Two Hundred Years of Our American Families

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Daniel Stewart Araminta Stewart This photo is marked on the back as "Effa's mother," and is in the collection of Effa's great-granddaughter Johnann Attaway Davis

Daniel Stewart and Araminta D. Coleman Family History
Our genealogy, or family tree, begins with Daniel Stewart and his wife, Araminta D. Coleman, in 1810, Richmond County, North Carolina. According to censuses, Daniel Stewart's father was born in North Carolina, and his mother came from Scotland or England.

Daniel STEWART
 b. 20 SEP 1810,
 Richmond County NC
 m. 23 JUN 1836, Fayette County GA
 d. 22 NOV 1909, Dallas County TX

Araminta Domer COLEMAN
 b. 28 AUG 1818, Morgan County GA
 m. 23 JUN 1836, Fayette County GA
 d. 9 JUN 1878, TX

CHILDREN

1. Sarah Jane STEWART
    b. 4 AUG 1837, GA
    m. John S. MARTIN,
    23 MAY 1858,
    Shelby County AL
    m. Nathaniel CLIFTON,
    18 JUN 1869-13 FEB 1874,
    Hopkins County TX
    d. 6 OCT 1878, TX
   
   
2. Sir William Wallace STEWART
    b. 12 MAY 1839, AL
    d. 03 SEP 1864, Jonesboro,
    Clayton County GA
    unmarked grave, Jonesboro
    Confederate Cemetery
   
   
3. Maria(h) Catharine STEWART
    b. 29 DEC 1840, AL
    m. Hogan WADSWORTH,
    6 MAR 1862,
    Shelby County AL
    m. John Hicks FLORENCE,
    28 MAR 1894,
    Dallas County TX
    d. 14 FEB 1917, Grand Prairie,
    Dallas County TX
    Vernoy Cemetery, Dallas County TX
   
   
4. Effa Matilda STEWART
    b. 27 JAN 1843, AL
    m. James Henry POSEY, 21 OCT 1875, Hopkins CountyTX
    d. 7 DEC 1915, Grand Prairie, Dallas County TX
    Vernoy Cemetery, Dallas County TX
   
   
5. Anna Judson STEWART
    b. 07 JAN 1845, AL
    m. T.J. DUNLOP, 16 FEB 1888, TX
    d. 29 MAR 1925, Grand Prairie, Dallas County TX
    Vernoy Cemetery, Dallas County, TX
   
   
6. Louisiana Carolina STEWART, "Lucy"
    b. 1 FEB 1847, AL
    m. Robert William RABE, 27 JUN 1871, Hopkins County TX
    d. 10 JUN 1922, Hopkins County TX
    Shirley Cemetery, Hopkins County TX
   
   
7. Alexander Newton STEWART
    b. 25 APR 1849, AL
    d. 13 MAY 1935, Cedar Hill, Dallas County TX
    Vernoy Cemetery, unmarked grave, Dallas County TX
   
   
8. Daniel Morrison STEWART
    b. 1 FEB 1852, AL
    m. Mary Lee WELLS, 29 MAR 1877, Dallas County TX
    d. 1 JAN 1915, Grand Prairie, Dallas County TX
   Old Southland Cemetery, Section 6
   
   
9. Rebecca Paulleane STEWART
    b. 17 JAN 1854, AL
    d. 15 APR 1855, AL
   
   
10. Joseph Coleman STEWART
     b. 1 MAR 1856, AL
     m. Nancy Louise Elizabeth COMPTON, 14 Mar 1878,
     Erath County TX
     d. 24 OCT 1936, Ranger, Eastland County TX
     Evergreen Cemetery, Ranger, Eastland County TX
    
    
11. Araminta Emma STEWART
     b. 7 NOV 1858, Shelby County AL
     baptised 28 AUG 1859, Shelby County AL
     m. Wilson STOCKTON, 1 FEB 1883, Dallas County TX
     d. 15 MAY 1921, Erath County TX
     West End Cemetery, Stephenville, Erath County TX
    
    
12. Lovenia Domer STEWART, Dink
     b. 31 JAN 1861, Shelby County AL
     m. Daniel FLORENCE, 2 DEC 1880, Dallas County TX
     d. 16 OCT 1925, Rusk County TX
     Overton Cemetery, Rusk County TX

The Stewart Children
Sarah	William	Mary	Effa
Anne	Lucy	Alex	Daniel
Rebecca	Joseph	Emma	Lovenia

Talladega County, Alabama today

Documentation
Daniel Stewart Family Bible
The birth and death dates of Daniel Stewart and Araminta D. Coleman are from family records provided by Warren Stockton, a grandson of Araminta Emmma Stewart and Wilse Stockton.

Censuses
All transcribed
Family Timeline

1840 Pike County AL
[possible] The census lists Dan'l Stewart between 30-40, another male the age of his son William, under 5, a woman Araminta's age, 20-30, and another female Sarah's age, under 5. No slaves.
1850 Talladega AL
search for "Daniel Stuart"
1860 Shelby AL
Daniel Stewart, Hogan Wadsworth
1870 Hopkins TX - I.
1870 Hopkins TX - II.
Daniel Stewart, Nathaniel Clifton
1880 Rains TX
search for "Stewart, D."
1900 Dallas TX
Head - Alexander Stewart

Census Forms

Miscellaneous
1858 Shelby AL Marriages
search for "Stewarts" Sarah J. and John S. Martin
1859-1867 Shelby AL Marriages
"Stuart" Mary C. and Hogan Wordsworth

Alabama Land Patents
Stewart, Daniel
Section: 27
Township: 19S
Range: 1E
Meridian_CD: Huntsville
Total Acres: 118.405
Sign Date: 1858/06/01

Daniel Stewart and Uncle John Burks, circa 1900. John Burks was married to Martha McCleskey, probably the sister of Ollie Dola's first husband Daniel E. McCleskey.

Arrival in Texas
According to court and tax records Daniel STEWART was in Alabama through 1866. In 1866 he paid taxes of $16.02 in Harpersville, on "leather finished" worth $267.00. The family made the journey to East Texas some time between the Fall of 1866 when Daniel STEWART served on jury duty in Shelby County and March 4, 1869, when Daniel affiliated his Masonic membership with the Hopkins County branch. Sarah Jane Stewart married Nathaniel CLIFTON June 18, 1869. Nathaniel CLIFTON was already living in Hopkins County with his family in 1860. Sarah and Nathaniel's daughter Lula was born 13 April 1869, so Sarah would have conceived the previous summer, around July 1868. That narrows the window of the Stewart's arrival to probably between the spring of 1867 (assuming they wouldn't leave Alabama in the winter) and the summer of 1868. In a short biography of Luther Benjamin THWEATT it is noted that the THWEATT family moved from Shelby County AL to Hopkins County TX in the fall of 1868. The THWEATTS, CASTLEBERRYS, and POSEYS were all related by marriage. Effa STEWART married James H. POSEY. All these families lived near each other in Alabama and Texas so it's possible that they traveled by wagon train together, although James H. Posey affiliated his Masonic membership December 2, 1869. It's possible that the Stewart family made the trip alone.
Read of another family's trip from Alabama to East Texas.

Alabama had been occupied by federal forces beginning in April 1865. After the war it was placed under military rule for its refusal to ratify the 14th Amendment. Alabama was readmitted to the Union in 1868. Alabma: The Civil War Period

Joseph STEWART and Nancy WADSWORTH
Three different lines of the family have testified that the siblings above were the children of Joseph Stewart and Nancy Wadsworth, and not Daniel and Araminta. They report that this is what they heard from their parents and grandparents. There is no documentation of a couple named Joseph Stewart and Nancy Wadsworth existing. The simplest explanation is that the error originated in faulty source documents before federal censuses were easily accessible. Daniel and Araminta Stewart (mistaken for Joseph Stewart and Nancy Wadsworth) had a son named Joseph who married Nancy Compton. Mary Catharine, Daniel and Araminta's daughter, married Hogan Wadsworth. These facts were, most likely, miscopied and passed down through subsequent generations.

Daniel and Araminta are listed in the family Bible as the parents of these children. They are listed as the parents in five censuses, and two court records - one for a bad debt in Alabama, and in Sarah Clifton's divorce records; and Daniel is listed as Alexander's father on Alexander's death certificate. In a letter inherited from Garth Looney, from Allene Knight, a descendant of Sarah Jane born in 1913, Daniel and Araminta are named as the parents of the above children. The names "Daniel" and "Araminta" are passed down through subsequent generations while Joseph is passed down only in the Joseph Coleman Stewart line. Efforts to reconcile these facts with Joseph Stewart and Nancy Wadsworth have resulted in family historians marrying the son Daniel Morrison Stewart to his sister Emma Araminta Stewart. In actuality Daniel Morrison married Mary Lee Wells and Emma Araminta married Wilse Stockton - both marriages amply documented.

Daniel Stewart is listed in two legal documents as being indebted. In the late 1860s he forfeits a bit of land for a $22 debt (equivalent to about $250 today). In 1874 Sarah, in her divorce, inherits Daniel's debt to Nathaniel Clifton for $25 (equivalent to $400 today).

Daniel Stewart's Ancestors
No one has information on the family before Daniel and Araminta Stewart. Daniel passes a title, "Sir", to his first-born son William. Since these were passed down through first-born sons it suggests that Daniel himself was a first-born son. Based on Scottish naming patterns his father's name might be William. Daniel continually places his own, and his father's, birth in North Carolina. In 1880 Daniel lists his father and mother as both born in North Carolina. In 1900 Daniel's mother is listed as born in Scotland or England, but at this point his son Alexander is head of the family and probably filled out the census. The same year Daniel Morrison, Daniel's son, lists Daniel coming from Scotland or England, so it seems there may have been an evolution in the family story.

Of interest to me is the migration of associated families across the south. I haven't exhaustively researched this, but the 1830 Lincoln County census lists Stewarts, Wadsworths, Poseys, Stovalls, Florences and Knoxes, all names eventually associated or intermarried with the Stewarts. The 1840 Lincoln County census includes Hogan Wadsworth, who lived next door to the Stewarts in Shelby AL, and later married Mary Catharine. If Daniel Stewart's family came from North Carolina, through South Carolina, they might have stayed briefly in Lincoln County GA before moving west to Fayette County GA where Daniel marries Araminta.

In the 1830 Lincoln County GA census there's a William Stuart with the following persons listed: 2 boys under 5, 1 adult male 20-30, 1 adult female 30-40, one adult female 70-80, and one adult female 90-100. I wish we could see the original documents to be certain of the age assignments. This might be a brother or father (if the ages are mistranscribed) to Daniel. There's also a John Stuart, but there are no John's in the family line after Daniel. His family includes one boy and one girl under 5, one boy between 5 and 10, a woman and a man between 20 and 30.

I've also been searching for other Stewarts born in North Carolina living in Alabama. There are several possibilities there.

Araminta and Sarah's Deaths
We don't know how Araminta or Sarah died or where they are buried. James Henry Posey, Effa's husband, traveled to Harpersville, AL in 1877. Perhaps the entire family traveled back there the following year. There was a yellow fever epidemic in the South in 1878 that killed 13,000 people. Araminta and Sarah could have succumbed to this while traveling, or the disease could have spread to East Texas.

Please check our missing persons page to see if you can help us find members of our family.

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