The Stuart Family: Builders of Cleydael

Dr. & Mrs. Richard H. Stuart:

Dr. Richard Henry Stuart was born on May 31, 1808. He married Julia Calvert, (b. January 31, 1814, - d. June 8, 1888) daughter of George and Rosalie Stier Calvert of "Riversdale", Prince Georges County, Maryland, ca. 1833 (?) at Riversdale. They were a very close and affectionate couple and had eight children.

Dr. Stuart divided his time between running his considerable landholdings and the practice of medicine. During the War Between the States, he was a key link in the Confederate underground network from Washington through Maryland into Virginia. As a property owner in Washington City, whose holdings included a sizeable stake in the National Hotel, he had legitimate reasons for requesting passes to go there. His wife also had powerful and well connected cousins in Washington and Maryland, some of whom were above suspicion because they were unionists. Furthermore, his substantial property at Cedar Creek included an ample pier, which became a key site for smuggling operations, being conveniently located near the main base of the Confederate Signal Corps.

For his efforts in helping to smuggle scarce and badly needed medicines out of Washington to Richmond, Dr. Stuart was twice imprisoned by the Yankees, once on a prison ship in the Potomac just off the shore from Cedar Grove.

He apparently began engaging in these activities fairly early in the War. General Robert E. Lee wrote to his daughter Annie on December 8, 1861, after her return from Cleyael that "if they catch the Doctor [Doctor Richard Stuart] they will certainly send him to Fort Warren or La Fayette.”

Despite the Stuarts' considerable wealth and property, they experienced much hardship immediately prior and during the Civil War. Their 19 year old daughter Mary died in December 1859. Two years later, another daughter Julia died in childbirth at age 23.

1862 was to be a particularly tragic year for the Stuart family, with the loss of their only two sons, Richard and Calvert, within a week of each other in the scarlet fever epidemic. For all Dr. Stuart's efforts in bringing medicines across the Federal lines for those in desparate need, he was powerless to save his own children. On October 20th, Annie Lee, who had been part of their household for much of the previous year, died at age 23. Ironically, she had gone to Warrenton Springs, North Carolina for her health and there contracted typhoid. At the end ot 1862, Later that year, Dr. Stuart's beloved sister and next door neighbor, Margaret Stuart Lomax died at the relatively young age of 57. She died on Christmas day.

The following year, Agnes Lee's estranged sweetheart and cousin on the Calvert side, Orton Williams, was captured while on a Confederate undercover mission in Franklin, Tennessee and was executed as a spy. On May 6, 1864, son in law William Wellford Randolph, newly promoted as colonel of the 2nd Va. Infantry, was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness, leaving his young widow, Ada Stuart Randolph with an infant son.

The War was a time of tragedy and few families were untouched by its ravages. However, it's fair to say that the Stuarts had more than their share. By the time Booth and Herold showed up on Dr. Stuart's doorstep, the twice-imprisoned Doctor Stuart was well aware of the assassination and in no mood to court further trouble, especially now that the Confederate cause was irretrievably lost.

Dr. Stuart's Ancestry:

Dr. Richard H. Stuart was the great-grandson of Rev. David Stuart (b. ca. 1690 in Invernesshire), the first rector of St. Paul's parish, King George (formerly Stafford) County Virginia, who came to Virginia from Scotland. Dr. David Stuart was descended from the royal Stuarts of Scotland according to some genealogy charts was a younger son of the Earl of Murray. Having supported his cousin, the "Old Pretender" he left Scotland after the failure of the first Jacobite revolt, arriving in Virginia about 1716.

St. Paul's is still standing and is about 3 miles down the road from Cleydael, where Rt. 206 and rt 218 intersect. There are a number of Stuart family plaques in the church and graveyard. Rev. David Stuart's son, Rev. William Stuart succeeded him as the rector of St. Paul's and gave the church it's present communion plate. St. Paul's was closed when the Episcopal church went into a decline in the early 1800's and served as a school for over 20 years, before reopening as a church in 1830, thanks to the efforts of Bishop Meade among others.

Rev. William Stuart married Sarah Foote, who inherited Cedar Grove from her father. One of their sons was Richard Henry Stuart (Sr.) (September 4, 1770 - March 7, 1835) who inherited Cedar Grove upon his mother's death. Richard Stuart married Margaret Robinson, the widow of Daniel McCarty, one of the wealthiest men in the county.

His brother, Dr. David Stuart, moved to Alexandria where he practiced medicine and married Eleanor Calvert Custis, widow of John Parke Custis, Martha Washington's son by her first marriage. They first lived at "Abingdon" plantation, the site of which is on the grounds of Reagan National Airport. They then bought a portion of William Fitzhugh's huge 35 square acre Ravensworth plantation near the present day Annandale and Falls Church. His first wife had apparently been a Fitzhugh but died young. Dr. David Stuart was appointed as the commissioner representing Virginia to determine the boundaries of the District of Columbia and was mentioned in the will of his wife's step-father in law, President Washington, who left Dr. Stuart a dressing table that had been given to him by the minister of France. The descendants fo Dr. and Mrs. David Stuart retained a close relationship with their Custis cousins at Arlington and are frequently mentioned in Agnes Lee's diaries.]

Richard Henry Stuart (Sr.) of Cedar Grove and his wife Margaret Robinson McCarty Stuart had at least three children, in addition to her two daughters from her first marriage. Dr. Richard Henry Stuart, (Jr.) builder of Cleydael was born on May 31, 1808 and his mother died the same day of complications from childbirth. She was only 28 years old.

Dr. Richard Stuart's older siblings were Margaret Stuart (m. Lomax) who owned Panorama Plantation just down the river from Cedar Grove (b. January 15, 1805 - d. December 25, 1862) and is also mentioned in Agnes Lee's diaries; and Judge Charles Edward Stuart (presumably named for his kinsman Bonnie Prince Charlie?) who was to distinguish himself in the public affairs of Virginia and the nation as both a judge and Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. In addition, he had two older half sisters from his mother's first marriage to wealthy landowner Daniel McCarty: Anne Robinson McCarty Lee, (b. 1798, d. 27 Aug 1840 in Passy, France). She married Major Henry ("Black Horse Harry") Lee IV on 29 Mar 1817, and Elizabeth McCarty (b. 1796(?). d. 1879). She married Harry Dent Storke in 1826. (See page on the Lee family, the Stuarts & Straford Hall)

The Stuart Children:

Dr. and Mrs. Stuart had eight children, five daughters and two sons. Sadly, only three daughters were to survive their parents.

1. Rosalie Eugenia Stuart, (1835-1918), was named for her mother's mother, Rosalie Eugenie Stier Calvert. She married her cousin Sholto Turberville Stuart (b. 1821- d. 1884) in 1859. He was a descendant of Dr. Richard Henry Stuart's uncle, Dr. David Stuart and his wife, Eleanor Calvert Custis, who was the aunt of Mrs. Julia Calvert Stuart. Thus, Rosalie Stuart was her husband's cousin on both her mother and father's sides of the family.   Rosalie inherited Cedar Grove upon her parents' death.

2. Margaret Stuart, (b. ca. 1837) was named for her father's mother, Margaret Robinson McCarty Stuart. Young Margaret was favorite of Robert E. Lee's, married her fiancee Major Robert Waterman Hunter, of Winchester, soon after the end of the War. Major Hunter served on the staff of both Generals Edward Johnson and Jubal Early. After the War, he was Secretary of Virginia Military Records and was an honorary pallbearer at Varina Davis's funeral. Margaret and her husband inherited her aunt's plantation "Panorama" on the Potomac, which had come into Dr. Stuart's possession after his sister died leaving no heirs.

3. Julia Calvert Stuart (b. 1839), named for her mother, married Dr. Eusebius Jones, brother of Catesby ap Roger Jones who was Second officer in command of the Confederate ironclad ship, "Virginia" (the former "USS Merrimac"). She died in childbirth in 1861. Their son, Julian Stuart Jones, lived to adulthood and has living descendants today.

4. Mary Stuart, (January 30, 1840 - December 5, 1859), attended the Staunton Female Academy with her sister Ada and Annie and Agnes Lee. Died at age 19 in 1859 of "paralysis". (cause of death from 1860 Federal Census mortality schedule)

5. Ada Stuart, (b.1842 - d. April, 1914) Born at Cedar Grove, she married (1) Col. William Wellford Randolph, 2nd Va. Infantry, who was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness. They had one son. She remarried to (2) Robert Lightfoot Robb,in 1882 by whom she had no children. She inherited Cleydael upon her parents' death, and when she died the property passed to her son.

6. Caroline Stuart, the youngest girl, (b. 1844 - d. 1872) was named for her mother's elder sister Caroline who raised the young Julia Calvert who had been only 8 years old when their mother died. Mrs. Stuart's sister Caroline died in 1842 and her daughter, born two years after, was named for her. This younger Caroline married in 1871 Frederick William Mackay Holliday of Winchester, Va. and died in childbirth the following year. Their child survived and had issue.

7. Richard Stuart Jr. -- (October 18, 1845 - May 18, 1862) Richard and his younger brother Calvert died within a week of each other in May of 1862 of Scarlet Fever.

8. Calvert Stuart -- (February 11, 1847 - May 26, 1862)

At the time of Booth's visit in April, 1865, all of the surviving children (Rosalie, Margaret, Ada and Caroline) were present, as were Rosalie's husband Sholto Turberville Stuart and Margaret's fiancee Robert Hunter.

 

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