James Stewart Jr. (1744 - 1772)

Born 1744 in Augusta County (Augusta), Virginia, British American Colonies

Ancestors

Son of James Stewart Sr and Mary Ann (Lafferty) Armstrong

Descendants

Died 1772 at about age 28 in Augusta, Virginia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Allan Stuart [send private message] and Don Stewart [send private message]

Biography

James Stewart Jr. is a member of Clan Stewart.

James Stewart was born about 1744, Augusta County (Augusta), British North America. He was the son of James Stewart and his wife Mary Ann Armstrong (nee Lafferty). He was captured by native Americans and witnessed the death of his father (burnt at the stake) before escaping to freedom. After the death of his father, his mother married a widower, Thomas Armstrong of Jennings Branch of Middle (or Cathey) River. When he was 18 he chose John Hamilton, husband of his aunt Mary to be his guardian.^[1]. He was placed in the custody of Wm Armstrong, a blacksmith, to learn the trade. He moved to Lexington where he married Isabella Foster and was the father of James and Lucy Stewart who married Aaron Hughes. After James died in 1772. Isabella married Elias Barker Sr. She died in 1793 in Madison County, Kentucky.

Research Notes

James and his brother Ralph Stewart were both born in Stewart's Creek, Augusta, Virginia, after their parents came to America. When Ralph was a teenage boy, during an Indian raid, his father James was captured and burned at the stake in the presence of his young son, James Jr., who also was carried away, but later managed to escape (p. 511, Vol. 2). During a time when peace had been made with the Indians, Ralph and James (as teenage boys) went on a prolonged hunting and trapping trip. Ralph while alone in camp was set upon by Indians who hung around-for some time, amusing themselves by threatening an abusing him. When James returned, they captured him also. The Indians pillaged the camp supplies, then took away the furs and pelts. After the Indians left, Ralph and James managed to free themselves and the following night followed the trail of the Indians to their camp and slipped upon them and killed 5 Indians. This act was no doubt a lot of satisfaction for them, but was a violation of the law after the Declaration of Peace and made them liable for murder. Later Ralph told a friend who later became a rival for the affection of a young lady. The friend swore out a murder warrant for Ralph's arrest. The Stewart family left the community and moved to a place on new River where they remained for 18 months. At length the Governor of Virginia pardoned him. Ralph lived in Augusta Virginia until the Revolution. He and his brothers hated the Indians and in the Army or not they fought them at every opportunity.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Mary Ann Gaylor for creating WikiTree profile Stewart-6742 through the import of Gaylor Family Tree.ged on Jan 29, 2013.

Sources

1. ↑ Stewarts in Genealogies of Kentucky Families from The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol II, p 331

• Paternal relationship is confirmed through Y-chromosome DNA testing. Don Stewart, FTDNA kit #836831, and his 6th cousin once removed, J. L. S., Sr FTDNA kit #5830, match exactly on 111 markers thereby confirming their direct paternal lines back to their MRCA James Stewart. FTDNA indicates that the probability the two share a common ancestor within the last 8 generations is 72.75% and within the last 9 generations is 86.01%. Their common SNP is I-BY124373 which was formed when it branched off from the ancestor I-BY108108 around 1700. The man who is the most recent common ancestor of this line is estimated to have been born around 1750 with a 95% confidence level he was born 1633 or later.
• Paternal relationship is confirmed through Y-chromosome DNA testing. Don Stewart, FTDNA kit #836831, and his 6th cousin, P.M.S., FTDNA kit #610529, match exactly on 111 markers thereby confirming their direct paternal lines back to their MRCA James Stewart. FTDNA indicates that the probability the two share a common ancestor within the last 8 generations is 78.35% and within the last 9 generations is 89.93%. Their common SNP is I-BY124373 which was formed when it branched off from the ancestor I-BY108108 around 1700. The man who is the most recent common ancestor of this line is estimated to have been born around 1750 with a 95% confidence level he was born 1633 or later.
• Stewarts in Genealogies of Kentucky Families from The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol II, p 329-331, 343-344
• James Stewart's profile as submitted by MM95-1YN [1].