Stewarts of Balquhidder

[Cram]

[This topic formerly titled: Introducing Doug Cram. Now that we have identified Doug's Stewarts I have changed the title of the thread to reflect his branch of Stewarts and moved the thread to the Ardvorlich section. - Ryk]

Hello, my name is Doug Cram. I reside in Renfrew county Canada.
I am a decendant of STEWART, John b Breadalbane, Balquhidder Parish m abt 1803 to Mary Gow b Comrie Parish Canadian Census 1901 Has them living Lot 19,con 2 Horton Township Renfrew county Canada. John parents were STEWART, Duncan, and Janet Ferguson. Any idea on how this family fits into the other Stewart families and where is "Breadalbane"

Thanks

[Ryk]

Doug,

Welcome to the group. I'll have a look and see what I can dig up on your Stewarts.

Breadalbane is Gaelic and roughly translates as "the spine of Scotland (Alba)." It refers to the ridge of mountains that runs through the middle of Perthshire between Loch Tay and Loch Earn. It usually refers to the Strath Tay and Glen Dochart areas just north of Balquhidder and Comrie, but, precisely speaking, the north shore of Loch Earn and Loch Voil are technically part of that ridge and thus can be considered part of Breadalbane. But when someone says they are from Breadalbane they usually mean just north of Balquhidder and Comrie.

As Breadalbane was the next region immediately north of Balquhidder and Comrie you can be assured that there was a good deal of traffic between the two areas and it's quite reasonable for your ancestor to have been born in Balquhidder and lived in Breadalbane.

Let me see what I can find on your ancestors....

Ryk
_________________
Ryk Brown
Descendant of the Stewarts of Dalveich (Ardvorlich)
Sliochd Iain Dubh Mhor

[Ryk]

Okay, I've had a look and there are some inconsistencies in your account as compared to our records. So let's see if we can clear them up.

Firstly, it would be impossible for John Stewart and Mary Gow to still be alive in 1901, so I'm assuming you meant that their children, or more likely grandchildren are the ones you've found in the 1901 census. I've looked through 1901 census for Horton Township, Renfrew County and I can find three Stewart households but the census does not specify concession numbers nor house numbers, so I'm not sure which household you're referring to. Perhaps you can identify for me exactly which household it is in 1901.

However, we do have the family of John Stewart and Mary Gow already partly researched. They were married 21 MAY 1803 in Balquhidder and 31 MAY 1803 in Comrie. The double-registered marriage means that the groom came from one parish and the bride came from the other. In this case John came from Balquhidder and Mary came from Comrie. But you knew that already.

John Stewart and Mary Gow are found in the 1814 Blair Drummond Moss Census residing at #9 Kirkline (Kirk Lane). The Moss Census can be found on our web site, here:
http://www.chuckspeed.com/balquhidder/history/Blair_Drummond_Moss_Census_1814.htm
This family can also be found in the appendix to Stewarts of the South, also on our web site, found here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rykbrown/stewarts_of_the_south_section_four.htm
In which document John Stewart in Kirkline is recorded as being the son of Donald Stewart in Edinample. Balquhidder parish records support that John was baptized 19 Jul 1779 in Croft of Edinample in Balquhidder parish as the son of Donald Stewart and Margaret Drummond-alias-MacGregor.

Our accounting of this family can be found on our web site here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rykbrown/other_stewarts_of_the_south.htm#Donald%20STEWART%20in%20Edinample
From which I quote:

[Cram]

Ryk, Thanks for the information. Based on what you offered and what I can piece together, here is what I know.

Based on the 1814 data John Stewart born abt 1781 married Mary Gow born abt 1780. (John's parents were Duncan Stewart and Janet Ferguson of Balqhidder, Perthshire.) They had 4 children
i. STEWART, Daniel (Donald) b 1804/06 Blair, Drummond Parish, Perthshire, Scotland d. 1877 m abt 1830 Catherine STEWART, b 1809 Balquhidder Parish, Perthshire Sct , d.1874 lot 17, con 6 Admaston Township, Oak Grove burial Mclaren Cem Lot 7 Con 2 Horton. Note. Donald or Daniel as he was known ( the names were interchangeable when translated from Gaelic) quarreled with his father over religion at the time of the great split in the Presbyterian church in 1843; he became Free Church while his father remained “Auld Kirk”. They were later reconciled and John visited the family in Canada, he returned at a later date and settled in Horton. An ancestor was Black Donald Stewart, an outlaw and smuggler who had evaded capture by the revenuers until one night he was discovered by them while drinking in a tavern. The building was surrounded and the captain burst in through the door with his sword drawn, follewd by his men. “Ah weel, Donald” he said “I guess we have ye noo!” “Ah weel,” replied Donald, “I guess ye have!” Whereupon he up-ended the table in front of him, and drawing his sword, fought is way through the enemy and escaped into the night.

i. STEWART, Margaret b. 1806 Perthshire, SCT d. 27 May 1871 Horton Twp, Renfrew, ON (2, 28, 45, 47, 50) James STEWART b. abt 1797 Perthshire, SCT d. 23 Oct 1868 Horton Twp, Renfrew, ON m. 10 Jun 1827 [Kincardine By Doune, SCT]– Note: emigrated 1830 The Stewarts came to Horton in 1830 with their first two sons. They spent their first night with the Airth home. They moved to Lot 6, Con 1 what was later as the Farquharson farm on Smiths Creek and here other members were born. Later they moved to Lot 4, Conc. 2, Horton Twp, Renfrew, ON. (Limecraig) Living Horton Twp, Renfrew, ON in 1851, 1861. Margaret living with her son, John in 1871. Today (2008) the farm still stands and is in the hands of the Mclaren family and is operated as an apple orchard.



STEWART, Mary no record

STEWART, May no record



Mary Gow died and John married Margaret (maiden name unkn)



i. STEWART, Helen ‘Ellen’ b. 26 Sep 1819 Kincardine by Doune, Perth, SCT d. 23 Apr 1902 Lot 11, Con.2, Admaston Twp, Renfrew, ON m. abt 1835 [SCT] Robert EARLEY b. 1814 Stirlingshire, SCT d. 13 Aug 1885 Renfrew Co, ON (2,7,16,45,47,50) – Ellen STEWART is stated to be the half-sister of Daniel STEWART b, 1804 Blair Drummond, Perth, SCT. Settle Lot 21, Con. 2, Horton Twp, Renfrew, ON in 1845. Living Horton Twp, Renfrew, ON in 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881. Lot 21, Con. 2, Horton Twp. Surname EARLY also spelled EARLEY. Buried Thomsonhill Cemetery, Renfrew



Margaret and James emigrated to Canada in 1830 while Ellen and Daniel (with their families) came to Canada in 1845 together on the ship Miss Blonde. From some family journals the trip was bad. The ship was in sight of the Banks of Newfoundland when a storm blew them back to the coast of Ireland. There one of the passengers demanded to be let off, and put ashore. The others continued to Canada. One of the Early children died during the voyage and was buried at sea.



In the 1852 Census for Horton Township John Stewart (73) and Mary Stewart (7 are living with the Earley family. Not sure if this was a visit or whether it was when they emigrated.



I am a descendant of Margaret and James, I have the decendants of Margaret and Daniel documented but have not documented Ellen's family.



Hope this helps and thanks again.

[Ryk]

Doug

Thanks for all of this wonderful additional information. I'll be entering and updating for quite a while with this!

And, biased as I may be, it's always great to have another Canadian branch. You've done some good research to dig up those great stories.

[Ryk]

As we have now identified your family, but there is presently a conflict as to whether they descend from Drumquharry (via Donald) or Ardvorlich (via Duncan) then I'll hold off moving this thread to it's proper location.

Doug, I will also upgrade you to full member status which will give you full access to the forum, including the private Members Only discussion forum which was previously hidden to you.
_________________
Ryk Brown
Descendant of the Stewarts of Dalveich (Ardvorlich)
Sliochd Iain Dubh Mhor

[Ryk]

Doug

Some additional information for you:

According to the Kincardine OPR (transcribed by one of our members, found here: http://www.chuckspeed.com/balquhidder/history/Kincardine_Baptisms.htm ), the parents of Helen Stewart, bap 26 SEP 1819 were John Stewart and Mary Ferguson. They married in Kincardin on 1815 May 6th, and had a son, Alexander Stewart, bap 1816 June 2 in Kincardine.

Given that there is only a six month difference between the birth of John Stewart on 6 NOV 1814 (last child of John Stewart and Mary Gow) and the marriage of John Stewart and Mary Ferguson, it would suggest to me that Mary Gow most likely died in childbirth.

Onomastics and chronology would suggest that Mary Ferguson was most likely bap 21 JAN 1798 in Kincardine as the daughter of Alexander Ferguson and Helen Giggy.

1841 census for Scotland shows:

[Ryk]

And still more...

[Cram]

Great job...looks like you nailed it.
My source of information on the Stewarts comes from Carol Bennet's book.."The founding fathers of Admaston,Horton and Renfrew village"

If you would like the articles I can send them to you as PDF documents.

Thanks

[Ryk]

[Ryk]

[Cram]

certainly possible as James and Mary occupied neigboring farms....

[Cram]

So here is another one.....
My mothers side of the family is primarily Stewarts and Mclarens. One of the Mclarens married a John R Stewart.

marriage record

[IReed]

Argyllshire, I believe.

Cheers,

Inez

[Ryk]

Doug

Inez is correct. Campbelltown is in Argyll -- way down at the south end of Kintyre. And this is where things are going to get very complicated, very quickly.

The Campbell Earl of Argyll had a castle at Campbelltown. His factor was John Lorne Stewart of Glenbuckie. (Although the earlier Stewarts of Glenbuckie were one of the three main branches of our family, the later Stewarts of Glenbuckie were actually a cadet branch of the Stewarts of Appin.) John Lorne Stewart resided in both Campbelltown and Glenbuckie and there appears to have been some movement of families from the Balquhidder area to Campbelltown at that time.

Peter McIntyre and Mary Stewart were among those who moved from Balquhidder to Campbelltown. Their first son, John Lorne Stewart (not the same John Lorne Stewart as mentioned above, but presumably named after him) was born in Campbelltown, along with their eldest daughter. The rest of their children were born in Horton, Renfrew, Ontario.

To complicate things even more, there was also another branch of Stewarts who resided in Campbelltown who, I believe, are descended from the Stewarts of Bute and are absolutely no relation to ours. This makes it very difficult, when dealing with Stewarts who resided in Campbelltown, to discern where they came from and which family they belonged to. But back to the McIntyres....

Peter McIntyre's mother was also a Stewart. Peter was the son of Duncan McIntyre and Margaret Stewart. Margaret Stewart was b 1775 as the daughter of Donald Stewart of Kip and Christian MacLaren of Branch III of the Stewarts of Dalveich. This means that Peter McIntyre and his wife Mary Stewart were distant cousins (probably about 3rd or 4th off the top of my head.)

OH....!!!! Now waitaminute...! BINGO! There's your James!!!

Peter McIntyre's wife, Margaret Stewart had a brother Alexander Stewart who lived at Summer's Lane on the Blair Drummond Moss. He had an illegitimate son named James Stewart, bap 18 FEB 1798 with Margaret Ferguson of Tomranach of Ardveich.

The 1841 census in Horton says your James was born in FEB 1796. The year is not the consequential part here -- off by two years is close enough, especially when the 1841 census enumerators were instructed to round off the age of adults to the nearest five years. The unusual thing here is that the enumerator in Horton thought to record the month of birth, which I've not seen anywhere else in the 1841 census. The fact that both James were said to have been born in Feb and that the years are within the rounding range of five years and that James Stewart (nephew of Peter McInytyre) was the son of an Alexander Stewart and your James' eldest son was Alexander....

Doug, I'm absolutely certain they are the same person!

This would make your James Stewart a nephew of Peter McIntyre and would explain the close connections between your families.

Congratulations cousin! You're a descendant of the Stewarts of Dalveich!

Go here: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rykbrown/stewart_of_dalveich.htm
Your James is listed under Line III - Stewarts in Ardveich, Lochearnhead and Kichp. See Donald Stewart in Kichp and his son Alexander.

You'll see in reading through this family that many of the immigrated to Renfrew, Ontario and many of them married MacLarens. The ancestral home of the MacLarens was Ardveich which property was later shared with the Stewarts of Dalveich. The MacLarens of Ardveich and the Stewarts of Dalveich were very closely allied and intermarried regularly.

Furthermore, another son of Donald Stewart in Kichp (grandfather of your James) was Robert Stewart (brother of Alexander, father of your James). Robert Stewart was a shepherd to Capt. Duncan Stewart of Glenbuckie, father of John Lorne Stewart, factor to the Earl of Argyll in Campbelltown. In fact, Duncan himself was also a factor to Argyll and passed on the office to his son.
_________________
Ryk Brown
Descendant of the Stewarts of Dalveich (Ardvorlich)
Sliochd Iain Dubh Mhor