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Stafford mourns 'Stewart'

Stafford's keeper of the history mourned by Historical Society

By HUGH MUIR

Date published: 4/21/2009

By HUGH MUIR

H. Stewart Jones (the H. stood for Helen but she never answered to that; "call me Stewart," she would say) was born in Stafford and lived and died in a large, white house on Hartwood Church Road, herself a living history. She devoted her life to education, and to keeping historic bits of Stafford from being knocked down.

Jones died April 7 at the age of 94 and was buried, with 14 other kin, beside her church, Hartwood Presbyterian, across the road from her home. She never married and had no close survivors, except for Mary Combs, her companion and caregiver. Her legacy comprised buildings and open land and cemeteries that enrich the county's future with its past.

Jones carried a mantle given by the Stafford County Historical Society to only 14 county residents, that of Keeper of the Knowledge.

After graduation from Mary Washington College in 1936, Jones became a teacher, and spent the next 44 years as an educator. She returned to Stafford in 1965 and was a guidance director at Stafford High School before retiring in 1980. She also was a founding member of Historic Falmouth Towne and Stafford Inc., forerunner of the historical society. She also helped found the annual Salute to Stafford Day.

battle for preservation

In 1989 developers and a quarry company had their eye on some 2,000 acres south of U.S. 17.

"It was full of wildlife and abandoned gold mines," recalled Ruth Carlone, an early Jones ally now a planning commissioner. "Stewart's mother owned property in the area. At Stewart's suggestion, we formed Citizens to Serve Stafford."

The developers retreated.

In 1993 the county planned to build an elementary school in Hartwood.

"A little red barn was on the site," Carlone said, "and Stewart was going to save it."

The nearly 90-year-old structure, about 20- by 30-feet with two stories and a hipped roof, had no place to go until Jones provided a site for it on her property across the road. She paid to move it, and it remains there today.

At Christmas, children's parties ("Stewart loved history and she loved children," Carlone said) are held there.

Hartwood Presbyterian Church will dedicate a Civil War Trails plaque Sunday at 1 p.m. The sign identifies the site where a Union officer met disgrace. In November 1862, Union cavalry under the command of Capt. George Johnson, took over Hartwood Presbyterian. While occupying the church, Johnson's men removed and burned much of the woodwork. Johnson, an amateur artist, then spent much of his time drawing on the walls, so much so that he failed to heed the warnings of an impending attack. Gen. Wade Hamilton's Confederate cavalry surprised him and captured virtually his entire force. As a result of his dereliction of duty, he was dismissed from the service for "disgraceful and un-officer-like conduct." The dedication activities will include a church service, cavalry and living-history demonstrations, a Civil War song fest, tours of the church and cemetery, and a lecture by a National Park Service historian.

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Date published: 4/21/2009