Chapter 2 - The Stuarts
The surname Stuart is the 5,523rd most common surname in the world. It is a derivative of the name Stewart which ranks as the 811th most common name in the world.
The surname Stuart was brought to Scotland from France by Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, in the 16th century. It is the French form of the name Stewart, so modified by Mary because, it was said, that the French pronounced the "w" as a "v" which Mary did not find satisfactory. The resulting pronunciation of the revised spelling sounded more pleasing to Mary's ear.
Stewart is Scottish and believed to be derived from the Old English word "stigweard". It is a compound of the words "stig", meaning household, and "weard", meaning a gardian or ward, giving us the word steward.
Alan fitz Flaad settled in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. His middle son, Walter fitz Alan subsequently relocated to Scotland around 1136 during the civil war period known as "The Anarchy". On his arrival, Walter sided with David I, King of Scotland, in the claim of his daughter, Matilda, to the English throne on the death of Henry V. For his support, David named Walter the High Steward of Scotland, the title to be bequeathed to his heirs and assigns. He subsequently served under Kings Malcom IV and William I. It was Alan's great-grandson, Walter, that first bore the surname of Stewart and it is from him that the Royal Stuart dynasty descends.
Walter Stewart married Marjorie, the daughter of King Robert the Bruce. On Robert's death, the Scottish throne passed to Robert's only son, David II, at the age of 5 who then reigned for 41 years.
On his death, having no issue,the House of Bruce came to an end. The crown then passed to Walter Stewart's son, Robert II, through his marriage to Robert's daughter Marjorie Bruce. And thus was established the Royal House of Stuart that would rule Scotland for 297 years. It ended in 1603 when James VI Stuart was named James I of England. The Stuart line as rulers of England ended in 1714 with the death of Anne. She was succeeded by George I, first of the House of Hanover. To clear the confusion, the official name of the royal line is the House of Stuart regardless of the spelling of the name.
One of the most famous Stuarts, as well as the most romantic, was Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie". As the son of James Francis Stuart, "The Old Pretender", he was also known as "The Young Pretender". James Francis was the son James II of England and his second wife Mary of Modena. On the death of Queen Anne, James Francis claimed the throne and, after losing his claim to George I, went into exile gaining the epithet "The Old Pretender".
In 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie, after raising support of France, sailed from Europe and landed at Eriskay Isle in the Outer Hebrides with but seven companions.
It is claimed by the bard Alex Beaton that he also brought with him a cask of Drambuie; however, this has never been verified. From Eriskay he proceeded to Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel.
Here he raised his father's banner that attracted an army of loyal Jacobites (so named for Jacob the biblical name for James) large enough to invade England. However, his invasion of England failed to give him the popular support that he expected. Along with the French support that never materialized, he and his army were forced to retreat back to Scotland.
On the 16 of April, 1746, Charlie and his army engaged the English under the Duke of Cumberland at Drummossie Moor, just east of Inverness. The ensuing Battle of Culloden became not only the last land engagement on British soil, but also the last battle of Charles and the Jacobite army.
"Many the lad fought on that day Well the Claymore could wield. Err the night fell, silently lay Dead on Culloden Field."
Thus ended what many refer to as "The Bold 45". With great effort and the aid of Flora MacDonald, Charles slipped the English army and returned to Europe.
After the war, Flora MacDonald migrated to North Carolina in America, said to be the largest settlement of Highland Scots outside of Scotland.
Today the Flora McDonald Highland Games are held every October in the small town of Red Springs, North Carolina. However, in the Revolution her sympathies lay with her native land and, in 1779 she took passage to London and thence to Skye where she died in March of 1790 and was laid to rest in Kilmuir Cemetery on the north of Skye. The inscription on her tombstone reads as follows:
"Flora MacDonald Preserver of Prince Charles Edward Stuart Her name will be mentioned in history and if courage and fidelity be virtues mentioned with honour"
Though he vowed to return to Scotland, Bonnie Prince Charlie was never again able to raise the needed support and lived out his life in exile in Italy, dying in Rome of a stroke on 30 Jan 1788 at age 67.
"Burned are our homes, exile and death; Scatter the loyal men. Yet, e'er the sword cool in the sheath, Charlie will come again."
In the 17th century, the Covenanters, a religious and political movement, supported the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in opposition to changes Charles I imposed on the Kirk (the Church of Scotland). After a number of civil wars including the establishment of The Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell and the Restoration of 1660, the Covenanters lost control of the Kirk and became a persecuted minority. Many of the Covenanters were executed while those that survived only did so with the forfeiture of their possessions and were transported to Northern Ireland in what was known as the Plantation of Ulster.
The Plantation of Ulster was instigated by King James I as a way to colonize Northern Ireland with people from Great Britain. Most of the so called settlers came from southern Scotland, including Ayershire, and northern England. It was given the name of the Plantations because small, privately held plantations were funded by wealthy landowners. These lands had been confiscated from the Irish chiefs following the Nine Year's War against English rule and the subsequent Flight of the Earls. These colonizers' culture differed greatly from that of the native Irish.
This was seen by the English as a way of controlling and civilizing Ulster which was almost wholly Irish Catholics who resisted the control of the Protestant English. The "British tenants" were required to speak English, be Protestant and swear loyalty to the King. The Scots came to be known as Ulster Scots or, in America, Scots-Irish or Scotch-Irish.
The influx of these Protestant Scottish lowlanders and Anglican English northerners laid the seeds of what was to become in modern times the Northern Ireland problem.
In the late 1890s, a genealogist from Dublin, Ireland, Susan McKevaine, researched the line of John Stuart who lived from 1645 to 1720. It is believed that she was a friend of the Stuarts. She had access to the Ireland Census information held in Dublin Castle that was subsequently destroyed in a fire in 1921.
With this information being available to her, there is little reason to doubt the accuracy of her conclusions. Her genealogical chart includes two extensive footnotes the first on The Family of the Stuarts as transcribed:
"The family of the Stuarts is lineally descended from John Earl of Lennox by the Darnally side of the house to King James Fourth of Scotland. At the time of the Reformation his ancestors retired from Court and lived in peaceful retirement in the Shire of Ayr, as gentlemen farmers and took an active part in the Reformation. John Stuart was great grandson to the Earl of Lennox and was married to Elizabeth Douglas cousin to Sir Geo MacKenzie, who was afterwards judge advocate Sir Geo MacKenzie proving very unfriendly to John Stuart he attempted to join his cousin the Earl of Stair who was then commanding the British Army in Flanders but Divine Providence [ordained] otherwise, after a variety of wanderings he fled to Ireland & settled in the Co. Armagh near Loughgilly until the Revolution an invitation having been about that period sent to him by his cousin the Earl of Stair to return to Scotland and re-occupy the lands which he had formerly held on his the Earls Estates being about to comply he sickened & died, his wife having survived but a short time left their family to act at their pleasure who having taken a dislike to Scotland the place of their nativity settled themselves in the townland of Ballydogherty in the Co. Armagh where they enjoyed quietness."
It is unfortunate that she did not give more detail as to the various Earls and Knights of the time. The names and titles prove to be very ambiguous today.
The second footnote has the imposing title of "A Short Biographical Sketch of John Stuart formerly of Galloway in Scotland
but afterwards of Drummond and Ballydogherty in the Co of Armagh in Ireland". I present his biography in Susan McKevaine's own words:
"John Stuart was born in 1645 — he married Jane Douglas the daughter of John Douglas Esq of Galloway in Scotland. Having opposed the Political & Religious views of Charles the 2nd and James his successor he was imprisoned on account thereof & after suffering a great deal he lost much of his property — his cousin General Sir John Stuart, afterwards Earl of Galloway procured his liberty but John Stuart again opposed the views of Government so much that he was a second time imprisoned & was not set at liberty until William ascended the throne, & delivered all those confined for either Religious or Political opinions. After William succeeded in his wars in Ireland and peace and tranquility was restored, John Stuart emigrated to Ireland and settled on the Townland of Drummond in the Co of Armagh in 1695 he died in 1720 leaving four sons and two daughters, John, James, Robert, William, Jane & Mary. The lands of Drummond were exchanged for the townland and hills of Ballydogherty [County Armagh]. The descendants of William is given henceforth in this sheet."
Around 1720, County Armagh would likely have seen a mix of communities with different cultural and religious backgrounds. The Protestant settlers would have been establishing their farms and towns, contributing to the transformation of the landscape and economy. The Plantation period, which brought about changes in land ownership, agriculture, and the overall social structure of the area, was a very difficult time for the Irish natives.
Little is known of Jane Douglas other than that she was born in Mouswald, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, around 1665 and died in Balldogherty, Co Armagh, Ireland, after 1742. Her father was John Douglas Esq of Galloway (our 7th Great-Grandfather). It is possible that John Douglas was the 5th Baron of Mouswald. If so, he resigned the lands of Mouswald to the Earl of Queensberry on 24 February 1674.
William Stuart was born in Drummond, County Tyrone. He married Elizabeth Gray in 1725. They had at least six children including William (1724-1815), my 5th great grandfather, Charles (1728-), Margaret (1730-), Samuel (1754-1824), Mary (1757-), James (1767-1849) a surgeon.
William was born in Ballydogherty, County Armagh, where he lived out his life. He married Jane Marshall before 1750. They had at least five children including William (1750-1811), my 4th great grandfather, John (1751-), Samuel (1754-) and Mary.
William was born in Ballydogherty, County Armagh, where he lived out his life. He married Elizabeth Kirker shortly before 1773. They had one known child William (1770-1811), my 4th great grandfather.
Around 1770, William Stuart was born in Tyrone Ditches, County Armagh. In May of 1793, he married Jean (whose last name is unknown) in the Tyrone’s Ditches Presbyterian Church just 12 miles southeast of the Village of Armagh. They had three known children - William (1808-1847), John Young (1811-1871), Joseph Crawford (1819-1893).
The Irish population in the early 19th century was extremely poor and relied almost entirely on the New World potato for sustenance. When a blight hit the potato crop in 1845 many Irish were left with little to eat. The famine led to widespread hunger, malnutrition, and disease. While the Irish produced enough grain and corn to feed their starving people, the English aristocracy that owned the land and its produce, chose to import it to England or sell it on the continent leaving the Irish to starve.
The response of the British government to the famine has been criticized for its failure to adequately address the crisis. Despite some relief efforts, including public works programs and soup kitchens, they were insufficient to alleviate the suffering of the Irish population. Moreover, policies such as the Corn Laws, which restricted the importation of cheaper grain from abroad, worsened the situation by exacerbating food shortages and inflation.
Over the next seven years more than 1 million Irish would perish and another million would migrate to America and Europe as a result of what would become known as the Irish Potato Famine. Among those emigrating to the States were the Stuarts of Ballydogherty.
On June 6 of 1808, the baptism of William Stuart was recorded in Tyrone Ditches parish. He was the first of three known children born to William and Jean Stuart. While growing up in County Armagh, William became acquainted with William Magee.
Though William Magee was Catholic, I think that they probably became good friends based on the facts presented hereafter. Records indicate that William Magee married Isabella Clynton in the Roman Catholic Church in County Armagh in January of 1832, a fact that would prove important in unravelling the Stuart's journey.
William and Sarah were married in Tyrone Ditches, County Armagh, on 8 Apr 1826. From 1827 through 1844, William and Sarah Stuart had ten children born in County Armagh - Ann Sarah (1827-), William (1829-1924), Elizabeth (1830-), Joseph (1830-), John Thomas (1831-1905), my great grandfather, Samuel (1833-), Thomas (1834-), Sarah (1839-), Rachel (1841-) and Margaret (1844-). In the mid-1840s, the Irish Potato Famine hit the Stuart family extremely hard. With Sarah in failing health, they emigrated to the States, probably landing in New York around 1847. There is no record of Sarah in the States and family history has it that she died during the passage to America. There is also no record of William in the States and it is possible that he died shortly after arriving, probably from complications of the Famine.
Around 1790, Robert Paul, my 3rd great grandfather, was born in County Derry, Ireland, and married Mary Ann (last name unknown). They had a daughter, Sarah, born in May of 1815 in County Derry. Little is known of her life beyond her marriage to William; however, it was recorded that she died while in transit to America, most assuredly from complications of the Famine.
Little is known of William Magee's and Isabella Clynton's lives in Ireland other than that they were Catholic and were married in Tynan, County Armagh on 12 Jan 1932. However, they are important in the lives of the Stuarts. In the Indenture letter of John Thomas, dated 18 Jun 1849, William Magee, M.D. is listed as John Thomas' guardian. In the 1850 US Census, Isabella was living in Patterson, NJ, along with John Thomas and seven of his his siblings. It is possible that the Stuarts and the Magees made the migration to the States together. And, with the deaths of Sarah and William, the Magees became guardians of the Stuart siblings.
On 18 Jun 1830, John Thomas Stuart was born in County Armagh. Though little is known of his young life, he, along with his entire family and many fellow Irishmen, suffered terribly from the Potato Famine.
His parents and eight siblings were finally driven to leave Ireland for America.
The first known record of the Stuarts in America is an Indenture letter of great grandfather John Thomas Stuart. This letter provides important insight into the development of the Flew-Stuart line and reads in part:
WITNESSETH, THAT
Thomas Rogers founded the Rogers Locomotive Works in the 1830s in Paterson, NJ, and died in 1856. His son, Jacob A. Rogers, assumed the position of President of the company and is the signatory of the Indenture letter. With this apprenticeship, John began a tradition of Stuart railroad men that would eventually lead to my grandmother.
The 1850 US Census contains a record for William, John, Samuel, Thomas, Sarah, Rachel A and Margaret S living in Paterson, NJ. However, the head of household is not William Stuart but Isabella Magee. Neither William Stuart nor William Magee are listed in the census and, I assume, both are deceased. In this census, both John Thomas and Samuel are listed with the occupation machinist.
I believe that, on completion of his apprenticeship with Rogers Locomotive Works in the mid 1850s, John Thomas took a job with the Y&MV Railroad and moved to Jackson, MS.
After moving to Jackson, John met Clara Robinson and in May of 1857, John Thomas Stuart and Clara Robinson were married in Warren County, MS, and took up residence in Jackson, MS. Over the next 17 years they had seven children - Rachel born 1859, John Thomas Jr born 1861, Maggie born 1865, Samuel born 1868, Joseph born 1870, Clara born 1873 and Sarah Jane “Sallie” (my grandmother) was born in 1874. In the 1860 census, John and Clara, along with Rachel, were living in Jackson, MS, where John was employed as a “laborer” (a catch all description, though I believe he was working as a machinist). In the 1880 census, John Thomas, at age 49, was listed as “Works on Iron” and in the 1900 census as a “RR Engineer”.
Sometime after 1880, John Thomas' wife, Clara, passed away in her 40s. Only in his 50s, John Thomas would continue another 24 years without her. In those years, John Thomas Jr would follow his father in the railroad industry while Samuel and Joseph would become carpenters. Of his daughters, he remained quite fond of Clara Lee and Sarah Jane "Sallie". Sallie had married to Frank Flew and lived in Jackson, TN, while Clara was living with her sister Maggie in Jackson, MS. In 1900, John Thomas was living as a boarder in Bolton, MS, just west of Jackson.
In that year, smallpox swept south Mississippi hitting Jackson quite hard. Unfortunately,
Clara contracted it and though it didn't cause her death, a resulting heart condition and intestinal problem finally claimed her. In a letter to Sallie shortly after her death, he expressed his heart break over her loss. In the letter he made several references to others - the "Darker Family" is Maggie's family which he described in another letter as "the worst lot of spoiled children in the country", "Frank and his Mother" are Francis Flew and his mother Mary Ann and "the Baby" is Lee Frances Flew. Apparently Clara had been staying in Tennessee with Sallie prior to her death. In the letter he laments that, unfortunately, Clara didn't stay with Sallie. But "she sayed she came to see papa..." I'm sure this added greatly to the burden he was carrying.
John Thomas lived another five years without his beloved Clara. In Feb of 1905, he passed from this world. In his obituary, it was noted that "With the passing of Mr. Stuart, Jackson loses one of its oldest and best citizens. Mr. Stuart has been a resident of Jackson for the past fifty years, and in every relation of life he was true. He raised a large family of boys and girls who have done honor and credit to their parents. Mr. Stuart was known as a kindly, genial old gentleman, who was ever ready to lend his assistance to every cause."
In my early research of the Stuarts, the census records connected them to Ireland. But where in Ireland? The US census gives only the birth state or, in the case of immigrants, the country of the person’s origin. Fortunately, there was one glaringly obvious error in the census records that would prove to be the key to this mystery. The 1880 census reported John Thomas’ place of birth as "Amore Island Alaska". The word Alaska had been written in later, probably by another person, because a state was required; however, the Amore Island entry was totally outside of census guidelines though a very fortunate error. It is obvious that the census taker was uncertain of the information given and did his/her best to write down what they had heard. I can only assume that John still had a pretty heavy Irish brogue though he had been in the States for over 30 years. In subsequent censuses, his origin was repeatedly listed as Ireland and not Alaska.
After searching for Amore Island, Alaska, and failing to find it my suspicions were confirmed that this information was false.
Obviously, what the census taker had interpreted as Island was actually Ireland. This left only the problem of the location of “Amore”. My first hint was that many of the following generations of Stuarts had the middle name Mohr. There are several locations in Ireland with the name Mohr including the famous Cliffs of Mohr. But I quickly realized that the name Mohr actually was the maiden name of John Thomas’ wife, Irene Lillian Mohr. Not sure how I missed this at the time.
Having realized my mistake I now looked for other likely candidates. I had been familiar with the old Irish ballad, “The Bard of Armagh” for some years and my next effort was to pursue this. Ancestry.com totally failed me and I looked to RootsIreland.ie for help. Here I found records for a number of William Stuarts. Of note was the marriage of William Stuart and Sarah Paul in County Armagh in 1826 which coincided well with the birth of William Jr in 1829 or possibly 1828. (Census records give person's the age rather than the birth date. Calculating backward from the census year of the data, the birth year can be determined. However, if the person’s birthday is later in the year than the date of the census, he would have been born in the previous year from the calculation. Thus birth years are often recorded as “abt (about) 1829” indicating that the birth might have been in 1828.) Unfortunately, this information alone was not definitive.
However, further investigation revealed that a William Magee and Isabella Clynton were married in County Armagh in 1832. This coincided with the Dr. William Magee in the Indenture letter and Isabella Magee in the 1850 US census.
At this point I had the following circumstantial evidence:
- William Stuart and Sarah Paul were married in Armagh County, Ireland, in 1826, within 2-
3 years of the birth of William Jr. - The first born male was almost always named for the father, thus William Jr and William.
- William Magee and Isabella, married in 1832, were living in County Armagh at the same time as William and Sarah Stuart.
- The Indenture letter named John Thomas’ legal guardian as Dr. William Magee.
- The 1850 US census listed Isabella Magee as the head of household for all of the Stuart siblings.
- Isabella was listed in the 1850 census with Ireland as her birthplace.
Based on these facts, logic says that there is a high probability that I have made the correct assumptions. Unfortunately Irish ancestry records are very sparse and I was not able to make the connection back to Scotland. However, in our 2018 visit to Ireland and County Armagh, I photographed what appeared to be the oldest headstone in the cemetery that included five Stuarts from Ballydogherty. From the information on the headstone, I was able to locate another Ancestry tree with both John Stuart and Jemima Stuart in the tree. From there I was put in touch with Nick Wells, the husband of a Stuart cousin. Nick provided Susan McKevaine's data and, with his help I was able to find the Stuarts origins as presented above.
Martin Robinson, my 2nd great grandfather and Margaret Wilcoxon, born 1823 in Virginia, were married in Brooke, VA, in 1838. Shortly after they moved to Mississippi where Clara, my great grandmother, was born in 1840. In 1850, Clara was living in Vicksburg, MS, with John and Margaret Elder as the heads of the household. So it appears that Martin and Margaret were deceased. In 1857 at age 17 she married John Thomas Stuart.
Sallie was born on 10 Dec 1874 in Jackson, MS, to John Thomas and Clara (Robinson) Stuart. The 1840 US Census found her living along with her five siblings, at 14 Sharkey St. At age 5 her occupation was shown as "at school" and her father's birthplace was noted as Amore Isle.
As documented in the 1890 Census, John Thomas Jr, was listed with the occupation of "RR Engineer" living in Jackson, MS. Meanwhile, Frank Flew, another railroad engineer out of Jackson, TN, was quite possibly making the run between Jackson, TN, and Jackson, MS. And it is quite probable that the two men's paths crossed and they formed a friendship.
From this relationship, John introduced Frank to his youngest sister, Sallie, and thus my grandparents Frank Flew and Sarah Jane “Sallie” Stuart married in Hinds Co, MS, on November 18th of 1897. After the wedding, they moved in with Frank's mother, Mary Ann, now a widow, at 115 Johnson St in Jackson, TN.
In Feb 1899, while living in Jackson, Sallie gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Lee Frances. Then in Jun 1901, Clara Belle was born. Frank's railroad career took him to Galveston, TX, and there Willie Mae was born in Mar 1906. Frank's job returned them to Jackson, TN, where their only son, Frank Thomas, was born in Jul 1908. In 1911, they were living in Corinth, MS, where their final child, Annie Stuart was born in Mar 1911.
In the 1920 census, they had moved back to Jackson, TN, living at 312 Highland Ave. In May 1936, her husband, Frank, passed after a lingering illness at their home at then 462 East College St.
She continued to live on East College with her son, Frank, and daughter, Frances. In Feb 1938, the local newspaper reported that she was seriously ill. On 8 Feb 1938 she succumbed to what the death certificate termed "Dropsy...with Myocardial Failure". Her obituary read in part "Mrs. Flew was a member of the Lambuth Memorial Methodist Church and for many years prior to her ill health was active in the work of the church". She was laid to rest in the family plot in Hollywood Cemetery next to her beloved Frank on 10 Feb.
While life is full of serendipitous events, I have long believed that the universe is a web of connections that bind us to who and what we are. Because of the Famine, the Stuarts and Magees came to the States where William Magee arranged an apprenticeship for John Thomas that became a career in the railroad industry. This resulted in his move to Jackson, MS, where he became a Railroad Engineer and after him, his son John Stuart Jr.
Elsewhere, George Flew became a miner in Wales because his mother was Welsh, which led to his career as a Railroad Engineer. After moving to the States, his sons, Frank and William George, took up his father’s career and became Railroad Engineers. Frank made a regular run from Jackson, TN, to Jackson, MS where he met John Stuart Jr and, through him, his future wife Sallie.
I would like to thank Angela Ruth Stuart Goodman of Jackson, MS, (my second cousin once removed) for providing the crucial Indenture letter and other family history that has helped me put this story together. She has been indispensable in filling in information for our Stuart family.