John Ramsey Euart / Ewart 1863-1941

John R. and Darcus Euart

John Ramsey Euart started out as John Ramsey Ewart on 20 July 1863 in Mecklenburg County, NC. He was the son of Joseph Ramsey Ewart II and Mary Elizabeth Barnett.  He had for brothers: Samuel Knox Ewart b. 1851, William Layayett Dixon Ewart b.1847, Silas Septimus Manly Ewart b. 1853 and Joseph Walter Phar Ewart b. 1847.  His father, Joseph Ewart II and grandfather, Joseph Ewart died the year he was born.  According to the 1870 census his mother was keeping house while three of his brothers were working on the farm in Huntersville, NC.

Sometime in the 1880's and 1890's John ran a distillery near Rock Cut, NC (Source: The Landmark Newspaper).  This area was somewhere in Iredell County, NC. John was arrested November 5, 1895 by Duputy Marshal R. P. King with a warrant and charged with illicit retailing (selling liquor).  This story was carried in The Landmark (Statesville, NC Newspaper) and the Charlotte Observer.

 November 6, 1895 Charlotte Observer

John's mother died in 1896. Two years later on October 10th, 1888 John married Darcus Luella Brigman b. 1870. John and Darcus had the following children: Samuel Baxter Euart b. 1907, Mary Jane Euart b. 1890, Lottie Irene Euart b. 1894, John Ramsey Euart II b. 1898, Dexter Brite Euart b. 1899, Darcus Lille Euart b. 1903, Joseph Florence Euart b. 1905 and Robert William Ewart b. 1911.

 1910 Census

According to the 1900 census John and Darcus lived in Huntersville, NC and John was farming. By 1910 John and Darcus were living in Concord, NC on Misenheimer Avenue. At this time John Sr. was still a farmer. John II, age 14, was a doffer at a cotton mill.  A doffer was one who changed the spools once they were full. Lottie, age 15, and Brite, age 11, were both spinners.

 

Odell-Locke-Randolph Cotton Mill (Most likely the mill they worked at)

By 1930, according to the census, John Sr. and wife had moved to the Gold Hill Township in Rowan County, NC.  They were renting a house and living on a farm where John Sr. was still a farmer. At this point John Sr. was 66 and Darcus was 59.  In this census is when his name was taken as John R. Euart. According to my Great Uncle Calvin Ewart John Sr. and Darcus moved around many times. It is believed that John Sr. changed his last name to stay out of trouble with the law. There are many generations of Euarts' from and in the Rockwell area that still have the Euart last name.  My Grandpa (Ed Ewart) and his brother (Calvin Ewart) changed there last name back to the correct spelling of Ewart.

When John Sr. and Darcus were older they separated and John Sr. moved to Spartanburg, SC to live with his daughter.  John Sr. died 11 Jun 1941 in Spartanburg, SC of a Stroke and his body was brought back to Rowan County, NC to be laid to rest at Lower Stone Cemetery in Rockwell. Darcus died 20 Jul 1943 of a stroke. She was laid in rest next to her husband.

John R. Euart's Death Certificate

 Headstone at Lower Stone Cemetery

John Ramsey Euart Stories by Becky Smith (Ewart).

Story 1

John R. Euart was on a horse and wagon. They had crossed the river around high rock and revenuers stopped them once they were on the other side.  They said "These papers give us the right to search your wagon". Ramsey reached behind him and pulled out a gun and said "This gun says you don't have the right."  This was a guy that was riding with John R. Euart that told Ed Ewart about this story later.  He was a boy or teenager at the time. 

Story 2

Revenuer or the law went to John R. Euart's house to search for moonshine.  There was a barrel and his wife sat on the barrel with her dress covering it. They searched the house and didn't find the barrel of moonshine and left empty handed.

My Relation

Me - Randy Gentry
Becky Ann Ewart - Mother
James Edward Ewart - Grandfather
Samuel Baxter Euart - Great Grandfather
John Ramsey Euart - 2nd Great Grandfather

Link to John Ramsey Euart's Tree

Ewart/Euart Main Library Research

I started out last Saturday on a quest to find more information on John Ramsey Euart (b. 1863 d. 1941) at the Charlotte Library main branch (downtown Charlotte, NC).  Initially I was looking for a specific paper that mentioned John Ramsey Ewart in the Charlotte Observer.  I uncovered a hint while searching on Ancestry.com and found a Statesville, NC paper with his name in it. (more on that story later).

Mecklenburg Main Library

Once at  the library I start my search on microfilm.  It didn't take me long to find what I was searching for.  While I was there I thought I'd do some further researching and see what I could find. I started with the librarian's help finding John Ramsey Euart's death certificate.  She was having trouble finding it and said this was a first for her,in all her years as a librarian she'd never had a problem locating a death certificate. At this point the librarian became interested in my search and offered to help. She brought over a book that had the Ewart Mecklenburg History and it provided the answers that I needed.  This was a tremendous find. (I'll share more on that later too.)  It had the Ewart history going all the way back to Robert Ewart, who was born around 1700.

I'll begin to share my findings here in the blog as I fill in the blanks in my family tree. Check back often.

The book with the answers.

Ewart Surname History

This interesting name is arguably at least English with some Scottish input. It has three possible origins. The first is locational from the village of Ewart in the parish of Doddington in Northumberland, England. This is recorded as Ewurthe in the Pipe Rolls of the county in 1218 and means "The enclosure by the river", from the pre 7th century word "ea", a river, and "worth", an enclosure. This is proven by the fact that Ewart is enclosed by the rivers Glen and Till. The first recording of the name, a shown below, is from this source. The second possible origin is from the Norman French form of the given name Edward, which was "Ewart or Ewert", and is recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086. The name means "prosperity-guard", from elements "ead" and "weard". Finally it may be an occupational name for a shepherd, from the Middle English word "ewehirde". Examples of recordings include the marriage of John Ewart and Mabell Athey at Berwick upon Tweed, on June 19th 1620. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Ewrth. This was dated 1242, in the "Fees Court Records of Northumberland", during the reign of King Henry 111rd, 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Source: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/ewart