Stewart Megge Pancake 1847-1920
2010
Stewart was the second child and oldest son of Samuel Crawford Pancake and Catharine Darling. From all we have read and found, Stewart appears to have been a fine man. At the age of nineteen he enlisted in the army and served from Coshocton County, Ohio for the Union in The Civil War. His uncle William Pancake also served at the same time. Stewart had a portrait taken at age 19 in 1864 before he went to war and the portrait above which was taken one year after his marriage to Priscilla Jane Freeland which was 1876. It was taken while he was investigating mining opportunities in Silver City, Nevada. In 1878, Stewart and Priscilla became the parents of a son, Carl. The next year they added a daughter, Edythe Lillian.
Both in Coshocton County, Ohio and later in Blandinsville, Illinois . . . Stewart and his father Samuel were active in organizations such as the Masonic Lodge and fraternal orders. Both were businessmen, speculators and investors and are generally found together until the death of Samuel Pancake. While most of their lives were lived in Jefferson Township, Coshocton County, Ohio they did move to Illinois where Stewart’s father Samuel and his brother-in-law William McVey bought a bank.
It must have been that the prospects in Silver City, Nevada were not as promising as elsewhere. During the last two years of the 1870s, Stewart and his entire family including parents, brothers, sisters and their families left their most recent home in Blandinsville, Illinois and settled in Salt Lake City, Utah. There, Stewart shared an office on Main Street with his father Samuel and his brother-in-law Henry Reynolds Watrous. Henry was the husband of Stewart’s sister Glendora.
Stewart was listed in the directories of the city as a Deputy Surveyor. He is found in many newspapers as a shareholder in various mines. He served on juries and was involved in the community. Stewart’s brother-in-law Henry provided the legal support for the many investments made by the Pancake and McVey families. After some years, without realizing significant riches, many members of the large Pancake family moved on. Stewart, his brother Jackson and sister Ophelia McVey moved to California with their families. Stewart and Jackson invested in orange groves while Ophelia’s husband William went into various businesses where he was successful. His most prosperous business was in furniture. Many newspaper ads for this period of time in Fresno, California advertise the McVey furniture store.
Stewart died in 1920 in California, survived by his widow, Priscilla who was also known as Jennie and his children Carl and Edythe. While both of his children were married, neither had children of their own. The posterity of Stewart Megge Pancake ended with the deaths of his children in later years. At the time of his death, his widow Priscilla was entitled to a small pension as the widow of a Civil War veteran. Her brother-in-law Jackson Pancake signed the affidavit for her, attesting to her relationship with his brother Stewart and verifying all of the necessary information.
Stewart and his sister Edith Glendora Pancake Watrous died in the same year of 1920. He in California and she and Kansas.
The migration of Stewart Megge Pancake
Ohio to Illinois to Utah to California