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Military Monday: Charles Stewart, Revolutionary War Veteran

Charles Stewart Pension Ledger, Record of Pay, Part 1 (See below)

Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

Sorting out men named Charles Steward/Stewart who may be related to our ancestor Rose (Steward/Stewart) Roberts is challenging since we are back to the early 1800s and even late 1700s, and records are scarce and not very informative at times. Add in the fact that these folks migrated multiple times, living in at least 3 states, and we have some detailed work to do.

Because of the time period, we decided to see if Charles may have been a Revolutionary War soldier, as there might be some records from that service. Following are some summaries of a few of those records, and how they could relate to the Charles Stewart of interest to Roberts descendants.

Charles Stewart, Jefferson County, Indiana

Pension Roll of 1835, Vol. IV, 3 Indiana, Jefferson County

Private, Pennsylvania Continental Line; Age 73 but unknown what date they completed the roll.

Placed on Pension Roll 19 Nov 1832, with pension commencing 4 Mar 1831 (all others on page have same notation and were put on roll in 1832 or 1833; probably received back pay) $80 annual allowance, $240 received

Of the 20 men listed in Jefferson County, 2, including Charles, served in the Pennsylvania Continental Line, and 2 served in other PA units. Eleven of the men served in Virginia units, and 5 from N. or S. Carolina.

A Charles Stewart is found in the 1820 Jefferson County, Indiana US Federal Census.

Research Note: Search for Charles Stewart in Pennsylvania about 1776

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Charles Stewart, DAR Application

Served as a Private, 1st Regiment Virginia Line, also a Marine under Capt. Gabriel Jones, Col. George Gibson

b. 1759 Virginia, d. 4 Feb 1845 in Ripley Co., Indiana

Pension Number *S16261, Ancestor #A135172

Resided Spotsylvania Co., Virginia, spouse Ann X, child Charles Stewart and his wife Mary A. Beckley

The above is from the DAR application available on the website for free.

Research Note: 1) Purchase one of these DAR applications, possibly getting oldest as later applications may have cited it; not always good research in early documents, however, so we must use the information as clues, rather than fact, and verify them. 2) Research Beckley family as there is a Beckley-Christie-Roberts family connection- see “Sorting Saturday: Which Charles Stewart?” http://heritageramblings.net/2017/12/09/sorting-saturday-which-charles-stewart/

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Charles Stewart, Pension Office Letter, 1936

In 1936, a Mrs. Iva Hisle of Madison, Indiana, wrote to the Pension Office requesting information about Charles Stewart who was pensioned in 1832 while living in Indiana. A.D. Hiller, who worked for the office, replied to her concerning pension S. 16261. He stated,

“The date and place of birth of this soldier are not given, nor are the names of his parents stated.”

Mr. Hiller continued with more information:

“Charles Steward (as the name is found in the claim), while residing in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, enlisted in 1775 and marched down to Hobbs Hole under Lieutenant Stubblefield, and there went into the marine service and served eighteen months. He enlisted December 20, 1776, for three years, served in Captain Gabriel Jones’ company, Colonel George Gibson’s Virginia Regiment, was furloughed, May 17, 1779 on account of sickness.”

The pension was approved on 13 August 1833. Charles was 73 years old and living in Ripley County, Indiana, per the Pension Office.

In 1810, a Charles Stewart was listed in the US Federal Census in Bedford, VA. There was 1 male 45+ yrs old, 1 female 45+, and 15 slaves. A Nathaniel Stewart, Thomas Stewart, and a Louis(? hard to read) Stewart are listed on the same pages.

In 1830, Charles Stewart of Bedford, VA is listed in the US Federal Census, 1 male 40-49, 1 male 70-79, 1 female 70-79, and 20 male and female slaves of various ages- including 2 females 55-99. This is likely the same Charles as the 1810 listing. (There is also a Charles Stewart listed in Switzerland, Indiana, and Montgomery, Indiana, in 1830.)

Research Notes: 1) The 1810 and 1830 censuses for Bedford VA are probably not our guy since we know he was in Kentucky after the war when he signed the Stewart-Roberts marriage bond. He could have just been visiting, however… 2)  Purchase the actual pension file. 3) Research Virginia for this Charles. 3) Review and compare 1830 censuses for each of these men named Charles, trying to find the date the census was completed.

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Charles Stewart Pension Record of Pay, Part 2

Charles Stewart, Indiana, Ledger of Pay for Pension

A Charles Stewart was listed on the Indian Ledger Rolls for Revolutionary War Pensions. He is noted as dying 6 Feb 1845, but unsure what remaining notation states. See both images in post, and there is a center section that indicates pay continuously between the above months.

Research Notes: 1) Identify remaining notation; 2) Determine what the numbers mean in the columns- is that the day of the month paid? Or actual pay amount? One document stated $80 annually which would be almost $7/month.

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Some of the family records state that the Roberts family was from Maryland, so Cousin Jon looked on Fold3 for a pension from a Charles Stewart from Maryland, on the off chance they may have known each other before the war and later migrated together. There is a Charles Stewart who enlisted in Georgetown, Maryland on 15 August 1776. His pension number is S.15656, and he was granted 100 acres of bounty land on Warrant No. 457, issued 12 April 1809. He later was allowed pension on 22 June 1818 when he was 65 years old and living in Scott County, Kentucky. His wife was Mary M. Stewart, age 50 in 1820. Charles died December 1834, actual date and place not included. He had no widow to receive his pension but he did have one child, Ann, who was married to Robert F. Nicholson in 1851. This information is from A. D. Hiller in response to Lucy P.S. Thompson of Brooklyn, NY. The letter was dated 17 Mar 1939.

Research Note: 1) Determine where the Kentucky land was from Bounty Land Grant. 20 This person is a reach as far as being “our” Charles since there does not seem to be an Indiana connection, although he could have stayed in KY when Edward and Rosy (Stewart) Roberts migrated north.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Pension Roll of 1835- Ancestry.com, also Google Books but unable to load all pages from search as it is not an e-book (https://books.google.com/books?id=oB9yUkKZLAgC&pg=PA180-IA2&lpg=PA180-IA2&dq=pension+roll+of+1835+jefferson+co+in&source=bl&ots=5rFhYVn5zb&sig=3fAzBzs6b_8Ow5RjdVY-uhPav9M&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwihmanorP3XAhVHOSYKHUuQChkQ6AEIUjAH#v=onepage&q=pension%20roll%20of%201835%20jefferson%20co%20in&f=false)
  2. DAR Application listing Charles Stewart– http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A135172
  3. Revolutionary War Pension, Indiana– https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/1116/T718_7-0384?pid=21564&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll
  4. Fold3, a pay site, for pension research and letters from the Pension Office.
  5. Special thanks to Cousin Jon Roberts who has done a lot  of this research!

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
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Sorting Saturday: Which Charles Stewart?

1820 US Federal Census taken 7 Aug 1820, Jefferson County, Indiana.

Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

Trying to find the parents of Rosy STEWART, who married Edward ROBERTS, has been challenging. Her marriage bond to Edward was signed by a “Charles STEWARD” (she was also listed as “Steward”) but we cannot just infer that he was her father- if her father was no longer living or not living in that area, etc., her brother, an uncle, etc. might represent her in a legal proceeding. (Being female she could not represent herself.) So researching Charles Stewart, to see if he was Rosy’s father or another relation, has been one of our avenues of research. It has been frustrating thus far. He has a common name, and there are so few available records for that time and place. And then there was their migration… so three states at least, and the time period of each migration has not yet been determined.

Right now it seems that there may have been two Charles Stewarts in Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana that could possibly be our man of interest. Differentiating them or proving they are the same man has been challenging.

The above census was taken in 1820 in Jefferson County, Indiana, a place where Rosy lived at one point. But which Charles Stewart is this? Looking at other persons on the census page, we noticed an Isaac CHRISTIE. Isaac’s daughter Sarah CHRISTIE married William ROBERTS, son of John S. ROBERTS and Jane SAYLOR/SALYERS. So this might be the Charles Stewart who is related to our family.

We still need more evidence though…

What do you think?

 

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Jefferson, Indiana; Page: 292; NARA Roll: M33_13; Image: 337; taken 7 Aug 1820.
  2. Rosy (STEWART) ROBERTS (1775-after 26 Dec 1826);  Edward ROBERTS (abt 1775- bef 3 May 1830); Isaac CHRISTIE (1798-1865); Sarah (CHRISTIE) ROBERTS (1829-1912); William ROBERTS (1827-1891); John S. ROBERTS (1805-1875) and Jane (SAYLOR/SALYERS) ROBERTS (1806-1880).

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
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Sorting Saturday: Edward Roberts of Maryland, Kentucky, and Indiana

Edward Roberts family, excerpt, unknown book, page 39. Handwritten notes by cousin Cindy B.

 

Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

Getting back to researching a family after many years is exciting, with all the new information available online. Unfortunately, it also shows one’s sloppy research- or shall we more kindly say, ‘uneducated’ research? Many of us started our family history studies when very young, or when genealogy was more casual, and family resources were taken verbatim and sources were not cited well. That is the case this ‘Sorting Saturday’- these two pages of information need a citation!

Edward Roberts family and notes, excerpt of page 40 of unknown book. Handwritten notes by cousin Cindy B.

The pages were kindly received from a cousin in Indiana many, many years ago. Reviewing our emails, there is no indication of the origins of these pages, but we did  also talk on the phone and may have discussed the book that contained these pages. Sadly, I don’t believe I have notes from the phone conversation, and I have been unable to contact her recently.

There is a clue on page 40: “The Descendants of Hester Violet Ligget” in the upper left corner- this may be the name of the book. A Google search did not come up with that title, but a search on Amazon came up with something similar: Ancestors of Hester Violet Liggett, 1904-1979, by Norma Holland, 1998. Unfortunately the book is currently unavailable on Amazon.com.

So WorldCat, where libraries provide their ‘card catalog’ to the online community, was the next stop, now that I had a proper title and author. The book, using “Ancestors” instead of “Descendants” was there, and shown to be in the collections of the Allen County Public Library, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City UT, and at the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort, KY. So there is a possibility of getting the book via interlibrary loan (ILL) or contacting one of these groups to see if these pages are in that specific book.

FaceBook is another good place for genealogical help- I did post a query there at the Family History Center’s US-Midwest group as well as their southern group since the family lived in Kentucky before Indiana. One group member’s suggestion was that I contact the Ripley County Historical Society, and that will be another option to learn more about these pages as well as more about the Roberts family.

It is nice to have Cousin Cindy’s penciled-in notes on the pages. She had done a lot of research on the Roberts family in Indiana, and even into Kentucky where Edward Roberts/Robbards married Rosy Stewart before their migration to Ripley County, Indiana. We have no sources for her notes, so need to review and verify each of them. They are great clues to start with, especially since she was the one who found their marriage records in Kentucky!

Two other interesting points to note on this ‘Sorting Saturday’:

  • Migration from Kentucky to Indiana may be a clue that a Revolutionary War pension was involved.  As Edward Roberts was born in 1775, he would have been too young to fight in that war, but his father may have served. Land in the then far western state of Kentucky was given to many Revolutionary soldiers. For some reason they then had to move on to Indiana- why this happened will take more research, but another family that married into this line may have experienced this migration as well (the Honts family). We may be able to learn the parents of Edward by using this clue.
  • WorldCat includes a short summary on their page for every book. The information about Hester Violet Liggett (1904-1979) notes that she died in Rising Sun, Indiana- and that was where cousin Cindy B. lived per her email signature! Wonder if Cindy knew her, and that was how she (possibly) came to have this book?

So when sorting on a Saturday or any other day, read your clues very carefully, and make sure to look for connections and patterns. Put your ancestors into the context of their times, and research more about those events as needed. Now that we have an idea of where this information came from, while waiting on replies to confirm we can start looking for more information about the Roberts family and their early years.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Ancestors of Hester Violet Liggett, 1904-1979, by Norma Holland, 1998–https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hester+violet+liggett
  2. Ancestors of Hester Violet Liggett, 1904-1979, by Norma Holland, 1998. WorldCat entry–http://www.worldcat.org/title/ancestors-of-hester-violet-liggett-1904-1979/oclc/40763894&referer=brief_results

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
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Amanuensis Monday: Marriage Bond for Edward Roberts and Rosy Stewart, 1800

Marriage Bond for Edward Roberts and Rosy Stewart, 1800.
Marriage Bond for Edward Roberts and Rosy Stewart, 25 February 1800, Clark County, Kentucky. (Click to enlarge.)

Roberts Family (Click for Family Tree)

In the early days of our country, communities policed themselves by making the whole group responsible for keeping everyone legal. Marriage, of course, was one of the most important legal events- paternity and inheritance were very much affected by a marriage, thus there were certain rules for a betrothed couple to follow.

Generally, ‘marriage banns’ were read and/or posted at the church or meeting house each week for three successive weeks. By announcing their intention to marry, the couple was open to community scrutiny. Anyone could come forward and declare some legal reason they should not be married. (“Speak now or forever hold your peace.”) These reasons included that the prospective bride, groom, or both, were either:

a) already married to someone else

b) too young to marry, and/or

c) too closely related, such as first cousins

If a couple planned to be married in a place where one or both were not well known, or if the marriage was to take place quickly, they would provide a marriage bond instead of banns. Since our ancestors Edward Roberts and Rosey Stewart lived out on the frontier of our country (Kentucky in 1800), there might not have been a church or minister nearby to read or publish banns. Marriage bonds were also a southern custom, and common in the mid-Atlantic states as well. (The Roberts family may have lived in the mid-Atlantic states prior to Kentucky, but that’s another post.)

The marriage bond would stipulate that if there was later found some legal reason that the couple should not have been married, the bondsman would pay the Governor of the state an agreed-upon sum of money as a penalty. The groom would sign, and the bride would be represented by a male usually of her family, since women had few legal rights. Her representative was the bondsman, and often her father, but could be another male such as a brother, guardian, uncle, family friend, etc., or even (!) her mother if no other male was available.

Contrary to popular belief today, a marriage bond was NOT a guarantee that a marriage would take place. If the couple did not follow through with the marriage, the bond did not have to be paid at all. It would only be paid after the marriage and only if the union was found to have been illegal, such as the bride being underage.

Outer paper of Stewart-Roberts File. Note spelling of names.
Outer paper of Stewart-Roberts File. Note spelling of names. (Click to enlarge.)

It is amazing to be able to see this marriage bond that was written 216 years ago! It was signed on 25 February 1800, and Edward and Rosey were married two days later in Clark County, Kentucky. A Charles Stewart signed the bond to represent Rosey, and many researchers (myself included) have thought that meant he was her father. He might be, but he could also have been the only relative she had in Kentucky at that time. So we do need more research to prove her father.

Following is my transcription of the document. Some of the words are hard to make out, so please let us know if you think there should be some changes to the transcription.

Know all men by these presents
that we Edward Robbards & Chas. Steward are held
and firmly bound unto James Garrard, Esq’r Governor
of this commonwealth & his successors in the sum
of Fifty pounds to which payment well & tru-
ly to be made to the Said Governor & his successors we
bind ourselves our heirs Exers [Executors] & AD’mos (Administrators) jointly Severa-
ly firmly by these presents Sealed and Dated this
25th Day of Feby   1800

The Condition of the above
is such that whereas there is a marriage
Shortly intended to be had & Solemized between
the above bound Edwd Robbards & Rosey
Steward if therefore there be no lawful
cause to obstruct the same then this obligation
to be void else to remain in full force

Sealed & Delivered                          Edward Robbards [seal]
in presents [large mark- X]            Charles Steward [seal]

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. An ‘amanuensis’ (ə-măn′yo͞o-ĕn′sĭs) is a person who takes dictation or who copies a literary work. It is Latin for “slave at handwriting.” It is also used for someone who transcribes.
  2. Marriage bond from Clark County, Kentucky, possibly county clerk’s office. Received from a cousin many, many years ago.
  3. Dodd, Jordan. Kentucky Marriages, 1802-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1997. Ancestry.com, accessed 04/08/2016.
  4. “United States Marriage Records, 3.2 Marriage Bonds”, FamilySearch Wiki,  https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Marriage_Records. Accessed 04/08/16
  5. “Bonds That Bind: What’s a Marriage Bond – and Why?” by Richard Pence.   http://www.pipeline.com/~richardpence/bonds2.htm. Accessed 04/08/16.
  6. “The Ties that Bond” by Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2012/01/25/the-ties-that-bond/. Accessed 04/08/16.

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 
Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.