George Hume Steuart (1865 - 1945)

Born 10 Apr 1865 in Anne Arundel, Maryland, United States [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Virginia Irene (Blakemore) Steuart — married 19 Oct 1903 in Baltimore, Maryland

Descendants

Died 6 Jan 1945 at age 79 in Ottoman, Lancaster, Virginia, United States

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Biography

George Steuart is a member of Clan Stewart.

Dr George Hume Steuart (10 April 1865 - Jan 6 1945) was a physician from Maryland who occupied a number of leading medical positions in Maryland and Virginia.

Steuart was born in West River, Maryland, near Annapolis, on 10 April 1865, the eldest son of the planter Captain George Biscoe Steuart C.S.A. (1817-1884) ^[1] and Louisa A (Darnall) Steuart (1847 - 1919). He was raised in his mother's Roman Catholic faith. ^[2]

He was a student at the Maryland Agricultural College (now the University of Maryland) later entering the medical school of the University of Maryland in Baltimore. In 1898 Steuart graduated from the Medical School of the University of Maryland, becoming Assistant Superintendent for two years and then becoming Superintendent of the University Hospital. ^[1]

In 1902 Steuart was appointed assistant surgeon in the United States Marine Hospital in Baltimore.^[1] A receipt from the University of Maryland shows that Steuart paid his matriculation fee for the years 1902 and 1903, in the Dental Dept. ^[3]

In 1902 Dr Steuart was appointed personal physician to his cousin and namesake, the Confederate general George Hume Steuart, at times living with the general at his Mount Steuart farmhouse. An unsigned letter from General Steuart in 1903 states that his cousin "Dr George Hume Steuart has devoted much time to me in my different cases of sickness, leaving his practice in Baltimore and living part of the time at my residence".^[4]

On July 1st 1904 Dr Steuart was paid $2,000 out of the estate of his late cousin George Hume Steuart by the administratrix of the estate, Mrs Maria Davies, "to professional services rendered, drugs and appliances furnished and travelling expenses in attending the late general George H. Steuart, for the years 1902 and 1903". ^[5]

On 19th October 1903, aged 38, Steuart married his fiancee Irene Blakemore in Baltimore, Maryland. ^[6]

George and Irene Steuart had two children

• Virginia Louise Steuart, born on 8 April 1905, and
• George Hume Steuart, born on 3 November 1907.[1]

The family lived together in their Victorian farm house in Ottoman, in Virginia's Northern Neck of the Rappahannock River.

The salary of an assistant surgeon was evidently modest, and Steuart's wife Irene appears to have been obliged to live at home with her father in Virginia while her husband worked at the hospital in Baltimore. In a letter dated 19 October 1905 (their second wedding anniversary), addressed to Steuart at 122 West 23rd St, Baltimore, Irene wrote of the difficulty of caring for their infant daughter, and expressed fears over money: "My only anxiety is that our means of support is so little and has such appallingly poor outlook. I try not to think of the future, and to enjoy the present, for the Lord only knows what is in the future for us". The letterhead shows Irene Steuart living at her father's address in Millenbeck, Virginia (or possibly she simply used her father's stationary). ^[7]

At some point after 1904 and before 1918 Steuart moved back to the Northern Neck, "on account of the ill health of Mrs Steuart", and "served his adopted community professionally with great loyalty and skill for many years". ^[1]

In 1918 Dr Steuart offered his services to the state of Maryland, as medical doctors were in short supply during wartime. ^[1]Steuart became assistant superintendent and chief medical director at the Rosewood Training School (as it was then known) at Owings, Maryland, where he remained for six years, until 1924. Rosewood was founded in 1898 to "receive, care for and educate all idiotic, imbecile and feeble-minded persons".

Dr Steuart raised his children in the Episcopal church. On 30 April 1922 Steuart's son George H Steuart Jr. was confirmed into the Anglican faith at St Thomas' Church Garrison Forest by John Gardner Murray Bishop of Maryland. ^[8] On 25 June 1922 Dr Steuart and his daughter Louise received Certificates of Completion of "Christian Convictions" at St Thomas'. ^[9]

In 1924 Dr Steuart became superintendent of the Lewis Gundry Sanitarium at Relay, Maryland, a private sanitarium founded in 1900 for the "care of nervous disorders of women that required treatment and rest away from home". ^[1] However, after two years, "his health failing him", he returned to his home in Ottoman and his rural practice in Lancaster County. ^[1]

In 1929 the family lost much of its wealth in the Wall St Crash, and Steuart's son George H. Steuart Jr was forced to abandon his education at Johns Hopkins University and return to the family farm, where the family raised chickens. Steuart Jr took the eggs to Washington DC for sale. ^[2]

Steuart took an active interest in local politics, always "looking to the betterment and progress of his local community". ^[1]At the time of his death he was Chairman of the Lancaster County Board of Supervisors, serving his third term.^[1]

Steuart died of heart complications on the morning of January 6, 1945, aged 79. ^[10]

Although Steuart was a Roman Catholic, it was not possible to administer the last rites before he died; there were few Roman Catholic priests in rural Virginia. Because of this he could not be buried in the consecrated ground of a Roman Catholic church, and so was instead buried in the churchyard of St. Mary's, Whitechapel, an Episcopal church in Lancaster, Virginia.^[2] The Reverend Dorsey Smith officiated. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9} Obituary 11 Jan 1945
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} recollection of Catherine Steuart Williams
3. ↑ University of Maryland Matriculation Matriculation Fee Receipt 1902 & 1903
4. ↑ unsigned letter from General George Hume Steuart dated 1903
5. ↑ Letter from Mrs Maria Davies, dated 1 July 1904
6. ↑ DeCamps family bible
7. ↑ Letter from Irene Steuart 19 October 1905
8. ↑ Confirmation Records
9. ↑ [Certificate of Completion, St Thomas Church, 25 June 1922
10. ↑ https://virginiachronicle.com/cgi-bin/virginia?a=d&d=RR19450111.1.1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- obituary of George H. Steuart, Rappahannock Record, 11 January 1945

• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Steuart_(physician)