Stewarts of Balquhidder

that_rob_guy

Hi,

I've been compiling my family history and I came across a note that mentioned:

"...our ancestors can be traced back to approximately 1530 when James Stewart, the Royal Bailie of Balquhidder granted a lease on farmland to his natural son, Patrick Stewart. The lease remained in the family until 1816 when it expired. (For serious students of genealogy, I have a photocopy of the lease of 1776.) Our line comes from a younger son who left the farm in the 1700's."

It continues on with 1795 when fifteen-year-old Duncan Stewart and his brother John apprenticing to a weaver in Renfrew. It also includes a family tree which starts with:

James Stewart - 1680,
son: Robert Stewart m. Christian Stewart - 1728
son: Duncan Stewart m. Katherine McLaren - 1765
son: Duncan Stewart m. Janet Dunlop - 1806

and so on. From what I can tell on the Stewart page, some of these dates may be in error. If anyone can help me place these names and dates correctly, I'd be much obliged. I can try to ween out further information from the family member who compiled the information to begin with, if required.

Thanks!

Ryk · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:32 am Post subject:

Rob Guy

Welcome to the group. You have me sitting up, alert, and paying very close attention to you right now! If what you say above proves to be accurate then this represents a brand new line previously unknown to us.

Do you know the name of the farm that was in the lease that remained in your family until 1816?

Do you have the names/dates of the intervening generations between the natural son, Patrick, who first had the lease, and "James 1680" above?

Any additionl information at all would be very helpful at this point. So give us all ya got! Meanwhile I'll run down the names and dates you have above and get back to you shortly.

If it's not too much trouble, would you be able to scan the lease and email it to me at ryk.heather@cogeco.ca ? Unfortunately this forum doesn't allow you to attach files to your postings here.

Eagerly awaiting your reply,

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

Ryk · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 2:40 am Post subject:

Okay, Rob Guy,

What you have above checks out. The farm that your family had a lease on would be Lednascriddan (found with a number of variant spellings). Your family is the "Flint" Stewarts of Lednascriddan, Branch VI of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich. Your family above is specifically Line 5 of this family. You can find them here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rykbrown/stewart_of_ardvorlich_branch_vi.htm

As we now know which branch you belong to I'm going to move this discussion to the Ardvorlich section and upgrade you to Full Member status so you can access all areas of the forum.

You'll note that what you have on your family does not match exactly with Line 5 as we have it presented on the Lednascriddan page. Our accounting of this branch is incomplete and we will have to make some adjustments to our present accounting based on your information. That's why, even though we've identified your family now, it would still be helpful for you to send/post everything you have on this family so we can compare it to our notes.

I'll leave it there for now and get started on entering your data. I look forward to your reply and if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask.

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

that_rob_guy · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:57 pm Post subject:

Wow, thanks for the fast update!

I'll talk to my grandparents who did the research and have the copy of the files from when they were in Scotland, and send it to you. This may take a few days, I don't think they know how to work a scanner, so they may have to send me the photocopies via snail mail.

I'll also try to flesh out what I have if there's more information to be had. Just going to take a little time.

Ryk · Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 1:35 am Post subject:

Rob Guy

I've done some further digging into your family using census records, OPR records and other records available to us. I have updated the Lednascridan page with your information and the additional information I've found over the last day or so. Have a look at it and let me know if it agrees with what you have or if you see any errors, or if you have anything additional to add. In the meantime I look forward to hearing what you learn from your grandparents.

If you have any other questions, please ask.

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

that_rob_guy · Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:41 am Post subject:

Looks good. When I get a chance to talk to my Aunties Pat and Helen, who put together the genealogy, hopefully I can fill in anything missing. In the meantime, I'll transcribe the entry in whole. This follows the Armor/Hay marriage, which is my Great-grandma's mother and father. Her father is the son of Janet Stewart and James Armour, who married in 1872, and that's where my line is connected. I will email you a copy of the tree that's included in the book where I got this information from as well. This is written by my Auntie Pat, who is my grandfather's sister.

"Through the efforts of Granfather Armour's coursins, Greta and Gordon Stewart, our ancestors can be traced back to approximately 1530 when James Stewart, the Royal Bailie of Balquhidder granted a lease on a farmland to his natural son, Patrick Stewart. The lease remained in the family until 1816 when it expired. (For the serious students of genealogy, I have a photocopy of the lease of 1776.) Our line comes from a younger son who left the farm in the early 1700's.

We pick up the history again in 1795 when fifteen-year-old Duncan Stewart and his brother were apprenticed to a weaver in Renfrew. (Again, serious students, I have a photocopy of the apprenticeship indenture papers.) Duncan, our great great great grandfather married Janet Dunlop in 1806 and produced eight children, their third child Gavin being our great great grandfather. Gavin, a warper by trade, married Elizabeth Bremner in 1839 and they in turn produced seven children. This narrative will be following the offspring of Gavin and Elizabeth's daughter Janet, our great grandmother, and their youngest children Eliza, Isabella and John are part of our tale too."

The next part talks about when Janet Stewart marries James Armour, but I'm not sure if you want that too. All it really says is that they married in 1972, but James drowned in the Clyde River while their son, William was an infant, and in 1890 she remarries to John Forsyth, who is the widower of her youngest sister Isabella. After this, it follows the Armour line and then further.

Ryk · Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 1:50 pm Post subject:

Rob

Thanks for the additional info. I'll enter that too. Yes, that is sufficient on the Armour line. As our study focusses primarily on the Stewarts, we usually track as far as anyone who has a Stewart parent. Thus for daughters, we track as far as their husbands and the first generation of their children but not usually further than that (unless there's a specific reason to).

Do you know which branch Gordon and Greta were from?

I look forward to hearing what your aunts and grandparents have collected.

Up until this point it sounds like your family's genealogy didn't go back any further than James Stewart of Balquhidder, father of Patrick Stewart, 1st of Lednascridan. Have you managed to follow your way through our site to find James' ancestors?

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

Ryk · Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 3:32 pm Post subject:

This is odd...

I found the marriage entry for Janet Dunlop Stewart and James Armour, 6 AUG 1873 in Calton. And I found the birth of their only son William three months later on 28 NOV 1872 in Govan. So, by your story, if James Armour died when William was an infant, then he probably died in 1873.

However the odd thing is that the 1881 census shows the family residing at 207 Waddell St, Hutchesontown, Glasgow, with William Armour, age 8, living with his father : "[first name not recorded] Armour, male, born 1845 in Glasgow, employed as a milliner." They are residing with Isabella Stewart who is shown as a sister to the head of house. Scottish custom did not distinguish between sister and sister-in-law, so the reference to "sister" can mean either.

So, either :
1. The entry is incorrect and the "____ Armour" is actually Janet and she's mistakenly recorded as "male". Though the Scottish custom for a widow was to return to using her maiden name unless she married again. So if this entry is actually the widowed Janet Stewart then we would normally expect her to be recorded with the surname Stewart, not Armour. Or...
2. This isn't the same family and they just closely resemble yours. However, there isn't another match in the 1881 census that looks even close to fitting with your family. Or...
3. Your family tradition doesn't fit with the census records. Or...
4. Something's amiss....

I'll keep digging.
_________________
Ryk Brown
Descendant of the Stewarts of Dalveich (Ardvorlich)
Sliochd Iain Dubh Mhor

Ryk · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:26 am Post subject:

Rob

Thanks for the tree you sent me. That helps fill in a few pieces.

Regarding the odd entry in 1881, having looked at it a few times, I'm now convinced that it is in fact Janet Armour nee Stewart that appears as "___ Armour" and that she is mistakenly recorded as "male".

I note on your tree that James Armour's mother is shown as "Lewis Thomson." Her real name is Louisa Thomson. The only place where her name is recorded as "Lewis" is for the birth of James. All of his siblings (shown below) show the mother as "Louisa Thomson". James' siblings are:

1. JEAN ARMOUR - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: 12 MAR 1836 Christening: 17 APR 1836 Gorbals, Lanark, Scotland
2. MARY ARMOUR - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: 16 JUN 1838 Christening: 22 JUL 1838 Gorbals, Lanark, Scotland
3. (James 1841)
4. HUGH ARMOUR - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 06 FEB 1844 Christening: 03 MAR 1844 Gorbals, Lanark, Scotland
5. JOHN ARMOUR - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 14 AUG 1846 Christening: 13 SEP 1846 Gorbals, Lanark, Scotland
6. ROBERT ARMOUR - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Birth: 07 JAN 1849 Christening: 11 FEB 1849 Barony, Lanark, Scotland
7. LOUISA ARMOUR - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Birth: 22 NOV 1851 Christening: 28 DEC 1851 Barony, Lanark, Scotland
_________________
Ryk Brown
Descendant of the Stewarts of Dalveich (Ardvorlich)
Sliochd Iain Dubh Mhor