What I Know (or What I Think I Know) About Will Stewart

My grandmother told me one time that someone (if she told me whom, I don't remember) described her father to her by saying that "he drank and he gambled."  Since everything comes in threes, I thought to myself that he probably womanized, too.  But I never said that to my grandmother.  My wife, Sharon, insists he most likely lied, also.

This leads to a bit of a problem, trying to track down a man more than 100 years after he disappeared.  All the information I have about him, even if it comes from government documents such as military records and census lists, is information he gave someone.  Thus, he just as easily could have lied to the mustering officer or the census taker as he could have to his wife and friends.

So, I think I know that William David Stewart was born in July 1870 in Louisiana.  In 1898, he was living in Denison, Grayson County, Texas.  In April of that year, the Spanish-American War began, President McKinley requested volunteers for the woefully undermanned Army, and Will, along with many other men in Denison, joined Troop L of the First Texas Volunteer Cavalry.  This unit, and those in many other states, developed into our National Guard system.

When Will joined the cavalry, he reported his birthplace as Bienville, Louisiana.  Since the town of Bienville is located in Bienville Parish, it is not clear whether Will was born in town or in the country.

Although the Spanish-American War lasted only about ten weeks, Will drilled at a fort near Houston, Texas, and achieved the rank of Corporal, until his discharge in November 1898.  On November 24, 1898 in Denison, Will married Fannie Matilda Simmons (b. February 26, 1879, d. November 12, 1959).

On January 16, 1900 in Denison, Fannie gave birth to their first child, Ernest Guy Stewart (d. December 28, 1973).  The 1900 Census enumerates this small family in Denison and records Will's occupation as a carpenter for the railroad.  This was probably the Missouri-Kansas-Texas ("Katy") Railroad, which ran through Denison.

I discovered only recently, in going through my grandmother's genealogy research, that Fannie gave birth to two other boys before my grandmother was born.  My grandmother reports that James Lewis Stewart was born in July 1901 and died May 8, 1902.  An unnamed (or unknown named) boy was born in 1902 and died the same year.  It would not be surprising if he was stillborn or died very shortly after birth.

On November 29, 1903, Fannie gave birth in Roswell, New Mexico Territory to my grandmother, Mabel Claire Stewart (d. December 28, 1998).  If my grandmother knew why the family had moved to Roswell, she did not tell me.  However, Will did not witness the birth, as he abandoned Fannie and Ernest three weeks before Mabel was born.

Two of Fannie's brothers drove a wagon and team from Denison to Roswell, a distance of around 500 miles, to pick up Fannie, her children, and her few belongings to return her to Denison.  Under Texas law at that time, Fannie had to wait seven years to file for divorce for abandonment.  The divorce was granted on August 21, 1911.  On April 10, 1912, Fannie married John Wilson "Uncle Jack" Smith, with whom she later had three children.

Except for a somewhat tantalizing message from Will delivered through a relative to Mabel many years later (and on which I will write more in a future post), that is pretty much the extent of Will's biography.  The few documents I have concerning Will reveal some finer details, or at least lead to some interesting speculation.  But who this man was, who his parents were, where he came from, and where he went, are all mysteries I hope to solve.