Dick is having many of the problems most of us are - records not taken care of and not inventoried and protected. Also, does anyone know why so many of our ancestors left KY about 1810? And why did so many of them end up in LCT? Nita In a message dated 2/4/2005 11:02:30 A.M. Central Standard Time, rmstewart@myexcel.com writes: For all, let's move this to the STEWART list? For Teresa, Lauren, and Gerald, and......., CALLING ALL STEWARTS!!! (for NW-ALABAMA: Joan, just saw your call for queries. here's one if there ever was one! Also includes the old Monroe County 1816; Bibb County 1818 Benjamin Stewart, and Avery family; and Perry County - Solomon Stewart , and Larkin Stewart in Dale County). (for ALFAYETTE: Monya, any thoughts on the Harkins/Johanna Stewart connection from TN to AL? Has anyone ever attempted to confirm / deny the existance of a Charle Stewart / Elizabeth CLEMENTS burial plot north of Fayette? ) (Mark, your comments invited, probably best to move it to the STEWART list. Are there ANY leads left?) (Maggie, if you and Billie are still active, or anyone in the Tuscaloosa Morning Group for that matter, what's your thoughts on this line, especially the Reuben CLEMENTS / Elizabeth STEWART/STUART connection to the Charles Stewart line) (For Lincoln County TN (LCT: This clan of Stewarts were generally operating as land / plantation owners in what I call the "Flint River Basin" south of Fayetteville and on or just north of the TN / AL state line, during the 1810-1820 period. Includes Solomon, Reuben, Charles, Benjamin, William Stewart; as well as Walter Harkins (married Johanna Stewart, the one known sister in the clan). There is tenuous evidence (depends on how one reads the court / minute dockets) that there may be TWO Charles Stewarts, or TWO Reuben Stewarts active, or only ONE of each.) As Gerald Daniel noted in the previous email (not to all), it's a very cold trail. Supposedly Charles (m. Hannah Kirk) is buried in a rooted up cemetary out in NC behind an airfield somewhere, with no stone, etc. DNA would be very helpful here potentially, wouldn't it? But, ..... To further complicate it, my connection to Charles/Hannah, via Solomon, is his supposed dad, Charles (mar Elizabeth Clements). Both are supposedly buried in a certain cemetary between Winfield and Fayette Alabama. Of course, there's no stones, folks have been out there, found nothing, etc. DNA would be potentially helpful here, too, huh? But, ..... Our "documented" connection, for me, and the Charles/Elizabeth daughter Johanna Stewart (mar Harkins), and other brothers (Larkin, Charles III, Reuben, William, Benjamin, and any others we don't know about) is via a mormon lady Francis Mae Baker, who lived in SLC, and was apparently paid by the George Stewart Society (her line was via Charles/Elizabeths brother George Stewart, who while in Tuscaloosa decided to go othe mormon route) to come out and nail all of this down. This was in the 1950s!!!!! In the meantime, I've got family tradition that located my Solomon in the Gray (plantation)/Stewart (plantation) Cemetary ni Leake County. I've been there. All is gone, save about a dozen sunken slots. DNA would be really neat here, huh? But....... There are at least two full boxes of documentation (read: research notes) from Francis Mae Baker. I know, I have seen and touched them. Unfortunately I didn't have time to 'research' them, but then again, I didn't need to. Her notes and connections were based on face-to-face conversations with folks (including Harkins family in Fayette, AL) and included personal interviews with folks in North Carolina, (possibly TN, I don't recall, and possibly VA). She was hosted in NC by some folks in the Stewart lineage. We currently, in our line so to speak, have a person in NC, via the mom I believe (and therefore can't test) and is as close as it gets to nailing it down. Folks, he IS an archivist in the NC state archives, and he has come up empty as well. He and I have talked over the last few months and I indicated a desire to go to VA and get down and dirty and see what's there, as the trail is not only cold, but dying a slow death. He indicated that one could do almost the same thing from one's chair, via the microfilm. That's another story another day. As you know, the microfilm must be read someplace, and for me that's usually the local Mormon Family History Center (10 miles across town). ( I just came back from there last night - researching my wife's family in France. For me, though, it's just not the same. I think one has to blow the dust off of stuff and root through the bones. As a simple example, my wife and I did a round-robin back in 1993 through Tuscaloosa, Perry, Marengo, Fayette Counties of Alabama, Kemper and Leake Counties of Mississippi, and Lincoln County of Tennessee. In the Tuscaloosa courthouse/county clerks place, - I was, after getting a little pushy, able to go to the top floor which has never been protected, sorted, filed, etc. , and found my Solomon 12 times in four different court books dateing around 1823-1828. - My wife, quite by accident, found a land certificate on Solomon in a cabinet downstairs (while I was unstairs), and it also had Benjamin Stewart on it as well. Solomon had bought more land, just north of Tuscaloosa (Northport area), and had sold/transferred it to Benjamin. Nice...., very nice, better than DNA, but...... still no Charles / Elizabeth...... - While in Leake Co, MS, against my better judgement, we stopped in to the Carthage Library (don't blink your eyes when driving by - you'll miss it); and while there, one little teeny tiny book had some Leake Co marriages, and lo, there was my missing item: the marriage of one of Solomon's daughters Jerusha with the next door plantation guy, William Gray. Better than DNA, that made me really feel better about the notion of the existance of a Gray/Stewart Cemetary. - A brief meeting with the Carthage historical societe lady showed that my aunt indeed had received EXACT locational info (I mean degrees and coordinates, etc.) from a lady in Carthage that had long since passed away.). Been there (to the gravesite)... done that..... Wanted urgently to borrow a shovel and start looking for potential DNA samples. (Is that morbin or what?) Since the site is a one-acre residential plot, complete with house, that puts all options back on the shelf. Still no Charles,Elizabeth........ The trail is mighty cold. While I'm more than ever, thanks to the DNA test, convinced that this is evolving to be a relatively true story (The Solomon, Larkin, Reuben, Charles III, William, Johanna, Benjamin portion), I am, more than ever, convinced that a hunting party is about the only way we will ever establish the Solomon - Charles connection and the Charles - Charles connection, is a down and dirty hunting party. Unfortunately, it runs a slimy trail, to include MS, AL, TN, probably GA, probably SC, and then "TN - western NC" (late 1790's or early 1800s) according to my aunt and oral/family tradition, and then NC Wake/Cumberland/Hartnett (and throw in Teresa's points about Surry County, and my notion of the Hogan/Hogins side being possibly in Orange Co. Where to start? The place to start in theory are the "critical nodes" in the lines, where any discovery makes the connection work. Unfortunately, it's more often a "hit and miss" affair, hoping and praying to find anything that might prop up the sagging line. Where to start? For me it's the Charles - Charles connection, and then my Solomon - Charles connection. It's difficult to believe that my nearest Charles (mar Elizabeth) could have 7 to 10 children and not one of them being documented somewhere as being born or married. But, even with Solomon's children, I only have two of them "documented", and neither is a marriage certificate. The Charles - Hannah Kirk connection is so vital, but so very cold as a trail. I know that lots of the research and family tradition show a pointer to either Virginia or directly back to Scotland from NC. While that's all well and good, I am here to tell you that I could just as well believe that they went back even one more generation, possibly back into the "migration" locations, such as Pennsylvania. Where to go from here? Well, unfortunately, I'm leaving Colorado for three months and will be in Washington DC and Alabama, in a work mode, and that's usually not conducive to good research. However, I'm taking the RV, and I will be trying to slip over to Richmond in between job locations and will attempt to get "down and dirty". When I lived near WDC in the 90s I knew most of the routes (NGS, DAR, NARA, NARA-Land, FHCs,etc.,). I think we need a strong lead to follow, and frankly that's what's missing. There is actually a Smith descendant that says our Stewarts were in Livingston and Christian Counties, Kentucky prior to going to TN in/about 1810. But at the same time, roughly, two to four of the Stewart's were in GA playing with the GA Land Lottery 1805 1807 I think. This is all based on a Larkin Stewart / Smith relationship. IN the early 1990s I actually talked with a Smith descendant in Fayette, AL, who is a documented relative via his mom, of Larkin Stewart. (Name is Lynwood Smith..... they owned a merchandise store in Fayette.) Any thoughts on how to find a viable Charles Stewart in NC, TN, SC, GA, AL, possibly VA, KY, or PA? Any idea where the critical nodes are? Any suggestions on where to find a potential DNA sample without digging up someone's back yard? :-) Best Regards from 6600 ft, Dick Stewart PS: Jest FYI, CALLING ALL STEWARTS is a journal I produced in the early 90s, (AKA STEWART FAMILY GENEALOGICAL JOURNAL). Almost three years of research back then was an attempt to "cast a wide net" to see if any trails / leads could be developed. There were ZERO pointers to Solomon - Charles; Charles - Charles; Charles - Rev James, Charles - Hannah, etc.). We need a HOT lead!!!!!!