“Curiosity is what distinguishes us from the cabbages:” 110th Anniversary of Preserving and Sharing Scudder Family History By Margery Boyden, Scudder Association Foundation Historian, © Scudder Association Foundation, 2022 A group of Scudders, who with a sense for...
Most of us want to know who our ancestors are and from whence they came. For some, this means a family history mystery that requires gathering enough clues to put the puzzle pieces together accurately. This is especially true for those who feel a gnawing skepticism about speculations some have made.
This article is an excerpt from Margery Boyden’s, A Guidebook to the Records for Samuel and Lydia (Harrison) Stewart:
New Perspectives from New Data and from Reviewing 100 Years of Collaborative Research, Part I, (Electronic version, Scudder Family Store, 2022).
Just as Isaiah1 Harrison, Sr. was termed “enigmatic” in Chapter One, Dr. John1 Stewart’s origins are also cloaked in mystery. In his records, Stewart left no personal statement about where he came from, and no parent in New York or other colonies or in the Old World has claimed him in their will or other record.
When Isaiah1 Harrison, Sr. took over the blacksmith shop at Oyster Bay in 1687, Joseph2 Ludlam’s cooper shop was next door. Nearby was the home and shop where the shoemaker, Gideon2 Wright (Peter1) had lived before he died in 1685, leaving his widow Elizabeth2 (Townsend) Wright with eight minor children to raise.
While doing a deep dive to learn the New York background of Samuel2 and Lydia2 (Harrison) Stewart, I discovered that if one were to ignore the history of Isaiah1 Harrison, Sr.’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Elizabeth2 (Townsend) (Wright) Ludlam of Oyster Bay, Isaiah1, Sr.’s history would be sorely deficient.
In his book, Settlers by the Long Grey Trail, J. Houston Harrison must not have been fully satisfied with his speculation that Isaiah1 Harrison, Sr.’s second wife Abigail was a Smith, for he made an extensive search of various genealogies that included thirteen families: the “Carpenters, Davises, Hallocks, Lawrences, Loyds, Smiths, Townsends, Underhills, Warrens, Weekes, Whiteheads, Willets and Wrights”
This investigation of Long Island records that pertains to Lydia2 (Harrison) Stewart’s Long Island roots and relationships confirms there are errors in some speculative relationships proposed in Setters by the Long Grey Trail, a comprehensive history of the Isaiah1 Harrison, Sr. family that was published in 1935 by author J. Houston Harrison,
In exploring motives for their move, since finding Isaiah1, Sr.’s earliest record at Long Island, there are new possibilities to consider in the hunt for Mrs. Abigail Harrison’s identity. See Chapter One, page 2, especially since this record includes persons from Isaiah1’s soon to be in-laws’ relatives. These were DAVID3 SCUDDER, David3’s stepbrother JOHN2 JONES, and ROBERT ARTHUR, Thomas2 Scudder, Jr. and Mary (Ludlam) Scudder’s son-in-law
So far in this investigation, Isaiah1 Harrison, Sr.’s mother-in-law, Elizabeth2 (Townsend) (Wright) Ludlam, has been at the hub of relationships to nearly every person named with Isaiah1 Harrison, Sr. in his Long Island records. Although, there is no reason to believe that William1 Lawrence, Sr. and John1 Townsend I had any family relationship, as shown by historical records,
Accurate history and biography are based on a correct understanding of a persons’ identity and relationships. For more than seventy years, Samuel2 Stewart of Augusta County, Virginia has presented his many descendants with opportunities for family history adventures and many misadventures.
In the preceding chapters, this account of Samuel2 Stewart’s story from his Guidebook to research about him has begun with the background of Samuel2’s Long Island roots and relationships. But the documentary history specific to Samuel2 Stewart begins with the Sussex County, Delaware will of his father, Dr. John1 Stewart/Stuart. Samuel2’s father’s will, dated 1 September 1704