Tempie Stewart - Unforgotten Lives

Tempie Stewart first appeared as the mother (and Informant) on the death certificate of her infant daughter, who died at only 7 hours old in Pensacola, Florida on 12 September 1927. The father was Buster Brenson, born Brewton, AL; the mother was Tempie Stewart of Ariton [spelled “Erington”], AL. The place of death was 633 E. Aragon St., Pensacola, FL. There was no physician. The infant girl was buried by T.M. Lloyd at the Escambia County Poor Farm Cemetery.

Tempie Stewart was a woman of color (identified as Mulatto in the 1910 census, but Black or Negro in other census records). She was born in 1903, probably in Dale County, Alabama, the daughter of Dave and Sallie Jane Miller Stewart. Census records indicate that Dave was born in November 1871 in Alabama (probably Dale County), but I have not located him in a household in the 1880 census. He married Sallie Jane Miller in Dale County, Alabama on 20 July 1896. He spent most of his life in Dale County, Alabama, as a tenant farmer, but apparently moved to Barbour County between 1930 and 1935.

Sallie Jane Miller was born in April 1880 in Alabama (probably Dale County), the daughter of Jacob (“Jake”) Miller (b. 1849, GA; d. 1925 Ariton, AL) and Anna Nickerson (b. 1847, AL). She passed away in Ariton, Alabama, on 6 December 1930.

Other children of Dave and Janey Stewart were: Augustus (“Gus”) 1897-1940; Lola Stewart Griffin (1899 – unk); Oma or Omer Stewart Terry (1905-1988); Annie M. Stewart (1907- unk); Willie Clarence Stewart (1911-unk); Vera Stewart Sewell (1912-unk); Fate (also seen as “Fayett” and “Faith”) (1919-1969); an unnamed infant girl stillborn in 1920; and Lillie B (also seen as “Bee”) Stewart High (1922-2007).

I can find no official record of a marriage between Tempie Stewart and Buster Brenson, nor any reason why they (or just Tempie?) would have been in Pensacola for the birth of the child. They did not appear to have established a residence there; the house at 633 E. Aragon St. was owned by someone else who does not appear to have been a relative. Tempie appears to have had at least two other children before this one: Hubert Reese (also appears as Hubert Terry) (b. 1923 in AL; d. 1982 in Pike Co., AL); and Mable Lee Terry Stanford (b. 1924 in Ariton, AL; d. 1994). (Mable’s paternity seems a bit muddled in some records – she appears as a daughter in the household of George and Omer Stewart Terry in the 1940 census, but Tempie Stewart is given as her mother in the Social Security Applications and Claims index.)

I can find no death record for Tempie, nor any confirmation of what surname she was using at the time of her death. She used “Terry” in the 1930 census, but her marital status was Widowed. In Hubert Reese’s 1943 WWII Draft card, she was identified as Tempie Reese, but in his 1946 marriage record (to Peggie Nettles), she was listed as Tempie Stewart.

FAMILY:

Father: David (“Dave”) Stewart

Mother: Sallie Jane Miller Stewart

Grandparents: Jacob (“Jake”) Miller and Anna Nickerson

Children: Hubert Reese, Mable Lee Terry Stanford, Unnamed Infant Girl

SOURCES:

Florida Certificate of Death No. 14027, Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.

Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Year: 1870; Census Place: Beat 13, Dale, Alabama; Roll: M593_12; Page: 274A. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Barnes Cross Roads and Rocky Head, Dale, Alabama; Roll: 10; Page: 682A; Enumeration District: 066. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site.

Marriage record of David Stewart and Jane Miller. Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., Marriage Indexes, 1814-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.. Original data: WPA Indices to Marriage Records, by County, 1814-1935. Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama

Marriage record of David Stewart and Jane Miller. Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., Compiled Marriages from Selected Counties, 1809-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999. Original data: Dodd, Jordan R., comp.. Early American Marriages: Alabama, 1800 to 1920.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Barnes Crossroads, Dale, Alabama; Roll: 13; Page: 1; Enumeration District: 0069; FHL microfilm: 1240013. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Rockeyhead, Dale, Alabama; Roll: T624_10; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 0083; FHL microfilm: 1374023. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Rockyhead, Dale, Alabama; Roll: T625_12; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 86. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Death Record of Infant Stewart. Alabama Deaths, 1908-1974, database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKSJ-KYP : 30 November 2020), Dave Stewart in entry for Infant Stewart, 1920.

Marriage record of Lola Stewart and George Griffin; Marriage Record of Fate Steward and Lessie Russaw. Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1805-1967 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.. Original data: Marriage Records. Alabama Marriages. County courthouses, Alabama.

Year: 1930; Census Place: Barnes Cross Roads, Dale, Alabama; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 0018; FHL microfilm: 2339748. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.

Death Record of Gus Stuart. Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., Death Index, 1908-1959 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: State of Alabama. Index of Vital Records for Alabama: Deaths, 1908-1959. Montgomery, AL, USA: State of Alabama Center for Health Statistics, Record Services Division.

Death Record of Jane Stuart; Death Record of Jacob Miller; Death Record of Fate Stewart. Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., Deaths and Burials Index, 1881-1974 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Reese, Hubert; Stewart, Guss; Stewart, Faith; and Stewart, Willie Clarence: National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Alabama, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 227. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Marriage Record of Hubert Reese and Peggie Nettles (7 SEP 1946). Ancestry.com. Alabama, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1805-1967 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Marriage Records. Alabama Marriages. County courthouses, Alabama.

Obituary of Hubert Reese, The Montgomery Advertiser 23 JUL 1982, p. 24.

Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007 [Mable Lee Stanford; Lillie Bee High; Fate Miller]. Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File. [Mable L. Stanford, Omer Terry; Lillie B. High] Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2014.