RACHEL GUTHRIE & ROBERT STEWART
of New Castle County, Delaware

RACHEL GUTHRIE
Parents: Samuel Guthrie b. c1680-1700 – d.1746DE & Mary (MNU)
Birth: Est. 1722-30, Definitely before 1746
Birth Location: Pennsylvania or Delaware
Marriage: Before 1774 presumably in Delaware
Death: After 1774
Death Location: Unknown
Burial: Unknown
Notes:
Rachel Guthrie was named in her father’s 1746 will. She was also identified as being alive in 1774 when her sister Jane Vail petitioned the court for division of their mother’s estate.

ROBERT STEWART
Parents: Unidentified
Birth: Unknown
Birth Location: Unknown
Death: After 1774, possibly about 1786
Death Location: Unverified, possibly Pencader Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware
Notes:
‘American Guthrie and Allied Families’ reveals that tradition states that General J.E.B. Stewart, commander of the cavalry under General Robert E Lee, was a descendant.

So let’s try to prove or debunk that story by following some online breadcrumbs…

James Ewell Brown ‘JEB’ Stuart (6 Feb 1833 – 12 May 1864) was a United States Army officer who became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. The linked biographical sketch indicates that he was born on a plantation in Patrick County, Virginia, being the 8th of 11 children of Archibald Stuart, a War of 1812, veteran and Elizabeth Letcher Pannill. Archibald Stuart (2 Dec 1795 – 20 Sep 1855) was a politician and lawyer from Virginia. His parents were Judge Alexander Stuart and Anne Danny. His parents were Alexander Stuart 1734-1822 and Mary Moore. His parents were Archibald Stuart 1696IRE-1761VA and Janet Brown.

This well documented line does not appear to include Robert Stewart / Stuart, at least not directly.

Delaware Wills and Probate Records for New Castle County, Delaware do include the Probate Records for the Estate of a Robert Stewart in 1786-7 who resided in Pencader Hundred. The Administrator’s Bond was recorded Book M Folio 223. An inventory by John Stewart and Joseph Flood was filed, as was an appraisal by Austin West and Alexander Williams. There is no mention in these records of a wife or children.

CHILDREN: None Identified

Y-DNA Project Participants: N/A – Female Guthrie
Autosomal DNA Project Participants: No Known Descendants