I had hit a stone wall for over a decade when by happenstance I found out my great grandfathers sister through her performers name of Leona Dare. I found her real name and where she was born, something I had never known. I have drawn some assumptions and I am hoping that some of this information is familiar to someone. My great great grandfather was Andrew Stuart who may have been from Illinois. I never knew who his wife was but after looking into the IRAD or Illinois Regional archives, I found that an Andrew Stuart married Myra Leonard in 1854 in Livingston County in Illinois. His daughter Susan Adeline Stuart (Adaline Stuart) was born in Charleston IL in 1855, so I figured she could be her mother. My Andrew Stuart has also a son named Meredith Leonard Stuart. My thinking is that Meredith may have had his mother's family name as his middle name. He was born October 10 1858 per his funeral information and born in Iuka IL in Marion county. One other name that had been mentioned was a John Stuart that was thought to have lived in Oklahoma but this I still have to prove also. I don't even know if Meredith and Susan had other siblings or not... The family information I have been able to gather is that Andrew was a soldier in the Civil War and may have been in the 129 Illinois Infantry company G that formed in Pontiac September 8, 1862 which is highly likely or 63 Illinois Infantry, Company C mustered in April 10. He was thought to have been killed but I don't think he was. Anyway, I was also told that Susan and Meredith's mother was killed while Andrew was gone to war some time between 1862 and 1865. The children were supposedly left by a railroad siding. A family named McCullough/McCullock raised them. They gave Meredith the nickname of Charley, which Meredith used for the rest of his life. Susan Stuart while in her teens met Thomas Smith Hall in New Orleans who taught her gymnastics and to be an aerialist. She married him in 1871 and divorced him by 1875. She first worked for the J E Warner circus. She worked as Mlle Zoe then became the world renown Leona Dare. It was mentioned that she taught brother gymnastic. He worked with Thomas Hall and they were the brothers dare, and he may have been known as Stewart Dare, Charley Dare.... Susan was very famous in Europe in the 1870's-1880's. She is buried in the Spokane cemetery as Leona Dare and not by Susan Adeline Stuart... She is also mentioned as Adeline Stewart/Stuart. Her brother always used the Stuart spelling. It was mentioned that Buffalo Bill Cody had given Charley a dog, which was named Cody. I don't know if he worked for Buffalo Bill or not... On Meredith's aka Charley Stuart's marriage license, it showed that he lived in Lake Geneva Wisconsin. His wife was Ethinda Snow from Mount Vernon IL. She was born in Centralia IL in Marion County approximately 1863. They were married December 25 1880. Ethinda Snow's parents were William and Hannah Copple. William had a Brother James. Their parents were James and Christina Fine Snow. When James Snow Sr died, several years later Christina married Andrew C. Copple.