Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Digging Deeper

Tombstone Tuesday 8 Sept 2009
Dudley Wheeler Stewart


Dudley Wheeler Stewart, brother to my maternal grandfather, Evans Stewart, lies buried next to my grandparents. I have no photograph of him even though it seems that I should. His father, Charles Edward Stewart, named this second son after HIS father. It may be that his wife named her first child and he named the next.

When visiting North Stonington, CT where both boys were born, the North Stonington Historical Library has family group sheets created by local genealogist and Stewart family member, Mrs. A. Morgan Stewart and I had several generations copied for me. It is amazing how accurate the information on them has proved to be.

Dudley was considered a "black sheep" of the family but I have found no juicy tidbits to confirm this oral story. As you can see by his gravestone, he is a WWI Veteran, serving for RI. His draft cards for WWI and WWI give me a general description of him and I can tell you he looked nothing like his brother, my grandfather.

It says in Mrs. Stewart's work, that he was a "singing cop" and yet, none of the census records, city directories or draft cards say anything about that! I admit to being intrigued, so I am "digging deeper". Why? Because my daughter asked me who he was when she was standing at his grave. I think there is a story here and I'd like to know more!

First question in my mind is why is he not buried with his wife Stella and why can't I find him in the 1930 census?

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