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Family legacy to be shared at Stratford Hall
Westmoreland County's Stuart family helps organize a reunion for other branches of the family, whose members lived in historic Stratford Hall for more than 100 years and had ties to the Lees of Virginia.
Date published: 10/31/2002
WITH ANCESTORS who lived at Westmore- land County's historic Stratford Hall and with ties to the family of Robert E. Lee, it's not unusual that Betsy Stuart Valentine grew up interested in her heritage.
This weekend, she and about 100 members of the Stuart family from several different countries will do something about meeting their living relatives.
"We realized that many of us knew quite a bit about the history of the Stuart family in Westmoreland County and elsewhere, but we didn't know each other," said Valentine, who grew up in Montross and now is in the real estate business in Alexandria. "This Stuart family reunion and a group formed called The Stuart Society will hopefully help us pool knowledge of our family and its history."
The reunion will be held tomorrow through Sunday at Stratford.
The gathering, expected to draw Stuart relatives from Bermuda to Ireland, will kick off Friday night with dinner at the historic manor, complete with a bagpiper.
Presentations on Saturday will include a presentation on the Stuart connections at Stratford and on David Stuart and his wife, Jane Gibbons Stuart, the first Stuarts to settle in Virginia.
David Stuart was born in Inverness, Scotland around 1690, and was a direct descendant of the Royal House of Stuart. As a supporter of the uprising under James Stuart, he was forced to leave Scotland and arrived in Virginia about 1716.
He eventually settled in King George County, serving as rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church from 1722 until his death in 1748.
After festivities and tours of the grounds on Saturday, those attending the Stuart family gathering will travel to St. Paul's on Sunday to attend a worship service at the church once served by their common ancestor.
Valentine, president of The Stuart Society, is a granddaughter of the last private owners of Stratford, and has served on the board of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association for nearly 20 years.
I chatted with her and her sister, Ann Stuart of Fredericksburg, at Stratford recently as they made plans for the gathering.
Valentine said there's a great deal of excitement about this first big gathering of Stuarts.
Date published: 10/31/2002
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