Tombstone Tuesday ~ John and Jean (Barr) Stewart of Londonderry (now Derry), New Hampshire

This tombstone was photographed at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry, New Hampshire

Memento mori

ERECTED                                  LIKEWISE

In memory of                               In memory of

                                                     Mrs. JEAN STWART

who departed this                                      wife of

    Life.                                  Mr. JOHN STWART

                                       who departed this

                                            Life March 8th 1773

                                 Aged 59 years

According to the Stewart Clan Magazine, Volume V, No. 5, November 1926, page 1.:

"John and Jean Stewart of Londonderry, N. H.

John 1 Stewart (parentage unknown) of Londonderry, N.H., married Jean Barr, born about 1713, daughter of John Barr.  He is said to have been brought over from Ireland by Rev. James MacGregor.  He was perhaps a nephew of John Stewart, the proprietor of Londonderry [page 2], and their names are so intermingled on the land records as to cause confusion.  This John was called "weaver" in some deeds.  Hew was probably the John Stewart who (with Samuel and Joseph) signed the petition for Todd's Town [Henniker] in 1748, and he it was, perhaps who owned land in Henniker, Bedford and Manchester as well as Londonderry.  He and his wife Jean were deeded land in Londonderry Apr. 6, 1769, by Gabriel Barr and Samuel Barr of that place.  John Stewart did not pass through this life without his share of sorrow.  His son Gabriel was a soldier in the French and Indian war and lost his life in the expedition for the reduction of Canada, 1760.  His son Adam, engaging in business in Boston, was suspected of being a Tory, and died during the Revolutionary war.  Jean, wife of John Stewart, died Mar. 8, 1773, aged 59 in Londonderry, and John died in 1786.  His will was dated June 7, 1786, and proved Dec. 20 that year; it was witnessed by John Moor, Robert Barnet and Ezra Waldron; the executors were Samuel Gibson and John Morison.  It mentioned the following children, excepting Gabriel and Adam, who were dead:

1. Robert      1733:   = Margaret --------------- soldier in 1759-60

2. Samuel     1735: = Sep. 26, 1771, Agnes Clyde, Hudson

3. John, June 29, 1737

4. Elizabeth  1739 =  Samuel Gibson, Litchfield; + Feb. 3, 1815

5. Gabriel     1741: + July 5, 1760 in expedition against Canada

6. Adam                = Sep. 25, 1700, Sarah (Forsythe) Paul, Boston: + 1778

7. Margaret           = James Humphries

8. Thomas            =  Naomi ----: + Sep. 8, 1806, Henniker"

The passage above states how John Stewart "did not pass through this life without his share of sorrow".  I think this sorrow continued even after death, because his heirs did not carve his name on the double tombstone he shared with his wife, Jean.

Stewart Clan Magazine, Volumes 1 -10, online at Google Books
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZxpWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA213&lpg=PA213&dq=%22john+stewart%22+Londonderry+nh&source=bl&ots=MuiXxwk4aF&sig=WYn3HRVUeBFCV-bbz5nxviJOsgc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1QRqVLWIBZf_sASMl4LwCw&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22john%20stewart%22%20Londonderry%20nh&f=false 

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Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo