Sarah (Sally) Jane Stewart

Sarah_Jane_Stewart_about_1879

• Death Notes
  • Burial: Lot 647 Everglade, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala- Cynwyd, PA (Source: (1) West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA., (2)
    
    (Obituary)
    A MOTHER OF TWELVE
    
    Tradition has it that there lies sleeping in the churchyard of Old Pine Street a mother of twenty-one children; but in these days of small families, we marvel at a mother of twelve, ten of whom have passed the age of twenty-one and seven have married and given her thirteen grandchildren.  Such was Sarah Jane Stewart, wife of James Stewart, who smilingly faced the beautiful adventure and peacefully closed for the last time her weary eyelids on November 6th.  No one ever lived with such serenity or bestowed with such a prodigal hand the bounties of her love.  Service to her was not only an ideal, but a joyful reality, to which she devoted without stint her whole existence; and her family is her monument.
    Two weeks prior to the end of this noble life, which was begun in this city in 1852, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart moved into the new home purchased by their daughter, Martha, at 6124 Columbia Avenue, and with them went the mother's aunt and valiant right arm, Margaret Lowry, who is bright and vigorous after eighty-three summers.  Now this large family of former days, which occupied two pews at church, is reduced to three, for the others all live elsewhere.
    One of four children who reached maturity, Mrs. Stewart was the oldest daughter of John and Martha Lowry Stewart, and was reared in the old Union Presbyterian Church on Thirteenth Street above Pine.  One sister survives her, Lillian Craig Stewart, a member of Bethany Temple.  More than thirty years ago Mr. and Mrs. Stewart brought their letters from the South Church, then at Third and Redwood Streets, to Old Pine Street, where Dr. Gibbons received into the church the four oldest children and baptized the six youngest.
    With the growth of her family, Mrs. Stewart became more and more absorbed in her home life, until it became difficult to persuade her to leave it even to visit those of her children who had married.
    Except for the seven additional sons and daughters who married into the family and were received by her always with every affection bestowed upon her own, very few were able therefore to appreciate and enjoy the unusual loveliness of her personality.  But the exquisite sweetness of her character and the silent force of her example pervaded the home life and influenced profoundly those whom she saw frequently.  The writer in twenty years of intimate association with her never once heard an unkind word or unjust judgement come from her lips.  When talking her face was wont to light up and she died as she lived with a smile.
    At her funeral were two who had seen her married--her aunt, Margaret, and a cousin of Mr. Stewart's, Rev. J. Gray Bolton, D.D., who assisted Mr Lukens in the service and spoke most fittingly and with personal knowledge of her wonderful life.
    Of her children, only two now live in the city--Martha L. Stewart and Edwin F. Stewart.
    The others are Dr. William T., James B. and Nancy Rhoda Stewart, Mrs. Henry J. Gibbons, Mrs. George E. Bean, Mrs. Nathaniel Gildersleeve, Mrs. Henry A. Hoyt and Mrs. Howard A. Stockwell.
    
    (Obituary written by her son in law, Henry Johns Gibbons, the Old Pine Street News, Philadelphia, Pa., December 1918.)
    
    Death Notice:  STEWART: of 6124 Columbia Ave, Nov 6, Sarah Jane, wife of James Stewart.  Services and int private. - Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov 9, 1918
    

• General Notes
  • I found no record of Sarah Jane or Robert Stewart's baptisms in the Union Presbyterian Church Baptism records, 1842-1891.  In 1852 the baptisms are few and only recorded starting in May with one child baptized at that time but no name given.  The records skip from 1856 to 1860.
    
    James Bolton Stewart kept approximately 800 letters  written by her and his sisters and brothers between 1900 and 1920.
    
    
    Baptism: February 1852, prob. Union Presbyterian Church, Phila., PA
    Census 1: 1860, Phila., PA., Ward 4, Western div., Age 9, born in PA., attended school. (Source: (1) 1860 U.S. Census Returns, Philadelphia, Pa., Ward 4, Western division.
    Census 2: 1870, Phila., PA., Ward 4, District 12, Age 18, Seamstress, both parents foreign born (Source: (1) 1870 U.S. Census Returns, Philadelphia, PA, Ward 4, 12 Dist.
    Census 3: 1880, Phila., PA, Ward 1, ED 10, wife, age 28, Occ. Keeping house
    Church Member: 1869, Admitted on examination of faith to Union Presbyterian Church.
    Death record: Nephritis- cause of death
    Religion: Presbyterian
    Residences: 613 S. 8th St., 1626 S. 6th; S. 5th & Greenwich;1228(1238)S. 57th; 6124 Columbia A., Phila., PA 

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