General Notes

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This family was of "The Cowpasture Stuarts" located in the ShenandoahValley, Virginia. Ralph was an indian fighter at 14 years of age. When  Ralph was a teenage boy during an indian raid, his father was captured  and burned at the stake in the presence of his young son James Jr., who  was also captured and carried away by the indians, but later escaped  James Stuart, Sr. left among his children 3 sons: James, John,and Ralph. Wadell locates the date of the event as Februray,1757 (page 511,Vol.2).  The second settler of present day Wyoming County, West Virginia. There is some debate on Ralph's date of birth. Some show it as 17 Dec 1752, others show 17 Jan 1749. I use the date's I copied off of his headstone.  Ralph was commissioned captain in 1773 by Lord Dunmore, Governor of  Virginia, and served as a ranger. He was at Point Pleasent under Gen.  Lewis in the "Battle of Point Pleasent", fought against the Indians led  by Chief Cornstalk, in 1774.  In 1778, his commission was renewed by Patrick Henry, then Governor of  Virginia, was ordered with his company to South Carolina to join the army  under Gen. Green. Fought at Guilford Courthouse, Hot Water, Ground  Squirrel, Charlottesville, and Yorktown. During one of these engagements,  he received a sabre wound in the right arm, inflicted by English General  Tarleton. When Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Gen. Washington made Ralph one of the guard that kept the English commander a prisoner of war.  After peace with the Indians was made, Ralph and his brother James (as  teenage boys), went on a prolonged hunting trip. Ralph while alone in the  camp, was set upon by a band of indians, who hung around for some time  amusing themselves by abusing and threating him, while selecting articles  to carry away, eating and being offensive in pillaging and destroying the camp and supplies, then upon leaving they carried away the furs, pelts  and other articles they desired to take.  The following night the 2 brothers followed the trail of the indians,  slipped upon their camp and killed five of them. This act was indeed of  great satisfaction and revenge for them, but was a violation of the law  after the "Declaration Of Peace" had been signed by the government, and  made them liable for prosecution for murder.  Later Ralph told of the incident to a hunting companion, who afterwards  became a rival for the affections of a young lady and therefore his  enemy, thus the "Friend" swore out a warrant for murder and Ralph's  arrest, whereupon the two brothers Ralph and James Stuart left the  community and went to an uninhabited area of "Wilderness of the New  River", where they set up camp and stayed for a period of eighteen  months, trapping and hunting and seeing only two other persons during  that time. Then the Governor of Virginia later pardoned the brothers.  Ralph and his brothers hated, and were feared by indians and in the Army  or not Ralph and others became famous attacking 96 indians, though  outnumbered, they rescued six white prisoners. He was commissioned a Captian of Indian Rangers, by Lord Dunmore,Governor  of Virginia prior to the Revolutionary War.  He married 1st Mary Elliott abt. 1768 in Augusta County, Virginia. She  was born bef. 1750 and died abt. 1787. He married 2nd. Mary Clay June 25,  1788 in Montgomery County, Virginia daughter of Mitchell Clay and Phoebe  Belcher she was born abt. 1762 in Bedford County, Virginia and died April  25, 1851 in Wyoming County, (West) Virginia.  Yantis also has an interesting charts showing migration patterns,  acccording to this chart, Ralph's family moved from Scotland or Ireland  to Fredrick, Shenandoah, Rockingham, Augusta then to Tazewell counties.  Information was based on a Revolutionary War pension application, probaly  the one mentioned on page 212. According to his Revolutionary War pension  record, on microfilm in Charleston, he died November 18, 1835 and was  awarded a pension of $60.00 in 1823.  A letter in the file from a friend or relative expressed relief that the  pension had been awarded, as "Old Mr. S" was in poor circumstances,  annually, he appointed an attorney in fact to pick up the pension for  him, describing himself as an invalid often, the attorney in fact was  Anthony Lawson, who also served as his administeror after Ralph's wife  relinquished her right to serve.[22916872.ged]

This family was of "The Cowpasture Stuarts" located in the ShenandoahValley, Virginia. Ralph was an indian fighter at 14 years of age. When  Ralph was a teenage boy during an indian raid, his father was captured  and burned at the stake in the presence of his young son James Jr., who  was also captured and carried away by the indians, but later escaped  James Stuart, Sr. left among his children 3 sons: James, John,and Ralph. Wadell locates the date of the event as Februray,1757 (page 511,Vol.2).  The second settler of present day Wyoming County, West Virginia. There is some debate on Ralph's date of birth. Some show it as 17 Dec 1752, others show 17 Jan 1749. I use the date's I copied off of his headstone.  Ralph was commissioned captain in 1773 by Lord Dunmore, Governor of  Virginia, and served as a ranger. He was at Point Pleasent under Gen.  Lewis in the "Battle of Point Pleasent", fought against the Indians led  by Chief Cornstalk, in 1774.  In 1778, his commission was renewed by Patrick Henry, then Governor of  Virginia, was ordered with his company to South Carolina to join the army  under Gen. Green. Fought at Guilford Courthouse, Hot Water, Ground  Squirrel, Charlottesville, and Yorktown. During one of these engagements,  he received a sabre wound in the right arm, inflicted by English General  Tarleton. When Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Gen. Washington made Ralph one of the guard that kept the English commander a prisoner of war.  After peace with the Indians was made, Ralph and his brother James (as  teenage boys), went on a prolonged hunting trip. Ralph while alone in the  camp, was set upon by a band of indians, who hung around for some time  amusing themselves by abusing and threating him, while selecting articles  to carry away, eating and being offensive in pillaging and destroying the camp and supplies, then upon leaving they carried away the furs, pelts  and other articles they desired to take.  The following night the 2 brothers followed the trail of the indians,  slipped upon their camp and killed five of them. This act was indeed of  great satisfaction and revenge for them, but was a violation of the law  after the "Declaration Of Peace" had been signed by the government, and  made them liable for prosecution for murder.  Later Ralph told of the incident to a hunting companion, who afterwards  became a rival for the affections of a young lady and therefore his  enemy, thus the "Friend" swore out a warrant for murder and Ralph's  arrest, whereupon the two brothers Ralph and James Stuart left the  community and went to an uninhabited area of "Wilderness of the New  River", where they set up camp and stayed for a period of eighteen  months, trapping and hunting and seeing only two other persons during  that time. Then the Governor of Virginia later pardoned the brothers.  Ralph and his brothers hated, and were feared by indians and in the Army  or not Ralph and others became famous attacking 96 indians, though  outnumbered, they rescued six white prisoners. He was commissioned a Captian of Indian Rangers, by Lord Dunmore,Governor  of Virginia prior to the Revolutionary War.  He married 1st Mary Elliott abt. 1768 in Augusta County, Virginia. She  was born bef. 1750 and died abt. 1787. He married 2nd. Mary Clay June 25,  1788 in Montgomery County, Virginia daughter of Mitchell Clay and Phoebe  Belcher she was born abt. 1762 in Bedford County, Virginia and died April  25, 1851 in Wyoming County, (West) Virginia.  Yantis also has an interesting charts showing migration patterns,  acccording to this chart, Ralph's family moved from Scotland or Ireland  to Fredrick, Shenandoah, Rockingham, Augusta then to Tazewell counties.  Information was based on a Revolutionary War pension application, probaly  the one mentioned on page 212. According to his Revolutionary War pension  record, on microfilm in Charleston, he died November 18, 1835 and was  awarded a pension of $60.00 in 1823.  A letter in the file from a friend or relative expressed relief that the  pension had been awarded, as "Old Mr. S" was in poor circumstances,  annually, he appointed an attorney in fact to pick up the pension for  him, describing himself as an invalid often, the attorney in fact was  Anthony Lawson, who also served as his administeror after Ralph's wife  relinquished her right to serve.[32916872.ged]

This family was of "The Cowpasture Stuarts" located in the ShenandoahValley, Virginia. Ralph was an indian fighter at 14 years of age. When  Ralph was a teenage boy during an indian raid, his father was captured  and burned at the stake in the presence of his young son James Jr., who  was also captured and carried away by the indians, but later escaped  James Stuart, Sr. left among his children 3 sons: James, John,and Ralph. Wadell locates the date of the event as Februray,1757 (page 511,Vol.2).  The second settler of present day Wyoming County, West Virginia. There is some debate on Ralph's date of birth. Some show it as 17 Dec 1752, others show 17 Jan 1749. I use the date's I copied off of his headstone.  Ralph was commissioned captain in 1773 by Lord Dunmore, Governor of  Virginia, and served as a ranger. He was at Point Pleasent under Gen.  Lewis in the "Battle of Point Pleasent", fought against the Indians led  by Chief Cornstalk, in 1774.  In 1778, his commission was renewed by Patrick Henry, then Governor of  Virginia, was ordered with his company to South Carolina to join the army  under Gen. Green. Fought at Guilford Courthouse, Hot Water, Ground  Squirrel, Charlottesville, and Yorktown. During one of these engagements,  he received a sabre wound in the right arm, inflicted by English General  Tarleton. When Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Gen. Washington made Ralph one of the guard that kept the English commander a prisoner of war.  After peace with the Indians was made, Ralph and his brother James (as  teenage boys), went on a prolonged hunting trip. Ralph while alone in the  camp, was set upon by a band of indians, who hung around for some time  amusing themselves by abusing and threating him, while selecting articles  to carry away, eating and being offensive in pillaging and destroying the camp and supplies, then upon leaving they carried away the furs, pelts  and other articles they desired to take.  The following night the 2 brothers followed the trail of the indians,  slipped upon their camp and killed five of them. This act was indeed of  great satisfaction and revenge for them, but was a violation of the law  after the "Declaration Of Peace" had been signed by the government, and  made them liable for prosecution for murder.  Later Ralph told of the incident to a hunting companion, who afterwards  became a rival for the affections of a young lady and therefore his  enemy, thus the "Friend" swore out a warrant for murder and Ralph's  arrest, whereupon the two brothers Ralph and James Stuart left the  community and went to an uninhabited area of "Wilderness of the New  River", where they set up camp and stayed for a period of eighteen  months, trapping and hunting and seeing only two other persons during  that time. Then the Governor of Virginia later pardoned the brothers.  Ralph and his brothers hated, and were feared by indians and in the Army  or not Ralph and others became famous attacking 96 indians, though  outnumbered, they rescued six white prisoners. He was commissioned a Captian of Indian Rangers, by Lord Dunmore,Governor  of Virginia prior to the Revolutionary War.  He married 1st Mary Elliott abt. 1768 in Augusta County, Virginia. She  was born bef. 1750 and died abt. 1787. He married 2nd. Mary Clay June 25,  1788 in Montgomery County, Virginia daughter of Mitchell Clay and Phoebe  Belcher she was born abt. 1762 in Bedford County, Virginia and died April  25, 1851 in Wyoming County, (West) Virginia.  Yantis also has an interesting charts showing migration patterns,  acccording to this chart, Ralph's family moved from Scotland or Ireland  to Fredrick, Shenandoah, Rockingham, Augusta then to Tazewell counties.  Information was based on a Revolutionary War pension application, probaly  the one mentioned on page 212. According to his Revolutionary War pension  record, on microfilm in Charleston, he died November 18, 1835 and was  awarded a pension of $60.00 in 1823.  A letter in the file from a friend or relative expressed relief that the  pension had been awarded, as "Old Mr. S" was in poor circumstances,  annually, he appointed an attorney in fact to pick up the pension for  him, describing himself as an invalid often, the attorney in fact was  Anthony Lawson, who also served as his administeror after Ralph's wife  relinquished her right to serve.