Family of Stewart, Melville Monroe and Thomas, Rilla Elizabeth
Families
| Married | Husband | Stewart, Melville Monroe ( * August 10, 1879 + August 10, 1923 ) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Married | Wife | Thomas, Rilla Elizabeth ( * October 29, 1882 + June 25, 1942 ) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Children | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Name | Birth Date | Death Date |
|---|---|---|
| Stewart, Clovis Edgar | January 24, 1904 | January 17, 1983 |
| Stewart, Annie Lee | 1905 | March 1907 |
| Stewart, Thomas Mahlon | August 29, 1907 | April 5, 1965 |
| Stewart, Clara Ruth | August 17, 1909 | August 16, 1995 |
| Stewart, Laverne | 1913 | December 21, 1918 |
| Stewart, Alice Ophelia | September 25, 1916 | June 7, 1988 |
Narrative
Family History
Stewart Family
Two Stewart brothers, Herschel "Dock" and David Mahlon, came to Texas from Missouri, first settling in Collin County. In the late 1890's they moved to the Brashear area of Hopkins County.
Their father was David Stewart, born in Kentucky in 1811. He married Cynthia White in 1832, and moved to Missouri, finally settling in Bates County. Herschel was the oldest son in a family of eight children; David Mahlon was younger by teweny years, born in 1858.
David Mahlon first came to Texas at age eighteen, but returned to Cass County, Missouri in 1888 to marry Ann Brady. Their five children were born in Denton, Collin and Hopkins Counties: William Brady (1889-1976); James David (1890-1982); Etta Inez (1895-1965); Roy Emmet (1899-1966); and George Evans (1901-1970). David Mahlon died in 1913 and Ann in 1937. Both are buried in the cemetery at Brashear.
Herschel married Sara Elizabeth Jane Hackler of Cass County. Jennie was the daughter of George and Frances Hackler. He was a Methodist minister and farmer who moved to Missouri in 1840 from Grayson County, Virginia. They had two daughters and seven sons, and four of Jennie's brothers enlisted in Missouri Confederate regiments during the Civil War. One brother, Henry, was wounded in the foot and captured at Helena, Arkansas. He died a month later in a Union Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Another brother, William C., was taken prisoner in northern Arkansas and set to Rock Island Prison in Illinois.
Herschel and Jennie had four children, born in Missouri and Kansas: Reese; Annie Laurie (1876-1970); Melville Monroe (1879-1923); and Clara Lee (1882-1965). Jennie died in 1892, and David Mahlon and Ann Stewart helped to raise the children.
In 1898, Herschel and his son Melville came to Hopkins County to build a barn and smokehouse on 160 acres in Brashear already owned by David Mahlon. The rest of the two families joined them in 1899. Herschel and Melville worked building fences and houses in the Brashear and Mahoney communities.
Melville Monroe Stewart married Rilla Elizabeth Thomas in 1901 in Hopkins County. She was born in 1882, the daughter of Laban Henry and Elizabeth M. (Debord) Thomas. She and Melville lived in Brashear, where he farmed and carried mail. Around 1906, they moved to Lufkin for a few years, returning to Brashear around 1910. They had six children: Clovis Edgar (1904-1983); Annie Lee (1905-1907); Thomas Mahlon (1907-1965); Clara Ruth (1909); Laverne (1913-1918); and Alice Ophelia (1916). Melville died of a stroke on his birthday, Aug. 10, 1923, and Rilla died in 1942. They're both buried in the Brashear Cemetery.