Sam Stewart 1734–1803 – Genealogical Records

Sources

Genealogy Event 1
Event Type: Birth
Event Date: 1729
Event Place: County Down, Ireland
Record Source:
[1] U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, Volume: 350
[2] U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current
[3] North America, Family Histories, Book Title: Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR Vol 078

Genealogy Event 2
Event Type: Birth
Event Date: 1734
Event Place: County Down, Ireland
Record Source: U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970

Genealogy Event 3
Event Type: Residence
Event Date: 1600-1907
Event Place: Dauphin, Pennsylvania, USA
Record Source:
[1] Commemorative biographical encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania : containing sketches of prominent and representative c
[2] History of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical memoirs

Genealogy Event 4
Event Type: Residence
Event Date: 1697-1890
Event Place: Adams, Pennsylvania, USA
Record Source: The Stewarts of Coitsville

Genealogy Event 5
Event Type: Custom Event
Event Date: 1777
Event Place: Pennsylvania
Record Source: U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s, Place: Pennsylvania; Year: 1777; Page Number: 13

Genealogy Event 6
Event Type: Residence
Event Date: Dec 1786
Event Place: West Hanover, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, USA
Record Source:
[1] Pennsylvania, Septennial Census
[2] Pennsylvania, Church Records - Adams, Berks, and Lancaster Counties

Genealogy Event 7
Event Type: Residence
Event Date: 1798
Event Place: West Hanover, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, United States
Record Source: Pennsylvania, U.S. Direct Tax Lists, National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C

Genealogy Event 8
Event Type: Occupation
Record Source:
[1] The History of the Stewart Family By Bucher Ayres of Philadelphia, Penn., in 1876.
[2] Samuel Stewart, Jr., son of Samuel, Sr., [No. 2, See pg. 2] was but in his infancy on leaving County Down, Ireland, where he was born in 1734 when his father emigrated to the Province of Pennsylvania and settled at Chestnut Level in 1735.

After coming of age he settled on land purchased for him in Hanover Twp. Lancaster Co., [now South Hanover Twp., Dauphin Co.,] about the year 1756. This Twp. was established in 1737, was the frontier and subject to Indian raids and depredations until the year 1763 when the indignant and long suffering citizens of Hanover and Paxton Twps. led by Captain Lazarus Stewart (who is not known to be connected with the family) put a stoppage to them by slaying the Conestoga Indians at Lancaster.

In early life Samuel Stewart made a profession of faith in the Presbyterian Church, and was for many years a member and supporter of the Old Hanover Church, one of the historical churches of Dauphin Co., founded in 1719, located eleven miles east of Harrisburg.

Samuel Stewart Jr., performed Revolutionary War service; we find his name on the roster of Col. Timothy Green's Battalion for defense of the frontier.

We also find his name among those who after the erection and organization of the County of Dauphin in 1785 served on the Grand Jury composed of prominent citizens. We recognize among others these names, the ancestors of well-known families of today:-



James Cowden Robert Mongomery**

John Gilchrist B. Brunson

John Carson Roan McClure

William Craine John Wilson

Richard Dixon Archibald McAlister

James Crouch John Pattimore

William Brown Jacob Awl

James Rogers Andrew Stewart

John Cooper Samuel Stewart

John Clark Alex Berryhill



Samuel Templeton Stewart, born 1734, died 1803, aged 69 years and was laid to rest by the side of his first wife, Nancy Templeton Stewart, in the old graveyard at Hanover Church, graves unknown and unmarked. He was said to have been a large man, over six feet in height, weighing 250 lbs. His face was large and fleshy, his complexion fair, and his nose was his least prominent feature, but his whole appearance gave the impress of intelligence, earnestness, and determination.

In 1769 he married Nancy Templeton, Who We Suppose Was His Cousin From The Similitude Of Names. She was the mother of three daughters and five sons:-

1st. Robert Templeton Stewart, born 1770, died 1858, settled in Bellefont, Pa., and had 9 children [Center Co., Pa.].

2nd. Sarah Stewart, born 1772, died 1835, moved to Clark Co., Ohio, in 1806, married Joseph Stewart [Hugh] And Had 5 Sons And 5 Daughters.

** Likely Montgomery, a name well-known.- V. E. S.

[Venna and Grace Finney's Stewart line. M. F.]

3rd. Samuel Elder Stewart, born 1775, died 1857, moved to Clark Co., Ohio, had three sons and five daughters.

4th. James B. Stewart, born 1777, settled in Clark Co., Ohio, in 1806, had 2 sons and four daughters. Married.

5th. Charles Stewart, born 1778, died 1846; in 1802 he settled near Monroe, Butler Co., Ohio. Married Mary Stewart [No. 13, Hugh].

6th. John Templeton Stewart, born 1781, died 1850. In 1806 settled in Clark Co., Ohio, had 8 sons and 1 daughter.

7th. Mary McClay Stewart, born 1784, died in 1816. Became the second wife of James Stewart [No. 12, Hugh].

8th. Nancy [Agnes] Stewart, born in 1786, died in 1827, married John R. Beaty of Butler Co., Ohio, had three sons and seven daughters.

[After the death of his wife, Nancy Templeton in 1789, Samuel Stewart married Agnes Calhoun, Daughter Of William And Hannah Calhoun Of Paxton Twp. Dauphin Co., Pa. She was born in 1765, married At The Age Of 26 And Died In Center Co., Pa., in 1823, whither she had moved with her young children in 1813, as their father, Samuel Stewart, had died Sept. 6, 1803 and was buried in Hanover Church yard. Before the widow and her young children moved to Center Co., _____ that she purchased a farm in West Hanover Twp., Dauphin Co., adjoining the farm of Robert Stewart (her step-son, possibly), ten miles east of Harrisburg on the Jonesboro road. She then moved in 1813 to _____ Spruce Creek, Center Co., where the records show Robert Stewart, son of Samuel by his first wife had gone, so possibly the widow with her young children went with them. Robert being the eldest son by his father's first wife would have an interest in the second wife's young children. No particulars are known more than that the two families moved to Center County which was quite a distance north of Dauphin Co.]

Nancy Calhoun, 2nd wife of Samuel Stewart, died in 1823. She left 3 sons and one daughter, namely:-

1st. William Calhoun Stewart, born 1790, died 1852, left 6 children.

2nd. David Stewart, born 1792, died in Colerain Forge, Huntington Co., Pa., in 1869; [From the birth of his brother, Robert, till the time of his own death covered a period of 99 years.] he became, no doubt, the wealthiest man of the entire family. Had 8 children.

3rd. Thomas Finney Stewart, 3rd son of Samuel T. Stewart and Nancy Calhoun, was born in Dauphin Co., Pa., in 1794. He became a Methodist [No disgrace in that. M. F.] and was the only _____ one of his family who forsook the faith of his fathers and the Presbyterian Kirk. He had 15 children. [M. F. "My imagination has played around this Thomas Finney Stewart. My great, great grand-father, Thomas Finney married Susanna Stewart And They Lived In Dauphin Co., Pa., where the Stewarts lived. Samuel Stewart and Thomas Finney were near of an age, but Thos. Died young in 1770 or 71, while Samuel Stewart lived to a good old age, till 1803. It would seem also that Susanna, wife of Thos. Finney, might have been related to Samuel, but we have never discovered just how. We know she was not a sister for records give it that the Stewart brothers - said to be 12, had only one sister, by name of Mary. My only idea is that my Susanna Stewart would be a daughter of the Robert, the one who made three starts to come to America and always was hindered by bad seas. He may have finally made it, -- see pg. 2."" Note- These lines are not in the Ayers manuscript. M. Finney].

* [Several intermarriages between children of Hugh Stewart Sr., and children of Samuel Stewart, Jr., nephew of Hugh, Sr.

2nd Samuel

3rd Robert

4th Hugh

These are the three brothers who seem to have been the only ones out of a large family of brothers and sisters who leaned towards getting over to America. So from the very fact that Robert is mentioned in connection with Samuel and Hugh it looks as though Robert came, or some of his children came and were welcomed into the families of their uncles. Mere guess-work, but I have definitely noticed with interest that Samuel Stewart, (born 1734) was so deeply interested in the widow and orphans of my Thomas (Finney) who died in 1770-71, leaving a widow (Susanna) and 10 children; and it is also my idea that Sarah Stewart the wife of Robert Stewart, a bro. Of Samuel and Elijah would be a sister of my Susanna Stewart Finney. I also have another idea about why Samuel Stewart named a son Thomas Finney Stewart, (the one who became a Methodist), my idea is this:- This child was born in 1794 - It might be, that Susanna had died about this time, (we do not know the date of either her birth or death), the elderly Samuel, with a boy to name in his old age, though of his old friend, Thomas and so gave him his name. Far-fetched? M.F.]

4th. Margaret Stewart, youngest child of Samuel T. Stewart and Agnes Calhoun, his wife [Margaret] was born in 1796 in Hanover Twp., Dauphin Co., Pa. Died in Pittsburg in 1835, aged 39 years. In 1820 she married John Lyon, Iron Master Of Pennsylvania Furnace Co. Huntington Co. She had 9 children, 4 sons and 5 daughters; the only of the latter now living is Jane Alice Lyon, born in 1829, the wife of the writer of these pages [Bucher Ayers, merchant of Philadelphia, born in Harrisburg, Dauphin Co., Pa., April 25th, 1827.].

The Barnett Family bore most intimate relations with the Stewarts, a brief reference to whom follows:-- Joseph Barnett of Hanover Twp. Was one of the Heroes of the Frontier and Revolutionary times and may be said to have been the founder of the Barnett family.

He was born in North Ireland in 1726; his parents came to America and settled in Hanover Twp. when he was 8 years old; Joseph Barnett married Martha Snodgrass, Sister Of The Last And Greatest Pastor Of The Old Hanover Church.

This Township was subjected to Indian raids from 1755 to 1763; for their mutual defense and protection, the Barnetts and their immediate neighbors had erected a block house on the Manade Creek in proximity to Col. Timothy Green's mill. We cannot give a better illustration of life on the frontier than by a brief recital of an incident in the history of this family which has been graphically described.

About the year 1760 the Indians made an attack upon the settlement, killing a man called Mackey, severely wounding Joseph Barnett, who was on horseback and escaped; they captured several persons, among whom were William, son of Joseph Barnett, and young Mackey, both of whom they took westward, William being only 7 years old. It is needless to record the efforts of the father to recover his lost and favorite son which were fruitless.

Nine years afterwards the boy was recovered by Col. Groghan [Croghan?] from the Indians in Ohio, and sent home against his inclination, for he was now 16 years of age and a perfect young savage. His father met him unexpectedly in Carlisle, his mother was dead. Young Mackey fell into the hands of the English, who carried him to England; he returned as a soldier in the British Army during the Revolutionary War, and taking the first opportunity to escape, returned to Hanover, a fine young man. As the story goes when his old mother saw him first she would not believe that the boy was her long lost son and refused over and over to accept him, till some one said to her, "didn't your son have some mark on his body by which you could identify him?" She said, "Yes, he had a birth mark on his foot." In less than no time the young man pulled off his boot and showed her a mark which she quickly recognized. Imagine the rejoicing!**

Genealogy Event 9
Event Type: Residence
Event Place: Dauphin, Pennsylvania, USA
Record Source: Notes and queries : historical, biographical and genealogical, chiefly relating to interior Pennsylvania, [1st-2d ser., v. 1-2

Genealogy Event 10
Event Type: Residence
Event Place: West Hanover, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, USA
Record Source: Pennsylvania, County Slave Records 1780-1834

Genealogy Event 11
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 16 Sept 1803
Event Place: Hanover, Dauphin, Pennsylvania
Record Source:
[1] U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, Volume: 350
[2] Pennsylvania, Wills and Probate Records, Wills, 1785-1875; Author: Dauphin County (Pennsylvania). Registrar of Wills; Probate Place: Dauphin, Pennsylvania
[3] U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current
[4] North America, Family Histories, Book Title: Pennsylvania Genealogies : Index of Surnames
[5] North America, Family Histories, Book Title: Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR Vol 078

Genealogy Event 12
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 16 Sept 1803
Event Place: Chestnut, Leven, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Record Source: U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970

Genealogy Event 13
Event Type: Burial
Event Place: Old Hanover Presbyterian Churchyard, Grantville, Dauphin, Pennsylvania
Record Source: U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current

Genealogy Event 14
Event Type: Probate
Event Date: 3 Jun 1800
Event Place: Dauphin, Pennsylvania, USA
Record Source: Pennsylvania, Wills and Probate Records, Wills, 1785-1875; Author: Dauphin County (Pennsylvania). Registrar of Wills; Probate Place: Dauphin, Pennsylvania