I am fortunate in that my parents and grandparents took photographs and preserved the photos of the generations before them. My paternal great-aunt Margaret Steward (1888–1975) was the genealogist of the Steward and Beeckman families, and she was careful to identify the sitters in family photos whenever she could. Through her efforts, I have three photographs of the Steward Homestead in Goshen, New York, from the 1850s. These pictures show different collections of Stewards, Whites, Le Roys, and Mariés, the parents, siblings, and other kin of my great-great-grandparents, John Steward and Catharine Elizabeth White.
The one of my great-great-grandparents and their three children (above) is the easiest to decode. My great-grandfather is the youngest child in the photo, carefully hovering over his toy cannon, still a family heirloom more than 150 years later. His older brother, John, is dressed for play, unlike Campbell in his velvet dress and lace collar. Between them, holding a straw hat, is Harriet Le Roy Steward, the family beauty. After her death in 1872, her widower (Augustus Van Horne Stuyvesant) took their three children, the youngest only a year old, to live with Mrs. John Steward’s mother on West Twenty-first Street in New York: four generations of Whites, Stewards, and Stuyvesants lived under one roof for more than thirty years.
The next photo, taken the same day (note Aunt Harriet’s hat and John and Catharine Steward’s clothes), shows a larger group, and includes my great-great-great-grandmother, Harriet Banyer Le Roy (1797–1885), from 1816 Mrs. Campbell Patrick White. (She is shown in profile, leaning against her daughter Ann White and next to Catharine White Steward.) I am more confident about the women in the picture than the men, as Aunt Margaret wasn’t so sure herself: the three mysteries are the elderly gentleman seated at left, either Campbell Patrick White or John Steward’s uncle Gabriel Steward, both of whom died in 1859; the man in the cravat, standing at center left, identified as Daniel Jackson Steward (1816–1898), John’s brother; and, between his White nieces, Harriet White’s brother Goldsborough Le Roy Banyer (1802–1866). The women in the photograph share a family look, as they are (from left) Catharine Steward’s sisters Cornelia Le Roy White (1825–1911, seated), Mary Martha White (1822–1903, standing in the doorway), and Ann White (1820–1914, behind her mother).
As I look at the photo, it occurs to me that the fellow with the cravat, who does not particularly resemble Uncle Jackson Steward (see the final photo below), might actually be John Campbell White (1817–1904) – which would account for all of Campbell and Harriet White’s surviving children circa 1859.
The third photo in this series might date from 1856, as that was the year in which Rachel Young Steward (1829–1865) married Camille Marié (1826–1886). But what is most interesting about this photo is the grouping of the family servants, all of whom – save for the Jarvis youth – are identified on the back of the image. They are (from left) Mary Jarvis, Silvester Jarvis, Charles O’Fake, Jarvis child (seated), Betsy Mann, John Steward’s aunt Sally Steward (1779–1859), his half-sister Rachel Steward Marié, her husband Camille Marié, Charlie Laws, Uncle Jackson Steward, and Charlie Steward. (In 1860, Sylvester Jarvis, 48, a farmer, was living in Goshen with his wife Mary Ann and five children; Mary Ann’s mother, Sarah Low [Laws?], was also a member of the household.)
My great-great-grandfather was more or less ruined in the Crash of 1873, at which time the Steward Homestead passed to Uncle Jackson Steward. My grandfather grew up in a house next door, built by his father (Campbell, the boy in the lace collar), but after college he moved to Boston, married my grandmother, and hardly ever returned to Goshen; the Steward houses were demolished in the 1960s. (During the 1950s, my great-uncle John Steward wrote regretfully of the family’s dispersal: they were now “All far from Goshen, which I, at least, regard as home.”)
In these photographs I can trace family likenesses. The Stewards were fair and redheaded; the Whites were pale with blue-black hair. Harder to know, at this late date, whether the elderly men shown in the second photo were Campbell White and his brother Henry or Gabriel Steward and Le Roy Banyer – and there is probably no one left who could identify them!
You’re the best. I am so grateful that you have organized and maintained our family’s history, dear bro.
Thanks, Meg! XOX
Great photos! I have nothing that goes back so far but the family tradition started in the late 1800’s was to take four generation pictures. We have a visual lineage of Albees, Monroe’s, Maces through eight generations.
Thank you, and congratulations on that four-generation tradition!
Where was the house located in Goshen?
Georgeann, it was on Greenwich Avenue, I think, and since then demolished and replaced by a cloverleaf.
I have nothing that goes back as far as you do with the kind of identifications you’ve got. But we’ve had family reunions on both sides of the family for years–65 at least on my father’s side, because I remember going to them as a child. On my mother’s, they began probably 40 years ago, when I wasn’t living in the area–western WA. My father was compulsive about having a group picture, and had a camera with a 10 second delay, allowing him to set up the picture and then race to get in it. When it was developed 8 1/2 by 11, he made a chart with all the heads numbered, and listed who everyone was. For each family, all those pictures and diagrams went in a 3 ring binder. Unfortunately, when he died in 2000, the notebooks went missing. One’s now surfaced. The picture habit did remain, but nobody kept up the habit of making the chart and identification list. I’ve tried to take over that responsibility, but it is very difficult as children grow up to keep track of who’s who. I now have a digital camera of my own, and am following my father’s tradition. So while there are holes in the past record, I’m determined to keep the record clear for family historians to come.
Great story, photos… your reference to stories and photos are inspiring for me to apply to my own family story. thank you.
Hi Scott,
Just found this very interesting site with the great photographs. We have a very nice portrait of Gabriel Steward on my wall. I was astonished to find he may be in your photograph! Many years ago you sent me a very nice geneology of the Stewards- thanks for your efforts in keeping all the history going. Christopher Steward Francklyn
Christopher, it’s nice to hear from you! We should connect some time to share our family portraits and other info.
Hi Scot, I have lived in Goshen for quite some time.I found the pictures and story of your extended family fascinating! Do you have any other photos of the property and the three homes that were there? Any idea on how many acres it was in total? Thank you.Jim
Jim, I think the person to look for is Mildred Parker Seese, who wrote extensively about Goshen and Orange County generally. I do have some mystery pieces about which I’ve written in Vita Brevis (you can start here for the major series: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/08/family-papers/), so if you haven’t read all of my VB posts (or Mrs. Seese) those would represent most of what I know about the family in Goshen.
Dear Mr. Scott, I have a soldier who participated in the Ameican Revolution.His name was included with given names in my family for two generations forward until my great, great grandmother, lest the relationship was not clear, named her last child Frances LeRoy Smith. Frances, of course, is a girl. My certainty that he is mine, is his death on record in 1822 in Johanna’s, (his daughter’s home) on Henry Street in NYC. Two years before his death, his sister Susan Meetz (?) attests at probabte on 15 Sep 1820 in which his rank Captain and his inferred death year “Abt 1820″ identifies him. He actually dies Feb 21, 1822- 75 Henry Street – 95- State of New York Old- Age – St. Patrick’s ” His alias name is “Thomas Adams”; his middle initial is “C”. Years ago, I had a few pleasant times with Prentiss Glacier in Florida. In fact, I drove him with many volumes of his to the LDS library. At that time he told me the Frans LeRoy confusion in Dutchess County was mind-boggling; there were four or five of them, in the 1700’s: adoptions into other homes from whom the child carried the adoptee’s name, and other tales. I am an only child and when my mother died in 1964, my father moved into my home. I sensed his loneliness and this quest became our shared journey. Well, I am almost 88, and I’ll be meeting him soon, and I just can’t admit I still do not know from whence he came on the LeRoy side. The Frans that was decided on years ago, never did jell with me. Thank you for reading my tale. Sincerely, Diane Drugge
Source Citation: Letters of Administration (NY County, NY) 1743-1866;index, 1743-1910:Author: New York. Surrogate’s Court (New York County);Probate Place:New York, New York. Source Information: Ancestry.com
I have an appointment at NYG&B in NYC, NY, with Susan Miller next Monday, the 20th.