When he was called home in 1937 as his sister's illness became grave, it was her wish to go for a ride in his car.  He carried her to the car on pillows to make the ride as comfortable as possible.  Its not clear what he did with his car when he went off to war.  But he did have a car after his return.

After Brownley married and completed his post-WWII training to be a carpenter, he switched to a pickup truck so he could carry his tools for work.  As his family grew he used his carpenter skills to make the pickup child-friendly:  he installed a special child seat so his daughters could see through the windshield without sitting on his wife's lap; he also build bunk beds for long trips.

But as the family grew he switched to a Dodge station wagon.  And as he became more successful he added a pickup truck for work while retaining a station wagon for family travel; especially for those eight-hour trips to visit his relatives in Parkersburg, West Virginia and Belpre, Ohio on the way to his wife's relatives in southern Ohio.  It was also in the station wagon that he loved to take the children on secret high-speed joy rides.  It was hard to find a five to ten mile straight stretch of road in West Virginia where he could go over sixty miles per hour, but he knew where he could achieve much higher speeds.  (And we wonder where I got my love of driving fast ... )

The last station wagon was a Dodge built on a pickup truck frame making is very sturdy.  It was nicknamed the "war wagon".  It was the vehicle in which all of his children learned to drive.  It was the way we were transported to and from college with our trunks for the school year.  We til this day have not been able to part with the war wagon....just too many memories. 

Fulfilling a Career Dream

The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided benefits for returning World War II veterans.  The benefits included low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business, cash payments of tuition and living expenses to attend college, high school or vocational education, as well as one year of unemployment compensation.  It was available to every veteran who had been on active duty during the war years for at least ninety days and had not been dishonorably discharged; combat was not required.  By the end of the program in 1956, roughly 2.2 million veterans had used the G.I. Bill education benefits in order to attend colleges or universities, and an additional 6.6 million used these benefits for some kind of training program.   Brownley Stewart and two of his brothers were able to take advantage of the G.I. Bill.

Brownley Stewart probably always wanted to be a carpenter.  There are stories of him collecting any and every scrap of wood he could find and turning it into something useful for his mother.

After returning from the war Brownley initially worked at the Veterans Administration hospital in Chillicothe, Ohio.  But he wanted to return to his home in West Virginia and fulfill his passion for woodworking.  He took advantage of the G.I. Bill to train as a carpenter.  He was assigned to apprentice under Mr. Henry Parrish who provided him with the business as well as the technical skills needed in the field of carpentry.  (They remained friends until Mr. Parrish passed away.)

The first home Brownley built was for his brother Kendall on his brother's new farm.  Kendall intended to move his mother into the new house, but she wanted to remain in the home she built with her husband.  Brownley and his new wife lived with his brother until he could build his own new house just across the road. 

As an independent licensed contractor Brownley established several long-term relationships with local contractors  and suppliers, especially the Boggs and Buchannons.  He had many regular clients in Keyser and on Patterson Creek Road who always requested him for their home remodeling and repairs.  Several homes he built from the foundation up are still being lived in today.

Brownley did have a partner for a few years during his home building days.  But he enjoyed working independently and as his own boss.  He could do his own electrical and plumbing and have it code inspected.

Even when Brownley went on vacation to visit his mother-in-law he took his tool box to work on any home projects she might have lined up for him.

Brownley's biggest project was the Potomac Valley Hotel in Keyser.  He started building the motel for Mr. John Rokisky in the 1960s; they started with twenty units, a dining room, banquet hall and kitchen.  Then they added on another forty-four units and a golf course in the 1970s.  He then stayed on as the property manager for the motel and the golf course.  (Note:  Mr. Rokisky was a former professional football player.  Occasionally he would encourage Brownley to play hooky for the day and they would go to a Baltimore Orioles game.)
  

Occasionally Brownley would get the building bug and take time out from the motel to build a new home, like the one he build for two of his cousins in Moorefield.  He continued to do handyman jobs whenever requested.  He truly loved building and woodworking.

Brownley finally retired 1990 at the age of eighty.  His first retirement project was to build a huge workshop for himself.  Then he continued to build small useful items that he took to those he thought could use them.  And if you happen to drive some of the roads in Keyser or Burlington and you see little black cat silhouettes, you are looking at Brownley's handiwork.  He even did special projects like a doll cradle for a little girl's Christmas.  (My most prized pieces of furniture are the mahogany step-stool and dressing table he built for my new house.)  

Note:  Brownley Stewart's maternal grandfather was a carpenter.  And his son just built his first house!

Mary and Jane

Mary Elizabeth Smith Stewart ca.1945

Mary Elizabeth Smith Stewart was an excellent mother even though she never knew her own mother.  She gave birth to seven sons, losing one in childbirth, and one daughter who died at the age of sixteen.  She raised her sons to be responsible, respectable gentlemen with the help of her husband Homer.

The three oldest sons married local ladies from families very similar to their own.  They settled in the area and raised their own families.  Mary knew these daughters-in-law and supported them in raising their families.  She loved having her grandchildren around.

The three youngest sons went off to World War II and did not marry until they returned.  After recovering from a war injury, Brownley, the fifth son, worked at the veterans' hospital in Chillicothe, Ohio.  It was in Chillicothe that he met and married Emma Jane Dalton.  He brought her back to West Virginia where he established himself as a carpenter. Jane had never lived so far away from her family.  (Four hundred miles was a long distance to travel by car in the 1940s.)  But Mary took her new daughter-in-law under her wing. She taught her of life in rural West Virginia:  how they created comfortable homes for their families and how they gardened and farmed to provide for their families. 

Emma Jane Dalton and
Brownley Thornton Stewart
on their wedding day 10/27/1946

Most people thought Jane would not stay in West Virginia; even her own family took bets on how long it would be before she returned to Ohio to live.  Even though she came from a city in Ohio, she was familiar with farm life.  But it was Mary who helped Jane adjust to life in West Virginia.  She became an excellent cook (especially fried chicken, green beans, and potato salad) and baker (especially pies and mincemeat cookies); she learned how to preserve vegetables (canned green beans and tomatoes) and fruit (canned peaches, dried apples and berry jellies); she learned how to butcher and cure meat (make sausage, brine bacon and ham); she learned to make venison steak, fried squirrel and gravy, and fried fish and cornbread.  She loved making a new home for her husband and looked forward to starting a family in the house Brownley built for them.

It was Mary's guidance and support that made it possible for Jane to flourish in West Virginia and occasionally visit her family in Ohio.  Mary tried to make Jane comfortable in her new environment.  It could have been that since Jane was a just a few years younger than the daughter Mary lost nine years earlier that she filled a void for Mary. They became close and spent many days together; Jane would hitch a ride with the mailman to spend the day with Mary and wait for Brownley to pick her up at the end of the day.  Mary was a great comfort to Jane as she struggled to have children; Mary never got to see Jane and Brownley's children.
  
Jane did not have sisters; so she became fast friends with her sisters-in-law.  The other ladies of the church and extended community became her friends as well.  Jane lived in West Virginia from 1947 until she passed in 1986.  She always spoke lovingly of the mother-in-law she called Mom Mary even though she had only known her for a short three-and-a-half years.  

The Angel Food Cake Story

One day Mary was teaching Jane how to make an angel food cake.  This was a huge investment in patience and eggs (it toke a dozen).  After mixing the cake, transferring it to a baking pan, and putting in the oven, Jane was supposed to just let it bake and not peek in the oven.  But her curiosity got the best of her...she decided to look.  Just as she opened the oven door her father-in-law came in and dropped a load of wood in the woodbox.  The cake fell !!! Jane screamed and her father-in-law took the blame for causing the cake to fall.

Note:  Emma Jane Dalton and Brownley Thornton Stewart were my parents.  They taught me the "love of family and community".  And even though I did not get to know of my Grandma Mary, they taught me about her through their loving stories about her.  And the best compliment I ever received came from the son of a family my Grandma Mary worked for: "you remind me so much of your grandmother."

Marshall Store in Williamsport

On January 25, 2014 I was contacted by an old friend, Ron Wilson, who had just discovered my blog.  We had grown up in Williamsport, West Virginia.  Our families had been close; Ron's father and my father had been childhood friends and remained friends until Mr. Wilson's death.   

Ron enjoyed seeing the pictures and reading memories of my family in my blog.  He had a lingering memory of going with his grandfather D.C. Lyon to visit with my grandfather Homer Stewart.  His grandfather had a cane and my grandfather had walking stick, and they were poking at each other with them as they jokingly discussed past and current events.  Ron clearly remembered hearing my grandfather’s loud, unique laugh.  He was probably around five or six at the time.

Over the next six months we exchanged emails with details of our genealogical research. While from the same rural community, we had different perspectives of the people, places, and times that we had in common.  He shared with me some old pictures he had collected from before my time.  He had researched several of the old major farming families.  He pointed me to some research sites that he had contributed to and where I found other information to fill in my family's history.  

There was an old (red) schoolhouse at Williamsport on the Old Fields road. Ron had come across references to its being a schoolhouse as well as being used for church services, but he did not know when it was built or when it was used.  The schoolhouse/church north on Patterson Creek road was built in 1883 and was used as a school until 1935. So he assumed the old (red) schoolhouse was used prior to 1883.  We also discussed the church and school used by the black community (which will be covered in subsequent blog entries).

Lyon Mill in Williamsport

. 

We discussed the grain mill that was run by his grandfather and the two stores that serviced the community.

Marshall's Store in Williamsport

The Marshall Store was owned and ran by a staunch democrat who was known to strongly voice his opinions which sometimes determined which of the two stores folks would “hang out” at.  The store closed in the mid 1950s.  Ron sent me a picture of the interior of the store.  When I studied the picture of the patrons, to my surprise, I recognized my grandfather!  

Patrons at Marshall's Store in the 1920s

But there he was ...  
... a young Homer Stewart !!!

Ron had thought my grandfather was in the picture, but did not presume it was him until I got back to him with my discovery.  We continued to share stories and photographs for a several months.

Ron was planning to return to the Williamsport area in November.  He wanted to do some more research.  But I didn't hear from him between August and November.

When I visited Williamsport during the Christmas holidays, my sister told me of Ron's passing in September.  I was deeply saddened by the loss of an old friend, but moved that he had reached out to me earlier in the year to share such precious memories.  I had no idea how timely or valuable our renewed connection had been.





Note:  Mr. Robert Wilson was a life-long friend of my father.  The Wilsons and my parents remained friends, visiting regularly over the years.  It was the Wilsons who drove me to Poughkeepsie, NY on July 6, 1974.  They were going to spend their anniversary in the Poconos and offered to help me move my few belongings to my new apartment.  I started my first real job at IBM on July 8, 1974.

The Stewart Brothers

Homer Wilson Stewart and Mary Elizabeth Smith had seven sons, one was lost at birth. They raised the other six sons during the early 1900s.  The sons cared for their parents and their sister as they grew up.  It is notable that they had different talents, skills, and jobs which they bartered among themselves to make their families' lives more affordable and comfortable. 

Wilson Alfred Stewart (10/07/1909 - 12/14/1992)
Wilson was the studious one; he read everything.  He was a farmer laborer working on the McDonald farm.  But he also acquired his own farm land and bred prize-winning Dorset sheep.  He married Edna Bess Kent (08/07/1912 - 12/25/1989) on April 8, 1931.  They had three sons:  Howard Wilson Stewart Sr. (10/05/1931 - 04/27/2010), Lewis Edward Stewart (07/16/1934 - 05/20/2008), and Elmer William Stewart Sr. (09/29/1938 - 11/06/2010).





Charles Edward Stewart (12/03/1910 - 12/03/1910)
Charles died at birth.


Pearl Daniel Stewart (12/11/1911 - 11/10/1999)
Pearl was the gentle one.  He worked as a farm laborer and then as a coal miner.  He married Katherine Bruce (12/15/1917 - 10/22/1973) in 1936. They had two sons and three daughters.

Homer Ernest Stewart (09/04/1913 - 12/1984)

Ernest was an entrepreneur, starting and running several stores and gas stations.  He also had a truck to allow him to take foods and goods from his store out into the community. Ernest married Mary Eleanor Kent (02/07/1914 - 02/16/2004).  They had three sons and three daughters.  Their oldest daughter was Mary Rosalie (06/03/1941 - 04/01/2014).

Kendall Smith Stewart (08/18/1915 - 12/31/1979) (US Army WWII)

Kendall worked as a farm laborer in his youth, but he went to Parkersburg to work in a hotel. He later moved to Cleveland to work in the steel industry before going to war.  In 1947 he had a home in Cleveland.  Upon his return to Williamsport he pursued a career as a farmer, amassing a farm of approximately 1000 acres. Kendall married and divorced Ella (03/26/1914 - 12/02/1979).

           

Brownley Thornton Stewart (04/07/1917 - 01/06/2011) (US Army WWII)

Brownley loved woodworking from his boyhood.  But he went to Parkersburg to work in a hotel to help support his family before going to war.  He pursued carpentry upon his return and it became his career.  He married Emma Jane Dalton (01/03/1926 - 09/28/1986) on October 26, 1946.  Their first son, Don Homer Stewart (09/13/1950 - 09/13/1950) died in childbirth.  They subsequently had two daughters and one son.

Stanley William Stewart (05/13/1919 - 12/23/2003) (TEC 5 US Army WWII)

Stanley also went to Parkersburg to work in a hotel to help support his family before going to war.  Upon his return he started a logging business.  He never gave up his love of horses and motorcycles. Stanley married Mary Thornton Elizabeth Bruce (03/24/1909 - 01/03/2003).  They had one son, Stanley Homer Stewart (12/22/1950 - 05/20/1992).

Homer Meets Mary

Homer Wilson Stewart 03/02/1871 - 12/18/1953 (82)

Father:  Fortune Stewart ~1808 - 08/01/1888 (80)

Mother:  Rebecca Payne 11/1838 - 07/04/1910 (85?)

Homer started as a farm laborer in rural Grant County West Vriginia.  He later became a tenant farmer, providing a home and loaned farm for his family.  He was known for his work ethic and his hardy laugh.

Mary Elizabeth Smith 10/13/1877 - 06/11/1950 (73)

Father:  unknown (possibly Solomon Peterson)

Mother:  Celia Smith 04/23/1853 - 06/06/1903 (50)

Mary was a housekeeper and an excellent cook.  It was while she was working in the home of Daniel and Margaret Belle Babb that she met Homer Stewart.

Homer W Stewart and Mary E Smith were married on 04/12/1909 by Rev. J. T. Reed in Hardy County West Virginia.  Homer and Mary had eight children:

Wilson Alfred Stewart (10/07/1909 - 12/14/1992) farmer (sheep breeder); avid reader

Charles Edward Stewart (12/03/1910 - 12/03/1910 perished in delivery)

Pearl Daniel Stewart (12/11/1911 - 11/10/1999) coal miner; quilting was his hobby

Homer Ernest Stewart (09/04/1913 - 12/1984) grocer; avid hunter

Kendall Smith Stewart (08/18/1915 - 12/31/1979) (US Army WWII) local store, farmer

Brownley Thornton Stewart (04/07/1917 - 01/06/2011) (US Army WWII) carpenter/general contractor

Stanley William Stewart (05/13/1919 - 12/23/2003) (TEC 5 US Army WWII) logger, construction, farmer (horses); hunter, motorcyclist

Mary Elizabeth Payne "Sipper" Stewart (08/23/1921 - 12/30/1937...only 16 years old) 

The family experienced the tragic loss of the youngest child Sipper in 1937.  As you can imagine being the youngest and only girl she was very loved and spoiled by the rest of the family.  At the tender age of sixteen she died of lung cancer.  No one seems to know how that could happen, but it was detected late and progressed quickly.

Then the family was called upon to address yet another challenge.  Three of the sons served in World War II.  Kendall served in Australia, Brownley went to England, and Stanley was sent to the Philippines. There was no other family in the county who made such a sacrifice; even the other families noted the significant contribution.  All three returned home not too much for wear:  Kendall had suffered from malaria, Brownley had broken his leg, and Stanley was an escaped prisoner of war.