Descendants of Benjamin Stuart/Stewart of Spotsylvania Co, VA

The Descendants
of
Benjamin Stuart
of
Spotsylvania County, Virginia

In researching the ancestors of my family, I have found that I am twice a descendant of Benjamin Stuart and Millicent Clayton (if you can be such a thing). It is widely believed that Thomas Stuart is the son of Benjamin and Millicent. However, no one has found any concrete evidence to prove this to a certainty. From land sale records in Spotsylvania County and Orange County, we can find Charles Stuart and Mary Proctor and their sons Benjamin and William. Mary is the daughter of George Proctor who left her a slew of land.

Even though I have the lineage beginning with Charles Stuart and Mary Proctor, the main focus of my research and is and will be Benjamin Stuart and his son Thomas. I descend from two of Thomas' daughters, Mahala who married John Davidson (believed to have been born in Kentucky) and America Y. Stuart who married Thomas Goff.

I believe that the Y. initial in America's name is a definite clue to her mother's maiden name. First of all, her oldest son's name is Reuben Y. Goff. In Spotsylvania County, Virginia; Jessamine County, Kentucky and Howard County, Missouri, at the same time as the Stuarts and Davidsons were living in those places, there was a Reuben Young. America's youngest brother's also named Reuben. So, the speculation is that Thomas Stuart's wife's maiden name was probably Young but, again, there's no definite proof. We still search for this proof.

In looking for any connections in this family, please don't get stuck on the Stuart spelling. Most of the descendants of Thomas settled on the Stuart spelling but his oldest son, Benjamin, who migrated to Oregon on the Applegate Trail, settled on spelling his surname Stewart. Various records use those spellings as well as Steward, Stueard and Stuard. As you might imagine, this makes researching this family a real blast.

This research would not be complete without the research and help of Charles R. McCain, Cheryl Oberhaus, James Dewelt, Susan Mosher, Judy Goff Cook, Mona Camp and other members of the far-flung Stuart/Stewart family. Without their help and support, I wouldn't have a lot of the information and I want them to know that I appreciate their efforts so much.

As this is definitely a work in progress, any new information would be greatly appreciated.

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