In researching our Stewart line, we have been lucky that our ancestors were interested in their family histories and left us with numerous documents. My grandparent's generation recorded many on their personal experiences for posterity.One particular researcher that we are particularly indebted to is Heber Rankin. Heber was born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania and collected a massive amount of genealogy material. Our immediate line of Stewarts hailed from Clarion County but many moved on west. Heber visited Oklahoma and Kansas about 1963 collecting information amd many people still fondly remember his visit. Heber died in 1967 and in 1995 Janice Yingling published much of his research in "Frontier Families of Toby Township, Clarion Co., Pennsylvania".
My grandmother Metta "Stewart" Bridenstine and her sister Amber "Stewart" Boyce, who lived in the Payne County, Oklahoma area, recorded quite a lot of family history. Grandmother embroidered a quilt that contained the family tree and Aunt Amber wrote several stories about the early days of the family. Another sister, Effie "Stewart" Thatcher, who lived in Chama New Mexico for many years, also wrote stories and poems about her childhood experiences. Their information has provided the baseline for much of our own research.
Our research has concentrated on those Stewart descendants born after 1800 but there is a wealth of information on the Stewart line before this time period. We intend to revisit that information "someday" but for now we have a full plate.