The Stewart & Lyon Families, including Jessie Eunice Stewart [Hutton]

Jessie Eunice Stewart [Hutton] born on August 6, 1869 in Newburgh and died on April 12, 1927 in Morristown, N.J. She married Lewis Tooker Hutton I.

 Jessie Stewart as a young lady. Photos sent by Mary Hafer on 14 Jan 2010.

Jessie Stewart [Hutton] as remembered by her grand daughter Joan Tooker Hutton [Landis].(January 1, 2010)

My grandparents on the paternal side were Jessie Eunice Stewart and Lewis Tooker Hutton I. I never knew either of them. Jessie was the daughter of Lachlan Stewart (born in 1830 in Greenock, Scotland and died on June 22 1899 in Newburgh, N.Y.)

Jessie was born on August 6, 1869, in Newburgh and died on April 12, 1927 in Morristown, N.J. Her application for membership in the Daughter of the American Republic is folded up in the Lyon Memorial (which I am leaving to Joshua, our historian.) Jessie married Lewis Tooker Hutton I who was born on January 25, ? in New York City and died on October 20, 1914 in Morristown. They had two sons, Andrew and Lewis Tooker.

I heard that Jessie died of a carbuncle on her neck. I also heard from a second cousin, Mary Stewart Hafer, that the Huttons were related to the wealthy branch of that family in NYC. Mr Hutton never worked and was left three different inheritances of $60,000 each but ran through them with ease. He was also very kind and liked by the Stewarts. (I’ll quote from a few letters about the Huttons when I can see better.)

Jessie Stewart and Lewis T. Hutton gave birth to Lewis Tooker Hutton II on December 29, 1904.

The Lyon Family history as related by Margaret Agnes Foster [Hutton] in a letter written circa 1970 to her grandchildren:

To My Dear Grandsons, Chris, Josh, Ethan,

Scientists do not, as yet, know whether heredity or environment is the dominant part of a person’s accomplishments, characteristics and abilities. You, my dear boys, may reflect on your heritage from the following facts I have been able to gather. As far as I can determine, you have nothing in your background to be ashamed of or to defend.

History shows that in 1630, 50 Englishmen emigrated to the American colonies for religious liberties or, in the case of your Lyon ancestors, to escape persecution as followers of Cromwell present at the beheading of Charles I.

Born in 1620, John Ward came to Branford, Conn., an infant, and in 1666, went with Robert Treat and a group from Fairfield, Conn., to found a city on the Passaic River. This settlement became Newark, N.J. Among the group from Fairfield was Henry Lyon. one of three brothers who came to Milford, Conn.to escape banishment or punishment for having witnessed regicide.

Records show that the Lyon family came from France with William the Conqueror. They settled first in East Anglia and then in Scotland are of the family of Bowes-Lyon at Glamis Castle. As of now, I do not know the ancestry of the Wards. In the book, The Lyon Memorial, you may read where the daughter of Henry Lyon married John Ward. Also a map of Newark shows the lots selected by each settler and the Ward homestead was held by your maternal family until 1898 when it was sold to the city of Newark as the location of the Public Library. From the first log cabin until its sale, this lot had only three houses on it.

From the Lyon family, you are descended through your grandfather, Lewis T. Hutton II, whose grandmother was Julia Lyon. The Huttons were also of Scottish descent.

The Stewart and Lyons families as related by Mary Stewart Hafer, Joan's second cousin (Joan forwarded this to Joshua Landis on January 8, 2010 with these words: "We have the Lyon Memorial too, given by Aunt Minnie to Margaret and Lewis in 1929 with the same small writing appended in the margins and end papers.)

Mary Hafer, the daughter of Archie Stewart of Stewart Airport, talks to the Stewart Airport Commission meeting in January 2006 to protest the name change of the airport. Times Herald- Record/KEN BIZZIGOTTI

Here is the letter sent by Mary Stewart Hafer to Joan on 8 January 2010:

Lyon Avenue Exit
by Mary Stewart Hafer

As Fred and I rolled past the Lyon Avenue Exit while driving north or south past Newark NJ on the Garden State Parkway, I always wondered if I had any connection to the Lyon Avenue exit. Archie had always talked about a Lyon ancestor who had something to do with Newark NJ. That ancestor had come to America, long ago, as a fugitive from royal retribution. He and his two brothers had been ordinary foot soldiers in Cromwell’s army and had been on guard duty and witnessed the execution of King Charles I. They realized that if the monarchy were ever restored, they would be considered guilty of treason. They wanted to be as far away as possible and came to America as soon as they could get there. That was all I knew until many years later, when, in his old age, he gave me a book titled Lyon Memorial - *Lyon, Sidney Elizabeth, ed., Lyon Memorial, Detroit, MI. William Graham Printing Co. 1909. I didn’t read it until later and then realized it was a complicated and interesting story, and that this book had been his source of information. The book was inscribed “To Archie and Mary, From Aunt Minnie, 1929”. (“Aunt Minnie” was Mary Stewart Gatter, sister of my grandfather Thomas Wesley Stewart and Uncle Sam.) The front and back pages were crammed with tiny handwritten notes of Revolutionary War records of ancestors, and the genealogical section had side notes from my Father indicating his direct ancestors. (I have added a few more side notes.)

Recently, a friend said I should write down the story for my descendants, so I took out the book and pored through it. I had problems with the time line and began to check it against various sources now available on the internet.

I found various errors and discrepancies. The change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian in 1752 may be responsible for some, and lack of accurate access by the author for others. Dates between January 1 and March 25 are especially confusing.

According to the book, the 3 brothers came to New Haven, Connecticut in 1648. This seems unlikely, as Charles I was executed Tuesday, January 30, 1649. (Gregorian calendar?) Henry Lyon was admitted to the church in Milford Connecticut, February 24, 1649, Julian calendar.

Milford was a small coastal settlement west of New Haven, and a hotbed of anti-royalist sentiment. Henry was given land there. In 1652, he married Elizabeth Bateman of nearby Fairfield, was given land and moved there.



This is a map of the land titles in Milford provided by Mary Hafer

Cromwell died in 1658, and in 1660, Charles II assumed the throne. In 1661 a head price was set on Cromwell’s kin and close associates. It was time to flee again. There were secret negotiations with New Amsterdam Dutch which failed. In 1662, Governor John Winthrop Jr. obtained a Royal Charter for consolidation of two colonies in Conn. without the knowledge of inhabitants of New Haven, Milford, Branford, Guilford, and Stanford. Now, the situation was really bad!

New Amsterdam was Dutch until 1664, when it fell temporarily to the English. A Dutch fleet regained it in August 1673. In 1674 it was ceded by treaty to the English.

In 1665 a group of English from Long Island received a grant for land “beyond Achter Col”. Four families settled there at what is now Elizabeth. They settled with the Indians with trade goods. Milford’s Robert Treat went to this group at Elizabeth to look over land there and negotiate. Also in 1665, Philip Cartaret arrived from England to take possession of land transferred by the Duke of York to Lords Berkeley and Cartaret.

In the spring of 1666, the first Connecticut settlers arrived at a desirable spot on the Passaic River. They were met by hostile Indians and had to buy it all over again from the Wapamuk, Wamesane, Peter, Captamin, and others, and then begin to build a settlement.

The Lyon Family

The first generation: Henry Lyon was back in Connecticut in 1667, sold his property and went to Newark with his family. (Newark was named after the English home of its first minister.) Henry Lyon was made tax collector for Newark from 1668 to 1673. This was an unpaid and thankless task. Taxes were all in wheat and other produce, as there was no money. Although they had bought the land outright, they agreed to pay tax to Cartaret.

Henry moved to Elizabeth and soon became one of the leading men in political and commercial affairs. In 1675, he was a member of the General Assembly. In 1681, he became one of the Judges of Small Causes, and later that year, Justice of the Peace, which in those days, was equivalent to Judge of the Supreme Court. In 1682 he was appointed Commissioner to lay out all highways, bridges, ferries, etc, for Essex Co. He was also active in commercial enterprises and made a small fortune with land in and around Newark and Elizabeth. Lyons Farms was a rural hamlet midway between Newark and Elizabeth, which in the mid nineteenth century, had a railroad stop and a post office and was still heavily populated by Henry’s descendants.

His wife died sometime in the late 1680s, and in 1689 or 90 he married a younger woman, Mary (?) and moved back to Newark. Mary had two daughters who were still minors in 1702 when he wrote his will. He outlived a number of his adult children and was buried in the Old Burying Ground. In the nineteenth century, the caskets and headstones were moved to a crypt elsewhere, and the land re-used. The inscription on his tombstone said “Mr. Henery Lyon died 23 March 1707, aged 84 yrs.”

[Joshua Landis adds: There are numerous passages about Henry Lyon in: William H. Shaw, History of Essex and Hudson Counties, New Jersey, Vol. 1, Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, 1884. For example, p. 364. reads.

Henry Lyon was at Milford, 1646; Married only daughter of William Bateman, at Fairfield, 1652; was dismissed from Milford to Fairfield church, 1664; was in Newark, 1667; in Elizabethtown, with son Thomas, in 1673 and 1696. His w., date 1702, in Newark, n. ch.....

Also see entries on many other Lyons, Wards, and Edwards.

The second generation: Our next ancestor was Thomas Lyon, born 1652 or 3. He signed the Branford agreement with an X in 1666 and received home lot #23. (The first generation of children was often illiterate as there was so little time or opportunity for education.) He later received a deed from his father in Elizabeth for the house he was living in, and additional land. He married Elizabeth (?) and died 1n 1694.

The third generation ancestor was Thomas’ second son, Thomas. He was born in Newark in 1692 and died there in 1768. He married Hannah, daughter of John and Lydia (Harrison) Baldwin, b. 1690, d. 1746.

The fourth generation was Thomas Lyon, the eldest son, birth date unknown. He was born in Newark and died in1785. He married Temperance, daughter of Deacon Ebenezer Baldwin. He died in 1785

The fifth generation ancestor was his youngest child, John, born Sept 13, 1765, who died May 10 1813. He married Elizabeth Medlar Allen.

The sixth generation of Lyons was Samuel Allen Lyon, b.1810, d. 1848 in Newburgh NY. m. Pamela Howell Cramer, b. 1810, d. 1860 Newburgh NY. Their fourth child was Julia Ann.

The seventh generation ancestor was Julia Ann Lyon, born Dec. 6, 1834 in Sucasunna NJ. She married Lachlan Leitch Stewart April 7, 1853 and died on May 12, 1913.She gave birth to 11 children, of whom 7 survived into adulthood.

 

Julia Ann Lyon [Stewart] (sent by Mary Hafer)

 

 Julia Ann Lyon [Stewart] (sent by Julie Gatter [Botel] in 2010)

Julia Ann Lyon [Stewart] (sent by Julie Gatter [Botel] in 2010)

Julia Ann Lyon [Stewart] c. 1903 at 69 [photo sent by Mary Hafer in Jan. 2010]

The Stewart Family

The Stewart family is newer to American shores. For a full family background in Scotland, go to "Stewarts of Campbeltown" a site created by Charles Stewart, a distant relative.


John Stewart (1749- April 1806) He was born in South Kintyre (Park), Argyllshire, Scotland and died in Skipness, Argyll, Scotland. (This information is taken from Mara Tippett's family tree on Ancestry.com. She is a descendant through the Gatter family)

 Photo from Julie Gatter [Botel] 2010: This is NOT the John Stewart who was father of Captain Archibald. Mary Hafer found a slip of paper in her possession that seems to have been attached to this photo but became separated from it. Mara is sleuthing about in ancestry.com and we are grateful.

John married Marian McGill (b ? d. 1838) in Argyll County, Scotland, United Kingdom. They had one child.

1. Archibald Stewart, b. July 26, 1794 in Argyllshire Scotland. Died Aug 24, 1881 at Newburgh, NY.

Captain Archibald Stewart (Mary Hafer sent photo 2010)

He lived on a farm near Campbeltown, Argyllshire, Scotland. The farm overlooked the fine harbor at Campbeltown. My [Mary's] guess is that he thought sailing was more interesting than herding sheep. In any event, he became a sailor.

[Josh L: Due to the town's isolated location near the far end of a long peninsula, transportation was very important.Archibald moved to Greenock to work in the growing ship building business there.]

 Photo: looking west over Greenock, Scotland, and across the Firth of Clyde

[Josh L: Historically, Greenock relied on shipbuilding for employment. The first proper harbour was constructed in 1710, and Scott's was the oldest shipbuilding business in the world and gained numerous contracts with the Royal Navy from 1806, building ships such as the Glasgow. From the 1800 to 1980 many thousands of people worked to design, build and repair ships.] 

Archibald Stewart studied navigation and moved up the ranks to Captain. This is an obit that Mara copied from a Jasson Potter on Ancestry.com.

Archibald Stewart. son of John and Marrion (MacGill) Stewart, was born in Peninver, near Campbelltown. Argylshire, Scotland, July 26. 1794, died in Newburgh, New York, Aug. 24, 1881 [corrected to read: 1880, other records state 1881], buried in St. George’s Cemetery. He spent his early life on the farm and then studied navigation, and at the age of seventeen years was bound as an apprentice for three years on the brig "Lord BlenTyre", sailing between Greenock, Scotland, and the West Indies. After serving his apprenticeship he became a master mariner, and made his home in Greenock and for nearly fifty years was in command of different vessels sailing from that port to all parts of the world. 

He had an adventurous life and was shipwrecked several times. Once on Governor’s Reef, Bay of Honduras, vessel lost, all hands saved; lived on turtle eggs. Taken to Belecse, France. His next voyage was on the Earl of Buckinghamshire for Bombay, that being the first ship from the Clyde to the East Indies. They were nearly lost at Newfoundland, where they encountered ice for twenty days. On the 17th of March (St. Patrick’s Day) the people cut a passage through the ice and the brig was [one line missing]

Newfoundland a hurricane carried away one man and all the small boats, also most of the rigging. The captains son Archibald was found in the cabin hanging on a hook In the ceiling to keep from drowning. They were then rescued by Captain Hebron of the barque Ceylon, who saw their distress signals and took them to Quebec, October 2. 1845. in April. 1853, he embarked in the ship Adrian for America, accompanied by his wife and daughter Mary and settled in Newburgh, New York, where he remained until his death.

He married , in Scotland, January 23, 1826, Margaret Leitch, born in Tarbert, Scotland, in August 1797, died in Newburgh, New York, Dec. 26, 18

Archibald married Margaret Leitch at the Old West Kirk (good web site) in Greenock, and Lachlan was born there. When he was old, he retired, (didn't like those new-fangled and dangerous steam vessels) and came with his wife Margaret Leitch, and a daughter, to Newburgh to live with Lachlan. 

  

Margaret Leitch [Stewart] (1797 - 1872) married Captain Archibald Stewart at the Old West Kirk (good web site) in Greenock.

Captain Archibald Stewart and Margaret Leitch had two children that came to the US.

1. Lachlan Leitch Stewart (1830-1899)
2. Mary Barre Stewart. Born 23/10 1836, in Greenock, Scotland.

Mary Hafer adds about Mary Barre Stewart: I can't find the exact reference I have been looking for but her daughter married someone named Ed Barnes, and there was a daughter who married someone named Ralph. There was a boy in my dancing class named Donny Ralph. We were related, probably 3rd cousins.

Mary Barre Stewart married (10/4/1857) Jessie Merritt (d. 7/9/1911 Newburgh NY)

  Jesse E. Merritt (d. 7/9/1911 Newburgh NY) married Mary Barre Stewart (10/4/1857) Photo from Julie Gatter [Botel]

Mary Hafer adds in a note:

To: "Joan Landis", Friday, January 8, 2010

You may also be interested to know that the "Old West Kirk" in Greenock Scotland has a record of the birth of Lachlan Stewart, the father of your grandmother. There is also a record of the marriage of Lachlan's parents. It has a good web site. Captain Archibald Stewart lived on the waterfront in Greenock. Today, the site is a cargo container storage area. I have visited there and have also visited Campbelltown where Archiebald grew up. I always wondered why he went to sea as an ordinary mariner who later studied navigation and became a Captain. I think the answer is that he grew up on a farm at Peninvie which was high on a hill overlooking the excellent harbor at Campbelltown. Watching the ships come and go might have seemed more exciting than herding sheep. He led an extremely adventurous life. He was a descendant, grandson, I think, without looking it up, of the Stewart whom Charles has traced as our common ancestor. He is the one who lived in "The Park" which is now the home of McCartney. I have reasonable accurate genealogy back to him. According to oral tradition in my family, he claimed to be a Stewart of Appin. This clan was wiped out at the battle of Culloden. They had risen to fight with Prince Charlie. Our ancestor was at "The Park" at that time, and was thus a tenant of the Duke of Argyle, a Campbell, and a protestant who fought on the side of the English king. I have a feeling that our ancestor found it wise to stay home from the battle. (This is not based on any written records) In any event he survived to be an ancestor of us all.

Lachlan Leitch Stewart (1830-1899)

Lachlan Stewart 1830-1899 (sent by Mary Hafer)

Lachlan was born in Greenock Scotland in 1830 and died in 1899. At age eleven, he stowed away on a ship bound for the West Indies with a buddy. He wound up living with relatives in Newburgh NY and learned shipbuilding. He worked as a shipbuilder, saved money, bought a schooner and mainly hauled lumber from the Adirondacks to Atlantic seaports.

He worked as general manager for Homer Ramsdell, a wealthy entrepreneur, for seven years, and then became a partner with Thomas G. Sayre in the Newburgh Lumber Co. (Mara Tippett writes (2010) I found a Newburgh directory from about 1884 that lists Stewart & Sayre Lumber (Samuel's business) and both Lachlan and Samuel's addresses. Cool, huh?!)

 Thomas G. Sayre, the partner of Lachlan in the Newburgh Lumber Co. of Newburgh, NY. 

Photo from Julie Gatter [Botel]

Jane Sayer (Presumably Thomas' wife)
Photo from Julie Gatter [Botel]

Lachlan Stewart's sone Samuel took over the lumber company, allowing Lachlan to retire to the Brookside Dairy, a farm west of Newburgh. (See a photo of Brookside farm bellow under Samuel's photo)

Newburgh in the 19th Century - a boom town

 

Woodcut of Newburgh skyline from Hudson in 1842. 

Newburgh became quite prosperous during the Gilded Age. With its situation on the Hudson River, midway between New York City and Albany, it became a transportation hub and an industrial center. It is home to one of the first Edison power plants and thus was among the first American cities to be electrified. (Newburgh's electric power plant may have been the fourth in New York State. Steam heat was supplied by it to homes in the area. As a small child, Mary Hafer can remember seeing steam come out of tiny vents in the sidewalk on Liberty St.) It was among the first to fluoridate its water. In October, 1939, RCA chose to test-market televisions in Newburgh, making it perhaps the first US city to be saturated with TVs.

The last decades of the 20th century saw precipitous decline in Newburgh's economy. Most industry was shuttered and much of its white, mainly Scottish and English upper income population left. In 2000, the population was 42.33% White, 32.96% African American, and 36.30% Hispanic. The median income for a household in the city was $30,332. About 25.8% of the population were below the poverty line.

 

Lachlan Stewart 1830-1899 (sent by Mary Hafer)

Lachlan married Julia Ann Lyon on April 7, 1853. She died on May 12, 1913 and gave birth to 11 children, of whom 7 survived into adulthood. She is buried with him and his parents in St. Georges’ Cemetery in Newburgh NY.

Julia Ann Lyon, pictured here c. 1907 at the age of 73,

Julia, wife of Lachlan Leitch Stewart, is surrounded by four grandchildren: Lachlan Stewart Gatter is the big boy in back. Thomas Archibald (Archie) is the small boy in the lower right in the sailor suit (Mary Hafer's father). The other two are the Hutton brothers. Lewis Tooker Hutton II (b. December 29, 1904) is the youngest in front and Andy is in back. (Mary Stewart [Hafer] sent this photo to Joan Hutton [Landis] on January 12, 2010.)

The Eight generation

These are the seven children of Julia and Lachlan who survived to adulthood, pictured in 1875 in Newburg, NY

Mary Hafer's father, Thomas Archibald (Archie) Stewart, writes in a 1973 note attached to the photo, "This photo is believed to have been taken in 1875 because father, who is the baby on his sister's lap was born in October 1874." (Click on the photo to see an enlargement) From left to right:

1. Jessie Eunice Stewart (6 August 1869), Age 6 [Hutton]
2. Margaret Jane Stewart (11 July 1867), 8
3. Samuel Lachlan Stewart (26 August 1860), 15
4. Charles William Stewart (20 May 1865),  10
5. Thomas Wesley Stewart (17 October 1874),? Months
6. Ann Spooner Stewart (5 August 1857), 18
7. Mary Amelia Stewart (20 May 1863), 12 "Aunt Minnie" [Gatter]

Ann Spooner Stewart

Ann Spooner Stewart (5 August 1857), Samuel Lachlan Stewart (26 August 1860)  

(Photo from Julie Gatter Botel) 

Charlie William Stewart

 Charlie William Stewart

 Charles William Stewart (b. 20 May 1865 - d. Dec. 1881) - Photo from Julie Gatter [Botel]

 

Margaret Jane Stewart (b. 11 July 1867)

Jessie Eunice Stewart [Hutton] born on August 6, 1869 in Newburgh and died on April 12, 1927 in Morristown, N.J.

Laura French, Jess S. Hutton (tintype)

  Laura French and Jessie Eunice Stewart [Hutton] (tintype)
photo from Julie Gatter [Botel]

Jessie married Lewis Tooker Hutton I, who was born on Jan 25, 1844 in New York City and died on October 20, 1914 in Morristown. They had two sons, Andrew and Lewis Tooker Hutton II.

Mary Amelia Stewart (20 May 1863), 12 "Aunt Minnie" [Gatter]

Mary Amelia Stewart [Gatter] on left with her father, Lachlan Stewart 1830-1899 and ?.

 Back row: Sam, Lachlan, William Case
Seated: Mary Amelia Stewart [Gatter], Annie Stewart
Front: Ida Case Stewart (wife of Sam) (tintype)

 Thomas Wesley Stewart 1874-1951 (Grandfather of Mary Hafer)

Thomas Wesley was the youngest of eleven children, of whom many died in infancy or older childhood. Thomas Wesley was born in Newburgh NY on the riverfront at the foot of Renwick St. on a site that was demolished by the railroad.married Annie Eliza Maharay in 1900, founded the Brookside Ice Co. and the Broadway Garage. He died Dec. 4, 1951. Mary Hafer writes, The keystone on the mantel at Camp came from this home.

Samuel Lachlan Stewart (sent by Mary Hafer)

Samuel married Ida Case Stewart (born 1861). 

 

 Ida Case Stewart, wife of Samuel Lachlan Stewart

Mary Hafer writes that they adopted a daughter Gladys in 1907? in Newburgh, NY. Mary met a descendant, Anthony Carbone, when Mary was "fighting with National Express about maintaining the Stewart name at the airport. Anthony is the son of Lynne Stewart who is the adopted daughter of Gladys Stewart, who was the adopted daughter of Samuel Lachlan and Ida Case Stewart. He reveres Samuel Stewart as his great-grandfather."

 Stewarts in St George's cemetery Newburgh NY. 

Mary Hafer writes: "The people are Hafers: Fred, and Tom with his back to you, and Ann with camera Anthony Carbone is facing the camera .His wife Sibi, has her back to you and one of their two boys.

Brookside Farm

 

Brookside Dairy Farm

Map of Brookside Dairy and the Stewart Homestead. Click to enlarge.

The house still stands on Stewart Ave.
Joan Landis writes:

I remember Brookside Farm very well where Uncle Sam lived when we were in New Paltz.

Mary Hafer writes Jan. 2010:

The Stewart farm and Stewart Airport are just west of Newburgh, and in sight of I-84 and the New York Throughway. The state has been talking for decades about connecting all three, and this has finally been achieved within the last few months. They had fun naming the road to the airport from exit 5A on I-84, as "Rt. 747". It runs into "Stewart Blvd" at the airport. The airport now is part of the New York-New Jersey Port Authority, and they are pouring millions of dollars into it to develop it as a 4th metropolitan airport, and are looking into rail connections to the city. It has a runway long and strong enough to be an emergency landing site for the space shuttle.

Uncle Sam's farm area is nearby. It is on Stewart Ave., a curved road that connects Union Ave (rte 300) with Cocheton Tp. (rte 17-K). The last time I drove down it, the homestead house was there and also the dairy facilities, now operated by some other dairy firm. The dairy looked much as I remembered it, but not at all like the picture I sent, which was from an early farming magazine. See Stewart Ave. and Brookside pond on a Google Map, here.

Stewart Homestead

The Ninth generation: Thomas Archibald Stewart was the ninth generation descendant of Thomas Wesley Stewart. He was born Feb. 27, 1902 and became a partner with his father and Otto Brown in the automobile dealership. He had the idea in the 1920s that a city would need an airport in order to thrive in the twentieth century. He persuaded his uncle Samuel to donate fairly level unused pasture to the City of Newburgh specifically to build an airport. He later aided the take over by the Army for WWII needs. “Archie” married Mary Louise Warden, b. Aug.8, 1901 d. Sept 24, 2001. He was proud of his foresighted contribution to the airport, his military service in WWII, and his more than 70 year membership in the Rotary Club. He was unaware of the impact of his early motion pictures that have been shown at the National Gallery in Washington DC, and at museums around the world. His early magnetic recordings of Rob Golding are also of great interest. He died March 11, 1998.

A Stewart, Hafer and Sauls Christmas 1958 at 388 Grand St. Newburgh NY. 

Mary Stewart Hafer writes (on January 18, 2010): A Christmas gathering had been planned elsewhere, but G.G. (Great-Grandmother Annie Maharay Stewart) had been ill and didn’t feel up to travel, so the gathering was at her home. Grandmother Stewart’s birthday was Dec 23, 1879. She died Oct. 15, 1962.

Back row L. to R.: Frederick L. Hafer, his father, LeRoy I. Hafer, Robert Nathaniel Golding, a dear family friend from Perry ME, (see internet info), Thomas Archibald (Archie) Stewart, my father, and Reginald G. Sauls IV, my sister’s husband.

Middle row L. to R.: Thomas F. Hafer, my eldest son, John Stewart Hafer, 2nd son, died in 2005, Esther Wertz Hafer, Fred’s mother, my daughter Abigail A. Hafer on her lap, Mary L. Warden Stewart, my mother with my niece, Mary Sauls (now Kelly) on her lap, Annie Eliza Maharay Stewart, widow of Thomas Wesley Stewart, Lillian Sauls, the mother of Reggie.

Front row L. to R.: Ann L. Hafer Fred’s sister, later Mrs R.J. Maguire, me, Mary Stewart Hafer, Anne Stewart Sauls, my sister, with unhappy Reginald G. Sauls V on her lap. (Another daughter Elizabeth Ann, was born later.)

Abby is gleefully destroying my hair bun while I am trying to maintain a smile for the photographer.

MARY LOUISE WARDEN STEWART - Obituary

Times-Herald Record, September 26, 2001

Middletown, NY

Mary Louise Warden Stewart of Newburgh, wife of the late Thomas "Archie" Stewart, died Monday, September 24, 2001, at Arden Hill Life Care Center. She was 100. Born in Newburgh on August 8, 1901, she was the daughter of the late Herbert Andrew Warden and Ella Florence Todd. Mrs. Stewart was Valedictorian of Newburgh Free Academy in 1919. She then graduated from Wellesley College in 1923, where she majored in History of Art.

In Newburgh, she studied voice with Ian Jackson and continued with Charles Adams White at the new England Conservatory while she was a student at the Wellesley College. She was a lyric soprano, sang in many Wellesley singing groups, and soloed with the Boston Pops. In Newburgh, she sang in concerts with Pattee Wallach as accompanist, and at radio station WGNY. She was often a guest soloist at the West Point Chapel, and sang in the Grace Methodist Church Choir for 30 years. After graduating from Wellesley, she married a childhood friend, Thomas A. Archie Stewart on October 20, 1923.

They had two daughters, Mary Stewart Hafer and Anne Stewart Sauls. She also has six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She was delighted that one of her great-granddaughters is now a member of the Wellesley Class of 2004. She continued her interest in Art and studied Painting with Colton Waugh and John Gould. She became a painter of vivid loose impressionist oil paintings of scenes of the Hudson River and Powelton Golf Course. She also painted scenes of Cape Canaveral, Fla., where she visited her daughter Mary, and Southern California, where she visited her other daughter Anne.

She joined the Powelton Club in the late 1920s, and was an avid golfer playing until the age of 94. She was a member of the Junior League of Newburgh; the Quassaick Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution; the Hudson River Wellesley Club; the New York Descendants of the Mayflower; and the Officers Wives Club at Stewart Army Base Annex. Along with her late husband Archie, she took part in many activities at Stewart Field, which then became Stewart International Airport.

Visitation will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, September 28, at White & Venuto Funeral Home, 188 North Plank Road, Town of Newburgh. Graveside funeral service will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, September 29, at Woodlawn Cemetery, New Windsor. Funeral arrangements in care of White & Venuto Funeral Home.

The tenth generation is

1. Mary Stewart (Hafer), b. Sept 7, 1924.
2. Anne Stewart (Sauls) b. April 18, 1930. d. November 2001. 

The eleventh generation is

1. Thomas Frederick Hafer, 
2. John Stewart Hafer, and 
3. Abigail Ann Hafer.

There are also 11th generation Saulses: 

1. Mary Louise (Kelly)
2. Reginald Gideon V
3. Elizabeth Ann.

The twelfth generation are the children of
Thomas:

1. William Thomas Hafer, b. 1979, 
2. Virginia K. Hafer Goodwin, b. 1981, and 

John Stewart

1. Moira Broderick, b. 1989. 

Reginald Sauls V has a son and daught

1. Reginald G. VI 
2. Heather Marie. both in their late teens. (2010)

For the Hutton-Landis family:

The ninth generation is Lewis Tooker Hutton II (b. December 29, 1904; d. May 10th, 1953) and Andy Hutton, whose daughter committed suicide. See more about Lewis and Andy here.

Jesse Eunice Stewart [Hutton] b. 6 August 1869: Lewis Hutton II (left) and Andy

The tenth generation is Joan T. Hutton (b. April 22, 1930) and Lewis T. Hutton III.

Landis family in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, 1961 or 62. Joshua, Joan, Kendall holding Ethan, Chris

The eleventh generation is Christopher Kendall, Joshua Mead, and Ethan Edwards.

Christopher Kendall, Joshua Mead, Ethan Edwards and E. Kendall Landis in Vt. 2006

The twelfth generation is children of

Christopher K. Landis and Tomi Bednar [Landis]

1. Kyle Christopher, 
2. Ryan Kendall

Ethan Edwards Landis and Jude Lane [Landis]

1. Jacob Lane, 
2. Stuart Lachlan

Joshua Mead Landis and Manar Kachour [Landis]

1. Kendall Shaaban (30 December 2003)
2. Jonah Hutton Firas (? March 2007)

 

Kendall, Joshua, Manar, Jonah in Virginia summer 2008

The Landis Boys: Summer 2009

Back Left: Ryan Kendall, Jake

Middle: Stewart Lachlan, Kyle Christopher

Front: Kendall Shaaban, Jonah Hutton Firas

 

 Kendall in Vermont, 2008 at 4 yrs

[Photo of Archie and Mary Stewart]

The Stewart Connection

By Mary Stewart Hafer Daughter of Archie Stewart

MidHudsonNews.com

Stewart International Airport was overgrown pasture land called “Stony Lonesome” when I first knew it. I remember picnicking there with my parents and their friends. Dad and his buddies liked to do target shooting there. My dad, Thomas Archibald (“Archie”) Stewart, was born in early 1902, well before the Wright brothers made their first historic flight at Kitty Hawk in December 1903. I asked him when he first saw an airplane. He replied that it was when the whole Hudson Valley turned out and looked upward to see Glenn Curtiss win a huge prize for flying from Albany to New York in less than twenty four hours. This was May 31, 1910.

I believe his first up close and personal experience was in 1912 or 1913. A promoter, who knew nothing about aviation, had engaged a “barnstormer” to demonstrate his flying machine in Newburgh. It was scheduled for a baseball stadium near the old DuPont plant on South St. This was near my grandfather’s farm if you walked across fields and climbed over stone walls. When the aviator arrived with a horse-drawn wagon, carrying his plane minus its wings, he took one look at the field and said it was impossibly small. The impasse was solved when Grandfather, Thomas Wesley (“Wes”) Stewart, offered to let them use a suitable field that he had. The road to Grandfather’s farm entered from Rt. 17-K, and just beyond this was the road to the dairy farm of his brother, Sam.

Archie Stewart Day

Grandfather gave them road directions and he and Father went back cross-lots to await the arrival of the aviator and a huge crowd of spectators. To their amazement, they saw the entourage on the other side of Brookside Ice Co. pond, heading toward Uncle Sam’s house. By the time Grandfather and Father could get around the pond and catch up with them, the aviator had decided that there was a field there that was acceptable, though not as good as the one described to him. Grandfather did not know that this was a very special field of peas being grown by Uncle Sam for a carefully controlled experiment for the Cornell University School of Agriculture. The aviator, surrounded by hundreds of spectators, began setting up his plane. Just then, Uncle Sam came home from church. His face was brick red with anger and he called to his farm hands to bring him an axe to chop up the plane. His employees, wisely, had trouble finding an axe, thereby giving him time to cool down. This was the Samuel L. Stewart who donated the original land for the airport.

 

The old terminal

Father had a very strong sense of history. He knew of thriving canal ports and stage coach centers that had “withered on the vine” after railroads became the dominant means of transportation in the nineteenth century. He thought that in the twentieth century, a city would need an airport in order to prosper. Around 1930, Father and a number of like-minded young men, including Fred Stern, Gus Bennett, and Carlisle Goodrich, looked over all possible sites for a Newburgh airport and concluded that Uncle Sam’s “Stony Lonesome” was the best. Father went to Uncle Sam and suggested that he give it to the city for use as an airport. Uncle Sam readily agreed, and asked Father to represent him. In due time, with W.P.A. funds and a C.C.C. camp, the city slowly began to prepare the land.

At that time, West Point’s Army Air Corps consisted of three or four Douglas observation planes on which the wheels had been replaced by pontoons. They were kept in a hangar on the banks of the river and commanded by First Lieutenant Orval Cook, later, a four-star general. They were used by faculty members who were pilots in order to maintain their flight proficiency. Father often took rides with them.

In the late 1930s, Douglas MacArthur was Chief of Staff in Washington. He could foresee war clouds arising in Europe, and he knew that airplanes would play a major role in a coming war. He appointed a commission to find a site near West Point that could become a military airport where West Point cadets could learn to fly. After careful study, they decided that the infant airport at Newburgh was, by far, the best location.

Father strongly welcomed this because he realized that the federal government had much deeper pockets for development than the city of Newburgh. He persuaded the City Council to sell the airport to the Army for one dollar.

Since then, West Point cadets learned to fly there during and after WWII. It then became the headquarters of the Eastern Air Defense Command. In 1970 it was deactivated, and acquired by the New York Transportation Authority, although the Air National Guard and the Marine Corps still use it. More buffer land was purchased then, in addition to the farmland already acquired during Nelson Rockefeller’s governorship, for development and support of the airport. In 1990, American Airlines began scheduled service.

Father lived to fly out with his family, (including me) on the first commercial flight, fifteen years ago. I had also attended the very first opening ceremony in a tiny hangar near 17-K, and many subsequent ceremonies. I am happy to see that Newburgh is a river port, a cross roads of major highways, and has a fine airport, all of which contribute to its economic prosperity.

Passengers check in for the first commercial flight, in 1990 

Also see this article: Stewart Airport To Be Renamed (December 17-18, 2005)

National Express Corporation, the company that operates Stewart International Airport at Newburgh, is going to change the name of the airport to New York-Hudson Valley International Airport, MidHudsonNews.com has learned....

Stewart’s daughter, Mary Stewart Hafer told MidHudsonNews.com on Friday that she is quite upset about the name change. She had assured her father she would support the airport’s name for the long haul.

“I promised him when he was alive that I would do everything in my power to see that the name wasn’t changed,” she said. “He thought about the fact that it might be changed after he was dead and I promised him then that I would do whatever I could to see that they wouldn’t do that.”

Archie Stewart’s grandson, Thomas Hafer, is furious about the name change. “If the airport were named Rockefeller or Roosevelt the name would never be changed, and it is shameful to take advantage of those who have done so much for Newburgh but who have no political power,” he said. “If a more descriptive name is needed, the Airport could be called Stewart-Newburgh, or Stewart-Hudson, much like Washington Reagan.”

Hafer said Newburgh “should be proud to have citizens like Archie Stewart, and should not allow their names to be stricken from their rightful place. What message does this send to other citizens who wish to help the city?” He called on elected officials of Newburgh “to overrule this callous and short-sighted name change.”

Also see: Slab of airport history is back in Stewart family hands

Stewart will keep its name - for now
Times Herald-Record
April 20, 206

- Finally, word came from Great Britain. The Stewart name change is officially on hold.

In a letter to New York state officials, Phil White, CEO of National Express Group, the British company that runs the airport, said that plans to rename it New York Hudson Valley International Airport are being reconsidered.

The letter follows months of protests from local residents and two stern letters from the state Department of Transportation.

"Without the support of our stakehold- ers, we have no business and no long- term future," White wrote, promising that Stewartís future name is "actively under discussion."

He didni't say when a decision would be made, which troubled Mary Stewart Hafer, daughter of airport benefactor Archie Stewart.

"I think they're stalling," she said. "When they think things are quiet, they will present it again."

But airport spokeswoman Tanya Vanasse says the owners are sincere, and want to include the Stewart history while add- ing a geographical identifier.

GOVERNOR PATERSON ANNOUNCES STEWART AIRPORT TO RETAIN NAME
Lease Restatement Will Secure Historical Name
July 25, 2008

Governor David A. Paterson today announced that under a proposed amended and restated lease agreement for Stewart International Airport with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the air facility will continue to be named in honor of the Stewart family.

On July 29, the Stewart Airport Commission will be considering the adoption of a resolution in support of an amendment and restatement of the lease between the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Port Authority. Under the terms of the restated lease, the airport’s name will remain Stewart International Airport for the next 92 years, the duration of the lease.

“Stewart International Airport is more than just a critically important transportation hub for the lower Hudson Valley; it is part of the region’s history,” said Governor Paterson. “While the previous lease holder sought to strip Stewart Airport of its distinguished name, I am so pleased that the Port Authority has committed to recognizing the airport’s connection to the Stewart family.”

Stewart International Airport on Wikipedia