Botkin and Lewis History Oral and Documented History with notes on Holstein-Stewart and Cooper
In the future I hope to provide links to various oral histories handed down by word of mouth and perhaps photocopies of documents and photos.I do not have any long lost cousins, I know everyone in my family, members require four address books to contain the names of relatives. The family saga begins when two Botkin brothers arrived in the New World after traveling from Russia and taking temporary residence in Scotland. After one brother was granted citizenship the two traveled to the New World. One brother was a botanist, the other a trapper. One brother married a Native American Woman as he fought in the French and Indian War. This brother is the line of Botkin from which the  Botkins of South Hills, in Charleston, West Virginia are descended. For some time the brothers voyaged back and forth across the Atlantic maintaining a close relationship with one another. The travels were interrupted around the time of the Civil War, when Columbus Botkin enlisted in the Union Army. Columbus served in that war. Upon returning home to West Virginia he  initiated several enterprises and developed an interest in the acquistion of real estate, forming dairies, farms and making investments. His son Josiah Botkin served in the Spanish American War. Josiah returned home to West Virginia where he married Elizabeth Lewis, a Civil War orphan. Elizabeth Lewis aunt and uncle owned a dry goods store in South Hills on land purchased from  Josiah Botkin's  father.The Lewis and Botkin families were neighbors and allies in the Civil War. Elizabeth Lewis family were active in the Underground Railroad, runaway slaves were given safe passage over Botkin lands through Virginia and West Virginia. Josiah and Elizabeth were the founders of the Valley Bell Dairy, they gave each of their  daughters Julia, Mildred, Mathilda, Gladys, and Christina a college education. Gladys married Ollie Olson and became a principal at Fernbank School on Bridge Road, down the street from her original home in South Hills. The school was located on the site of todays shopping center.  Arthur, my grandfather, attended school at Fernbank where his sister taught four generations of our family. I also briefly attended Fernbank and Valley Day School along with about nineteen of my cousins in the same neighborhood.My father William H Stewart was with the United States Department of State, we lived in Tunisia but returned to Charleston every home leave. My grandfather, Arthur, and his sisters built houses on the same street as their parents, Josiah and Elizabeth Botkin. The original home, a log house and stables, remained standing until the early 1960's when the structures were torn down and became the sites of residential homes.  Arthur Botkin married Elsie Allen- Workman. My grandmother, Elsie was the daughter of John Glibert Workman and Roma Allen. John Workman owned a construction company which built houses for coal mining companies. When he died he left a young widow with six children. Roma Allen's grandmother traveled to the United States by ship with twin sons and a nurse to join her husband who had settled in before sending for his family from England. One of the twins died at sea. Roma Allen's great-aunts had farms in Ripley, West Virginia, my great- aunts taught me how to milk cows. John Workman died near Logan, West Virginia. The phone book in Logan is curious. It is a thin volume, and is, of course, alphabetized. The phone books first few pages list names beginning with the letters A through V, the remainder of the phone book, letter W, many pages deep, lists members of the Workman family. Arthur and Elsie opened a restaurant which they operated until Arthur  became employed by Union Carbide. The family was not spared loosing any lives during World Wars I and II. Elsie's newphew,Carl Workman, died in a submarine. Arthur and Elsie had two daughters, Ann and Jane. The Botkins divested many  properties  after WWII. Elizabeth Lewis Botkin, my grandfathers mother died  in 1976, my junior year in college. She relocated to Florida during the 1950's. My grandfather, Arthur Botkin, one of Elizabeth and Josiah's six children  died in 1998 in Charleston, WV. The Botkin and Lewis family cemetaries are located at St. Mary's Episcopalean Cemetary in South Hills. The family remains close. Mildred Hazeltine's son and daughter are in Atlanta. Mathilda Bentsens children are in La Belle, Florida. Julia Bowles children are in Virginia and West Virginia. Gladys Olson  and Christina Burns  did not have children. Christina was widowed at an early age. She did not remarry but devoted many hours at hospitals where she was tremendously dedicated to her patients. The Botkins are remembered for their kindness and community service. During the Depression years the family accepted many people who were without resources into their home. Periodically, to this day, the family is visited by tribal cousins from Oklahoma who were forced to relocate during the Trail of Tears. Elsie Allen Workman-Botkin also has relatives at the Cherokee Reservation in the Carolinas. I continue to visit my home in West Virginia regularly. I atttended West Virginia University, as did 17 of my cousins during those four years.During the summer I traveled to Saipan and Italy to visit my parents, by then with US Department of Interior Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. My senior year my father was TDY to US Army Corps of Engineers and my parents lived in Italy. My mother is beautiful and intelligent, people think she looks like Marilyn Monroe. My memories of my family are very happy. The solid foundation of family bonds and the holdays we shared were very significant in the development of my approach to the world. My grandparents, Elsie and Arthur Botkin maintained an open-door and open-house policy to everyone. My grandmother has held Thanksgiving feasts for as many as 35 people in her home. Everyone who has ever visited my grandmothers home feels welcome, she has welcomed people we bring home from around the world. My earliest memory is of my grandfather showing me how to make apple sauce, teaching me about the native plant and animal life, showing me how to ride my aunt Jane's Palimino, and taking me to the Cherokee reservation in the Carolinas. When my parents moved overseas where my father, William H. Stewart was posted by the United States Department of State Foreign Service we returned to Charleston for every home leave.My father is the son of Herman Stewart, from Bridge Road, Charleson. He was married to Kathryn Holstein who died of leukemia.I knew my great-grandmother Holstein. Her husband was from Austria. She outlived her daughter, and was comforted by Nora and her ability to keep the family together when my grandfather remarried/ Nora Stewart is amazing and talented. Nora Stewart sucessfully blended two families. My father and his sister Carolyn were overjoyed to have such a wonderful and talented mother as Nora Stewart. During the Vietnam War my parents permitted me to live in Charleston with my grandparents, where I had the security of a large extended family. I was able to complete my senior year of high school in preparation for university in a loving and supportive environment. I am fotunate to have maintained strong ties with my families origins. My fiance, Bob Harrison and I, attend Scottish events and Native American Pow Wow's on a regular basis. The Botkin clan does not have a tartan, but Arthur Botkin was the official clan mogur. My father, William H. Stewart, is the son of Herman Stewart and Kathryn Holstein-Stewart who also lived on Bridge Road. He married my mother, Ann, they were high school sweethearts. My father has an equally large and long lined family, requiring as many phone books as mothers, I travel with a virtual yellow pages of the cousins addresses. I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution on my paternal side of the family. My grandfather Herman Stewart, was the son of John Charles Stewart and Leona Cooper-Stewart. Leona Cooper was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. My father's sister lives in McClean, Va. our cousins live in Houston, Texas. I hope to provide, in the future links to each family surnames and offer a few anecdotes about the lives of these generations of my family who have so influenced me.Some of the stories will probably be debunked by the elders.They don't want to hear the story again about my seven cousins and I wear trapped in our lodge in the mountains during a blizzard and missed school. We weren't supposed to take the car out that day. I have been deeply blessed by having a family so deeply rooted. My family have provided me with a moral compass and a very stable outlook on life. I'm kathryn stewart-mcdonald, a journalist. I own a small press, The Stevan Company. Hopefully, as my pages progress, the stories will be a better read. This little intro might become a useful guide in the future when linking the lives of the characters involved. I don't aspire to Thomas Wolfe's writing style.about me http://yahoo/oocities.com/kathrynstewartmcdonaldsaipan or http://yahoo/oocities.com/stevanpublishing
Cherokee Tribe/Columbus/Josiah/Arthur and Elizabeth
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Kathryn Ann Stewart -McDonald
Name: Ann Botkin Stewart's daughter
Email: kathrynstewartmcdonald@hotmail.com