By Tom Perry
Sometimes, we forget that Archibald and Elizabeth Stuart had ten other children besides their most famous son, James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart. We thought it would interest our readers to learn something about these “other” Stuart children. We know more about the lives of some children than about others. They are presented in birth order.
The first child of Archibald and Elizabeth Stuart was a daughter named Anne Dabney Stuart. She was born on March/April 24, 1818, at Chalk Level in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, the home of her maternal grandmother Bethenia, who was born at Laurel Hill in 1780 during the American Revolution. Anne married Mr. James Peirce of Wythe County, and they had three children: Mary Belle, Elizabeth Pannill, and David Stuart Peirce. Anne died in Pulaski, Virginia, in 1846 and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery beside her brother, David Pannill Stuart. This author believes a contagion claimed the lives of both Stuart siblings.
The second child was Bethenia Frances Stuart, born on September 10, 1819, at Seneca Hill, Campbell County, Virginia. She married the Reverend Nicholas Chevalier, who was originally from Connecticut. They would have four children: Archibald, Bertha, Lilly, Alexander, and William. Bethenia lived until 1910. She died on October 25, 1905, and is buried in Eastern Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.
In 1821, Archibald Stuart moved his family to St. Louis, Missouri, where his father, Alexander Stuart, served as a United States Judge in Illinois and Missouri. It was here that their third child, Mary Tucker Stuart, was born on July 20, 1821, at her paternal grandfather’s home. Mary married Dr. Tazewell Headen of Floyd, Virginia. They lived at Glenanna. The house still stands in Floyd, Virginia. Dr. Headen represented Floyd County in the Virginia Legislature and died during the Civil War after reportedly a bout with mental illness. Mary moved to Saltville after the War, where she taught school in a cabin that still stands, once home to J. E. B. Stuart’s wife, Flora Cooke Stuart. Mary died on May 21, 1888, and is buried beside her parents and brother, William Alexander Stuart, in Elizabeth Cemetery in Saltville, Virginia.
Within two years, the Stuarts had returned to Virginia. On September 10, 1823, their first son, David Pannill, was born at Chalk Level, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, at one o’clock in the morning. David became an attorney and served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1844, which nominated James K. Polk for President of the United States. David died in 1845 of typhoid fever at the age of 23. In 1846, he was remembered by a special order of the Patrick County Court. He is buried beside his sister, Anne Dabney Stuart, in Pulaski’s Oakwood Cemetery.
The fifth child, William Alexander, the first child born at Laurel Hill, appeared at 11 o’clock on May 2, 1826. William first married Mary Taylor Carter, by whom he had three children: Henry Carter, Dale C., and John James Stuart, who became a well-known lawyer in Abingdon, Virginia. After the death of his first wife in 1862, he married Ellen Spiller Brown, the widow of his cousin Alexander Stuart Brown. William and Ellen would have five children: Susan, Alexander, William, Archibald, and James Ewell Brown Stuart.
William was a highly successful businessman who operated a dry goods store in Wytheville. He built a home in Wytheville called Oak Level, which still stands named Loretto. William was a Deputy Clerk of Court in Giles and Wythe counties, the Clerk of Court in Wythe, and the cashier of the Bank of Southwestern Virginia. He operated the salt works in Saltville, Virginia, during and after the Civil War as President of Stuart, Buchanan, and Company. William Alexander Stuart became the largest landowner in southwestern Virginia. He eventually settled in Russell County and founded the Stuart Land and Cattle Company. His son, Henry Carter, served as Governor of Virginia from 1914 to 1918. William died in Philadelphia on February 6, 1892. He is buried in Elizabeth Cemetery in Saltville with his two wives, his parents, and his sister Mary.
The next child was a son, John Dabney Stuart, born on November 15, 1828, at Laurel Hill. John went to Wytheville to school and then to Emory and Henry College. Their uncle, Judge James Ewell Brown of Wythe County, assisted the Stuart brothers, John, William, and J. E. B. Stuart. John studied medicine under his brother-in-law, Dr. Tazewell Headen of Floyd, Virginia, receiving his medical degree in 1851. He practiced medicine in Floyd and Wythe counties. He served in the Civil War as a surgeon in the 54th Virginia Infantry, Army of Tennessee, and practiced medicine in hospitals in Staunton, Charlottesville, and Warrenton. John married Anne Elizabeth Kent of Wythe County, and they had five children: John, Alexander, Elizabeth, Ellen, and Flora. He eventually returned to farming and spent his remaining days in Wythe County. He died in 1877 and is buried in East End Cemetery in Wytheville, Virginia. His home still stands just off the Rural Retreat exit of Interstate 81.
The seventh child was Columbia Lafayette Stuart, born at Laurel Hill on May 28, 1830, and married Peter W. Hairston on November 8, 1849. They made their home in Cooleemee, Davie County, North Carolina. She bore four children: Samuel, Archibald, Agnes, and Elizabeth. None survived to adulthood. Columbia was the favorite sister of J. E. B. Stuart, and he visited her at Cooleemee in the 1850s. She died in 1857 and is buried at Berry Hill, Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Her husband served on the staffs of J. E. B. Stuart and their cousin, Jubal Early, during the War Between the States.
James Ewell Brown Stuart was born at Laurel Hill on February 6, 1833, and died on May 12, 1864, after serving as a Major General in the Army of Northern Virginia. A son, Daniel Patrick Stuart, was born at Laurel Hill on April 21, 1834, and died on July 17, 1834. Virginia Josephine Stuart was born at Laurel Hill on April 21, 1834, and died at home on May 6, 1842. Virginia and Daniel are buried at Laurel Hill in Ararat, Virginia.
Victoria (Virginia) Augusta Stuart was born at Laurel Hill on July 19, 1838, and married Nathaniel A. Boydton (Boyden) of North Carolina. They had one daughter, Columbia Stuart Boydton, who is buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Mount Airy. Nathaniel is buried near Shoals, North Carolina. Victoria attended Salem College in Salem, North Carolina, from January 1852 until June 1853 with her cousin, Bettie Hairston, whom J. E. B. Stuart often wrote to.
