Patrick Stewart - early Immigrant, Civil War Veteran, kin to Bridget (Stewart) Hastings

Since I knew my ancestor Bridget was a Stewart (from her children's baptismal records, among others), and that she and several of her children were god parents (sponsors) to Patrick Stewart's children, I had always assumed they were kin, most likely siblings. Their proximity in Lexington further strengthened that assumption. I'm now more convinced in that I did have a Stewart descendant tested for autosomal DNA and there is a match into the Hastings line. Might be a more distant relationship, 1st cousins for instance, but age wise seems pretty likely as brother/sister.

What is interesting about Patrick is that he was in America many years before Bridget and her family arrived. It may have been the draw for them to end up in Lafayette County, Missouri, right in the middle of the U.S.. Tracing him back took quite a few years, and a French translator to identify his route. The story out of a descendant of Patrick's oldest child is that he (Charles) was born in the New York Harbor in 1842. I've not been able to find that ship, nor broadening it to other ports, but at least the time frame is established. Patrick's first wife died in Iowa in July of 1850 and he remarried, in... Montreal! (June 1850) That's where the translation came in. He had to provide the details that his first wife did pass, and he was able to re-marry in the Catholic Church, which he did to Ann McCaffrey (a dozen different ways I've seen that spelled). By 1855 he was resettled in Lexington as the children of his 2nd wife have baptisms starting at that date. As noted in an earlier blog 1855 was also the year that Bridget and 3 of her children traveled to New Orleans. So some time between the 1851 of his marriage, the 1851 census of Bridget in Liverpool, and 1855 these families reunited in Lexington. We can't be certain that Michael Hastings didn't head out first, hearing of opportunities in America and call for Patrick Stewart to join him, or the other way around, but they were in communication. Speaking of communication, if you have not taken a look at The Boston Pilot database, you should. I found it online for searching. Here's the description:

From 1831 through 1921, the Boston Pilot newspaper printed a "Missing Friends" column with advertisements from people looking for "lost" friends and relatives who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. This collection of 31,711 records is available here as a searchable online database. http://infowanted.bc.edu/

I have found a few references back to families in Lexington looking for kin. Here's an example:
Thomas Halloran mentioned in the Boston paper in 1870's as "from Westport, County, Mayo, Ireland and living in Lexington, Missouri"

Patrick Stewart joined up with the Union Army, along with his son, Charles and nephew Thomas Hastings.

From USGENWEB Kansas Web Site 9/18/1999

FIRST REGIMENT KANSAS VOLUNTEERS---INFANTRY: COMPANY E.

*if a person is listed more than once, they were promoted*

Sergeants 

· Charles Stewert, Lexington, MO.Dis. for disability, Lagrange, Tenn., Nov. 26, 1862 

Corporals  

· Charles Stewart, Lexington MO 

Privates 

· Charles Stewart, Leavenworth 

ADDITIONAL ENLISTMENTS---COMPANY E.

· Thomas Hastings, Leavenworth 

· Patrick Stewart, Kansas City, MO 

RE- ENLISTED VETERANS, COMPANY E.

Privates 

· Thomas Hastings, Leavenworth

You'll note his son Charles (the one that was to have been born upon arrival in America in the harbor) rose through the ranks. Although Charles, born on American soil didn't need it, Patrick and Thomas, by joining the Army was eligible for citizenship.

"Special consideration was given to veterans. An 1862 law allowed honorably discharged Army veterans of any war to petition for naturalization -- without previously having filed a declaration of intent -- after only one year of residence in the United States"

This is a wonderful picture of Charles Stewart's family for the most part, a very matronly bunch:

Would be wonderful to collect more photos like this of Irish from Lafayette County.

Patrick was honorably discharged, having suffered a wound in the back during his service. Note the reference to his birth location to County Mayo ("Myo") in Ireland, another tie-in to the two families:

Patrick's youngest son from his first marriage, Mark, also joined up as a very young man of 15 as a Musician, but in a Missouri regiment. He was in for the duration. It must have been a traumatic experience for such a young man. 

------

Mark's military record:

Mark Stewart, Musician, Co. B, 28 Reg't Missouri Infantry

Age - 15 years

Appears on

Company Muster-in Roll

dated - St. Louis Co. Mo., Sept 8, 1862

Muster-in date Sept 8, 1862

Joined for duty and enrolled:

When July 30, 186*

where Lexington

Period 3 years

WBeck copyist

------

Mark Stewart

Priv, Co F, 10 Reg't Calvary

Appears on Co. Muster-out Roll, dated

Nashville, Tenn, June 22, 1865

Muster-out date June 22, 1865

Last paid to Oct 31, 1864

Clothing acount:

Last settled: Aug 31, 1864; drawn since $ 56 42/100

Due U.S. for arms, equipments, &c., $ 19 61/100

Bounty paid $ 25; due $ 75

Remarks: Stop for one Colt's Army Revolver,

one Sabre Knot

N.M. Jackson, copyist

-------

Patrick was in the 1883 Pensioner's Roll, the 1890 Veterans Census, and after he passed in 1892, his wife received a Widow's Pension.

He has been the only Irish kin that I've found that had a will:

(My transcription) FHL Film 0955930

Lafayette County, Missouri Probate Court Vol F-H

          Last Will and Testament of Patrick Stewart, Deceased,

          Know all men by these presents that I, Patrick

          Stewart of Lexington in the County of Lafayette

          State of Missouri in feeble health but of sound

          and disposing mind do hereby make publish and

          declare this to be my last will and testament.

First: It is my wish that all my debts be paid.

Second: I give each of my children Thomas, Charles, Bridget,

          and Mary Ann the sum of one dollar.

Third: I desire to be buried decently and have a suitable

          monument erected over my grave.

Fourth: All the rest of my property real and personal

         I give and bequeath to my wife Ann Stewart

         whom I also herby appoint as the sole executrix

         of this my last Will and request that no bond

         be required of her as such executrix. Witness my hand

         and seal this 4th day of May 1892

         Attest                                           Patrick Stewart (his Mark)

         U. G. Phetzing

         

         Signed sealed published and declared as his last

         will in our presence and we at his request in

         his presence and in the presence of each other

         have signed our names here to as witnesses May 4th 1892

                                                                    U. G. Phetzing 

                                                                    Katie Murphy

The online papers at ...
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/?state=Missouri&ethnicity=&language=
were just a few issues shy of finding an obituary for Patrick Stewart. Was hoping to glean a bit more about him. Maybe one of those issues will pop up as "found" in the future!

We can hope...

Emigration/Immigration - the O'Histon/Heston/Hastings/Esthan

Anyone that has done a bit of Irish research know how frustrating it can be if it's pre extant (currently existing) census, and if your kin was Catholic prior to the 1870s. That's because the census that were taken were burnt up in the civil war fire in Ireland, and you weren't counted for civil records prior to 1870 if you were Catholic. Actual Parish Records do exist but they can be spotty at best.
A couple of things that might be helpful for stitching together kin is DNA, which I noted in my last post, and for various families, the Irish had a pretty good chance that if you have the same surname, and were from the same area, you have a good likelihood that you are related. That is a strong patronymic tradition, unlike other places in the world.
So how do I know my kin came from County Mayo? Luck
was on my side in a smattering of records that existed. That is at least for the Hastings (I'll use their anglicized name here). As noted in the previous blog post, there was an Uncle, two sons and a nephew that were in the Civil War. Three of them in a Kansas Regiment, then one very young son (as a musician) and his cousin in a Missouri Regiment. In those regimental records there were several record references to County Mayo, Ireland as their birth location.

Even my own Sarah (Hastings) Hughes, provided additional reference in one of her census to Ireland and "Co Mayo".

One cousin also found a picture of her great grandmother with a reference to "Westport" on the back of the picture. So when I (may) jump to the conclusion that I found a Parish record of the marriage for Michael Hestin and Bridget Stuart in the Westport area, I'll assume that's correct until I find out differently.
__________________________________________
Ireland, Mayo, Oughaval, Westport 1823-1904 LDS Film: 979,697
Westport Marriages, Diocese Tuam, Parish: Aughaval (Westport)
Sept 8th, 1826
Mich'l Hestin to Bridget Stuart
sp: Daniel Hestn and Anne Lydon 1.0.0
__________________________________________________________

I actually visited the area in 2010 and believe they are from an area south of Westport in Drummin.

Westport sits on Clew Bay on the upper end of Oughaval parish

As I mentioned, parish records are spotty, and with the exception of the marriage, I was unable to find any of the children's baptisms. Given the number of children they had in the 1820-1845 time frame that is a big disappointment, but then, is in my opening statement, that isn't uncommon.
My big breakthrough was finding one of the children was born in Liverpool which I was able to find the civil birth record, and by some exceptionally creative searching find the family in the 1851 census (identified as "Esthan", try garbling "Heston" and you can see it). The way I found this record is not by looking for the surname I expected, but just looking for "Margaret" of the right age (leaving surname blank), in Liverpool, with the birthplace of Liverpool... bingo... all the given names lined up with what I expected! So don't give up if you've tried the "expected" approach, you may need to get creative.

OK, from there the family apparently took two different routes. The men (except for young James) left for America and the others (except for Edward who stayed behind) left in 1855 from Liverpool

An image from a paper near that time for those emigrants crowding the docks with their meager possessions and the frightening prospects of being stuffed below decks for weeks on end, and to untold hardships to their new home in far flung places.

They then went through New Orleans up the Mississippi and Missouri river before reuniting in Lexington, Missouri.
Wait a minute... say that again? New Orleans? You mean Boston, or New York, or somewhere on the East Coast, right? Well that was another surprise. When searching for the ship that these ancestors came over on, I decided to broaden my expectations to other ports not usually associated with Irish immigration. That lead to finding at least this set of kin landing in America in New Orleans. Lesson learned: don't constrain yourself to what is "usually" or "standard" set of assumptions, if you can't find your kin, start broadening for those "less likely". It may just pay off.

What was fun about that is that I actually located a picture of the ship that brought my ancestor, her Mom, and a sister and brother to America.

The Screamer - Sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans. Found a painting in a Maine Museum. The name was supposedly from the sound created as the storms battered the sails.

This is the record of the Screamer Sailing from Liverpool. What is funny is that the original announcement said it was going to sail on March 17th, (St. Patty's day), I always imagined that the crew was partying too much to leave on time!

I've not been able to locate the ship that brought Michael Hastings or his sons Thomas (and possibly Peter), and daughter Anna (who came separately, too), to America, but assume they did arrive earlier and send for the rest of the family.

Thomas died just after the Civil War and I've never been able to trace Peter and James.

As for Bridget, Sarah, James and Margaret, it must have been a frightening experience to be traveling on that long voyage across the ocean, and then up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

My kin, Bridget, and her daughter Sarah, traveling with James (which is the last record I have of him) and Margaret (she was the one born in Liverpool)

This birds-eye-view panoramic is from just about the time that they arrived in bustling New Orleans!

You can imagine that this trip had to be by steamboat, which could actually be a very perilous way to travel. I visited a museum in Kansas City back in 2010 in a wonderful display of a steamboat that was excavated that would be from around that time frame. Listening to the dangers to getting snagged (impaled) in steaming upstream, the multiple boiler explosions, and other mishaps, it was NOT the Good Ship Lollipop! But what an exciting time for steamboat travel. I saw this in St. Louis and was in awe of the crowded dockside!

These pictorals were done for most major cities and towns and provide a glimpse into the past. Look for them in towns you are researching.

OK, now that I've done the set up to get to Lafayette County, Missouri, we can proceed to look at the families that congregated and what brought them through perilous waters and times to this land in the middle of the U.S.!

Hopefully this detail, although a bit much to trek through, provides a few ticklers for places you may have not looked for ideas on getting information on where your kin came from in Ireland. We'll explore more in future blogs.

Michael