The Stewarts of Flemington

This is technically part four of the County House series, even though it does not directly concern the old tavern/hotel.

Samuel Stewart and Anna Smith had an interesting connection with each other and with Flemington’s courthouse and Alexander’s tavern, as well as other 18^th-century residents of the town. If you haven’t yet read PART THREE of my series, The County House, I strongly recommend that you do that first.

1. Charles Stewart’s Flemington Property

In 1795, Samuel Robert Stewart was an up-and-coming attorney in Flemington. Son of the prominent Revolutionary War colonel, Charles Stewart, he had been practicing law and representing clients in the Flemington Court of Common Pleas ever since 1790 when he was admitted to the bar.

He grew up on his father’s plantation known as “Landsdown” near Hamden in what was then Kingwood Township, later to become part of Franklin Township.¹

Following the birth of his son Charles S. Stewart in 1795, Samuel R. Stewart acquired some property in Flemington, as was described in a letter by David Frazer to James Martin:

“Col. Charles Stewart & family is all well, I believe his fortune is much better by the sale of some of the Wyoming [PA] lands, he purchased his old farm & two others extending to [Mores? hill] very Cheap for £1800 Cash, his son Saml. Stewart has purchased the farm at Flemmington once Gorsham Lee’s for £2200 after it was much improved with buildings erected thereon by Thos. Lowrey” [my emphasis].²

I suspect that this reference to property once owned by Gershom Lee and Thomas Lowrey is a red herring. But I cannot prove it.

The farm that once belonged to Gershom Lee may have been the 21+ acres that Lee sold to Thomas Lowrey in 1769. Gershom Lee had been a partner with Thomas Lowrey in the 1760s when they purchased large tracts of land in the north part of Flemington and on the east side of Main Street. But Lee also bought another property on his own. This was 94.25 acres sold to him by Daniel Reading on March 16, 1758.³

It was part of the estate of Daniel’s father, John Reading,

being part of the 3,333 acres of right which the sd John Reading purchased from Daniel, John & Wm Coxe in 1745 [month/day left blank], and the sd John Reading, by deed of gift conveyed on May 6, 1751 to his sons John, George, Daniel & Thomas Reading as tenants in common the above tract of land, 112 acres thereof severed from the east end which they sold to John Barker and upon division of ye remainder between the four brothers, there fell to Daniel Reading the quantity of 94.25 acres along the south and west end thereof, bordering Strettles land, George Reading, Thomas Reading, Isaac DeCow.

The deed goes on to say that Daniel Reading sold 94.25 acres out of his share to Gershom Lee on March 16, 1768, and that Lee then divided it into seven lots which he sold “at public vendue.”

On Dec 10, 1769, Gershom Lee, yeoman of Amwell, sold to Thomas Lowrey of same Lot #7, being a lot of 21 acres 32 perches. (The original 94.25 acres bordered “Strettles land,” George Reading, Thomas Reading and Isaac DeCow. The deed did not give bordering owners for the 21+ acre-lot.)

Apparently, Lowrey made good use of the lot, according to the Frazer letter: “It was much improved with buildings erected thereon by Thos. Lowrey.”

The deed from Lee to Lowrey was not recorded until 1806. Why the delay? Did something happen in 1806 to compel Lowrey to record it? In 1806, Thomas Lowrey was selling off tracts of land out of the enormous property he owned around Frenchtown. I know of no particular reason for him to record the deed of 1768 in 1806.

Unfortunately, there is no deed recorded from Thomas Lowrey to Samuel R. Stewart. Because I cannot directly link this 21+ acres to Samuel R. Stewart, I cannot be certain that this was where he settled his new family in 1795. In fact, I rather doubt it.

Col. Charles Stewart

In 1797, the widower Col. Charles Stewart retired from ‘Landsdown,’ his plantation and home near Hamden, and removed to Flemington, probably to live near son Samuel, who was 32 years old at the time.

The chronology is intriguing. Two years after Charles Stewart’s move to Flemington, and only two months before the birth of Samuel R. Stewart’s second child, Samuel and common-law wife Anna Smith were married on April 9, 1799 by Rev. Thomas Grant of the Flemington Presbyterian Church, which was located adjacent to what became, or already was, a lot owned by Samuel R. Stewart along East Main Street. Perhaps it was Charles’ influence that convinced Samuel to finally marry Anna. [See Part Three]

About one year later, on May 20, 1800, Joseph Robeson and wife Mary, residents of Amwell Township, conveyed to Charles Stewart, also of Amwell, for £2,350, a huge tract of land–351.6 acres, bordered by Amos Grigg, Arthur Gray, Daniel Reading, Wm Bennett, John Runkle, Isaac Gray, and the great road from Flemington to the old Union Iron Works (in Union Township).

Four lots were excepted from this conveyance, including a lot sold by the Robesons to the trustees of the Flemington Presbyterian Church in 1793, according to a history of the church by Rev. George S. Mott, who noted that the stones used for the church came “from Large’s land, in Kingwood, where the like stones were got for the court-house.”⁴

The Robesons had also sold a half-acre lot to Samuel Robert Stewart and Geo. C. Maxwell as tenants in common. Nothing more was said about this lot–neither the date nor its location.

Was this half-acre “the farm at Flemmington once Gorsham Lee’s” that Samuel R. Stewart spent £2200 on? After a lot of research into contemporary deeds, I can say with confidence–maybe. What I cannot say is why Stewart was putting resources into a property he never had a deed for. (I have much more to say about S. R. Stewart’s lot below.)

The deed of 1800 from the Robesons tells us is that Charles Stewart did not own his property in Flemington until well after leaving Landsdown. This surprised me. I had always assumed that Charles Stewart retired to property he already owned. Since that was not the case, one must wonder whether Charles moved in with son Samuel’s household before his purchase in 1800. I should think so.

Joseph Robeson

Joseph Robeson/Roberson (1731-1801) was an interesting character. He was living in Solebury, Bucks County in 1765 when he acquired a tavern license there and also ran the ferry across the Delaware. He and wife Hannah (maiden name not known) had a daughter Susannah in 1753, who married Samuel Opdycke (son of John & Margaret) in 1775. (See Green Sergeant’s Covered Bridge.)

— 2/13/2026, To be continued (pushed the “Publish” button by mistake).