In the obituary of Matthew John Pischke, it stated that his parents were Elizabeth and John Stewart. However, his older sibling, Christopher Pischke, who is also mentioned in the obituary, was the son of Lawrence and Elizabeth Smith Pischke (Obituary of Elizabeth Pischke Stewart). By reviewing these two obituaries, it was puzzling that it appeared that Matthew and Chris had two different sets of parents although they shared the same surname. The mystery was: Why was Matthew's surname listed as Pischke if he was the son of John Stewart?
First, I found that Lawrence Pischke, Chris' father, died in June 1957 from a fall in the Grand Canyon, leaving his wife Elizabeth, a widow, at the age of 37. Two years later, an affidavit for a marriage license, dated in July 1959, for Elizabeth Pischke to John Herbert Stewart, resolved some of the dilemma. Matthew was born in November 1960--about 18 months after the marriage which verifies the fact that his parents were John and Elizabeth Stewart. So why was his last name listed as Pischke instead of Stewart? Even as early as 1977, when Matt was 17, I found him in a Coronado High School yearbook listed as Matt Pischke.
Further investigation into the life of John H. Stewart after Matthew's birth might shed some more light on the subject. Mention of Matthew, but no mention of Matthew's other siblings (who were the stepsons of John Stewart) nor his wife Elizabeth was made in the 1987 Florida obituary of John H. Stewart. Other children were listed in the obituary but none were the children of Elizabeth Pischke Stewart. This was a clue that the Stewarts may have divorced early on in the marriage. Elizabeth's Stuart's obituary, dated in 1993, implied that she had been living in Arizona for a time, and no mention of former husbands was made.
The obituary for John Stewart stated that he had moved to Florida from the state of Vermont in 1970. . Further research showed that in December 1962, John married Wanda Ann Johnston in Clark County, Nevada. He was separated from her in 1967 and had two children during the five years of marriage. John and Wanda's divorce was finalized in 1972. Her residence was listed as Manchester, Bennington, Vermont and his was listed in Florida, where, according to his obituary he had lived since 1970 since his move from Vermont. From this information, it appears that the marriage of John to Elizabeth Pischke lasted from the summer of 1959 and was over by December 1962 when Matthew was only two years old. Therefore, at the time of his divorce, his mother may have decided to have him use the name of Pischke, although she kept her married name of Stewart. After looking at the Social Security Death Index, hoping to find Matthew's legal surname, there was no Social Security information listed under the name Matthew Pischke nor Matthew Stewart.
The marriage record of John to Wanda indicated that he had been married twice before, with the death of one wife and the divorce of another. The Phoenix City Directory listed John H. Stewart married to Florence from about 1947 through 1957 at which time Florence must have passed away. The second marriage, to Elizabeth Pischke, would have been the marriage that ended in divorce. The two children by the third marriage were probably a son John living in Virginia and a daughter Tammy, living in Vermont, mentioned in the obituary; however, two additional daughters, Jennifer and Megan Stewart, living in Florida, were also mentioned in the obituary. Matthew's obituary mentioned that he was survived by two step siblings, Tammy Collins and Chip Brewster. Was Chip Brewster the same person as the son "John" mentioned in the obituary of John H. Stewart? Another surname mystery to be resolved! However, another search revealed delayed Vermont birth registrations in the mid 1970's for a Tammy Stewart Webster (born 1966) and a John Howard Webster (born 1964)with parents listed as Wanda Ann Johnston and Roger Webster. They were both probably the two children from John Stewart's third marriage and apparently legally adopted by Frederick Webster, thereby taking the name of Webster rather than Stewart The next question was: Who were Jennifer and Megan Stewart?
Looking in the Florida records, there was a marriage in April 1974 of John H. Stewart to Beverly J. Maffei with a divorce recorded in November 1978. It is my guess that during the four years of marriage, it was possible that they had the two girls, Jennifer and Megan Stewart, who, by the time of John's death in 1987, would have been under age because the obituary does not list a married name. Tammy Stewart, his other daughter, had not married by 1987 but had the married name Collins by 2012 at the time of Matthew's death.
Unraveling the Unsolved Mystery of Matthew John Pischke's surname by researching his father John H. Stewart revealed several marriages, divorces, and children. Then it all began to make more sense. The statement in Matthew Pischke's obituary: ". . . was born at St. Joseph's hospital in Phoenix, AZ on November 14, 1960 to Elizabeth and John Stewart" was finally resolved!
This research project depicts several surname variations, whether legally or for convenience, and causes additional complications for the genealogy researcher.
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