This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: mv66nc Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.stewart/9015.1.2.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hi, virtually every researcher of this family has held to the belief that Charles Stewart was the son of Reverend James Stewart of Wester Clunie, Perthshire, Scotland. However, that connection has no basis in fact, and is based solely on a statement in a secondary source - "Historic Memorials of the Stewarts of Forthergill" by Charles Poyntz Stewart, published in 1879. That book contains a chapter on Reverend James Stewart's family, and states that his sons Charles and Alexander settled in North Carolina. Alexander Stewart did settle in Pitt County, NC. However, in the appendix of the same work, the author published transcriptions of original family correspondence, and those letters contradict some of his very own statements in the chapter on Reverend James. Charles, the son of Reverend James, probably did NOT come to North Carolina, as he was a ship captain trading in Africa prior to 1758. His brother Alexander stated in a 1769 letter from Pitt County, NC that he had n! o relatives in the new country except his first cousin Alexander Stewart, who was a minister at Bath, NC. Our ancestor Charles was already in Cumberland (present day Harnett) County, NC by about 1764 or 1765, but there is no evidence that Rev. James' Charles was even in NC by 1769. Also, even if Reverend James' son Charles came to NC (which it appears he did not despite what was published), it still does not mean he was identical with our Charles Stewart, as that was a very common name. The only reason that this theory has taken hold is because the late Frances Baker, a well known LDS researcher who worked on our Stewart family between the 1930s and the 1960s, favored that theory (based solely on the statement in the chapter on Rev. James' family in the 1879 genealogy). Miss Baker's group sheets in the LDS Archive have long served as the primary basis for most researchers' reconstruction of our Stewart family. While most of her research was excellent, her source notations were often vague and she did have some errors. As I stated in the previous post, DNA evidence is suggesting that our Charles Stewart may have been a son or near relative of Charles Stewart and his wife Mary Proctor of Spotsylvania County, VA. That couple was married prior to 1725, so they would chronologically fit as his parents, although we don't have documentary proof of the connection. Many of the names in our Stewart family also appear in that family (e.g. Mary's father was George Proctor - Charles and Hannah's son George may have been named for him). The names Joseph and James Stewart also appear in records of Spotsylvania County, so again these names, if related, could have been perpetuated in our own Charles Stewart's family. Additional DNA testing needs to be done in the future. Also, the traditions concerning Charles and Hannah are based largely on the memories of Thomas "Tom" D. Stewart of Coats, NC. He wrote down those traditions in a handwritten narrative, and they reference a man named "Spotsford" whom Charles Stewart supposedly worked for after his arrival in America. This is probably Governor Alexander Spotswood (d. 1740) of Virginia who owned land in Spotsylvania and Orange Counties, and this only further supports the idea that our family's origins may have been in the Spotsylvania County area. The family tradition may have merged father and son, and it could be that the earlier Charles Stewart was the immigrant mentioned in family tradition. Also, a Charles Stewart, Jr. appears in Spotsylvania court records in the late 1740s, and he could possibly be identical with our ancestor before he came to NC. It may also support the idea that Charles Stewart (md. Mary Proctor) did indeed have a son Charles, as he is styled Junior. In summary, there is not one shred of evidence that our Charles Stewart was the son of Reverend James Stewart except for a popular and largely unresearched belief perpetuated over and over by descendants. It is based on a statement in an 1879 genealogy. There is absolutely no proof that Charles Stewart (son of Rev. James) actually came to North Carolina other than the author's statement, and that seems to be contradicted by original correspondence appearing in the same book. There is also no proof that the Charles in question was identical with our ancestor Charles. C.P. Stewart did not identify Rev. James' son Charles as our Charles; he merely stated that Charles and his brother Alexander came to NC. That doesn't prove our ancestor had any connection to that family at all. The connection just looks like a good fit, so researchers have taken something completely unproven (and erroneous) and made it into fact. Hope this clarifies my previous posting. Mark Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

Mark, I'm going to agree with what you've said. I made the argument 10 years ago when I was doing my research, something just never felt right with the connection to Rev. James Stewart after having read through everything. The last few days I've spent going back through the items that I have, a large amount of it from Joyce Stewart, and I still hold the belief that there's a problem. Reflecting on what you've presented against what I've been reading the last few days I completely agree. Now the problem comes about trying to prove what the actual connection is, and the DNA evidence provides some of the best clues. Strangely enough when I was researching previously I kept coming across things regard Charles Stewart in Spotsylvania County and disregarded most of it, believing at the time that we knew what the connection was. There is one piece of paper that I have, I don't have any idea where I got it, or even the book that it came from, so I can't trace the history of the item. It's a single sheet copy of page 247 of some book with the following listing: STEWART Charles, b. 1725-1730; m Hannah (or Johanna) Kirk; sold land in Isle of Wight Co bef. 1750; rem to Wake Co., No. Car. Hartford B-8233 (4). 24 Sept,. 1955. Signed M.E.T. Wake County fits, we know that's where our Charles and Johanna were, but the belief was that they came to the states sometime after 1750. This would indicate that they were here before that time, although we don't have a specific time when Charles (son of Rev James) actually came to America, and there might be some evidence that he never did. We know that both Alexander Stewarts (cousins) were in North Carolina, and we also know that our Charles relocated to North Carolina before 1750, if the entry above can be believed. So we're left with the question of why Alexander wrote asking about Charles in 1769, when by then he should have had several letters indicating that his brother was close by. Too many years had to have passed, and even though it took time for letters to travel, by that point he should have known. I have some other theories that I've pretty much dropped at this point, and the DNA evidence is making them extremely unlikely so I'm not going to address them. It's been 10 years since I did my research, I just happened to come back to this because of some other information that came up regarding a different branch of my family and how they tie together. Was fortunate to catch this message since I lost my complete archive at the end of May due to a computer problem. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: June 16, 2010 12:40 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [STEWART] Charles Stewart and Johanna (Hannah) Kirk This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: mv66nc Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.stewart/9015.1.2.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Hi, virtually every researcher of this family has held to the belief that Charles Stewart was the son of Reverend James Stewart of Wester Clunie, Perthshire, Scotland. However, that connection has no basis in fact, and is based solely on a statement in a secondary source - "Historic Memorials of the Stewarts of Forthergill" by Charles Poyntz Stewart, published in 1879. That book contains a chapter on Reverend James Stewart's family, and states that his sons Charles and Alexander settled in North Carolina. Alexander Stewart did settle in Pitt County, NC. However, in the appendix of the same work, the author published transcriptions of original family correspondence, and those letters contradict some of his very own statements in the chapter on Reverend James. Charles, the son of Reverend James, probably did NOT come to North Carolina, as he was a ship captain trading in Africa prior to 1758. His brother Alexander stated in a 1769 letter from Pitt County, NC that he had n! o relatives in the new country except his first cousin Alexander Stewart, who was a minister at Bath, NC. Our ancestor Charles was already in Cumberland (present day Harnett) County, NC by about 1764 or 1765, but there is no evidence that Rev. James' Charles was even in NC by 1769. Also, even if Reverend James' son Charles came to NC (which it appears he did not despite what was published), it still does not mean he was identical with our Charles Stewart, as that was a very common name. The only reason that this theory has taken hold is because the late Frances Baker, a well known LDS researcher who worked on our Stewart family between the 1930s and the 1960s, favored that theory (based solely on the statement in the chapter on Rev. James' family in the 1879 genealogy). Miss Baker's group sheets in the LDS Archive have long served as the primary basis for most researchers' reconstruction of our Stewart family. While most of her research was excellent, her source notations were often vague and she did have some errors. As I stated in the previous post, DNA evidence is suggesting that our Charles Stewart may have been a son or near relative of Charles Stewart and his wife Mary Proctor of Spotsylvania County, VA. That couple was married prior to 1725, so they would chronologically fit as his parents, although we don't have documentary proof of the connection. Many of the names in our Stewart family also appear in that family (e.g. Mary's father was George Proctor - Charles and Hannah's son George may have been named for him). The names Joseph and James Stewart also appear in records of Spotsylvania County, so again these names, if related, could have been perpetuated in our own Charles Stewart's family. Additional DNA testing needs to be done in the future. Also, the traditions concerning Charles and Hannah are based largely on the memories of Thomas "Tom" D. Stewart of Coats, NC. He wrote down those traditions in a handwritten narrative, and they reference a man named "Spotsford" whom Charles Stewart supposedly worked for after his arrival in America. This is probably Governor Alexander Spotswood (d. 1740) of Virginia who owned land in Spotsylvania and Orange Counties, and this only further supports the idea that our family's origins may have been in the Spotsylvania County area. The family tradition may have merged father and son, and it could be that the earlier Charles Stewart was the immigrant mentioned in family tradition. Also, a Charles Stewart, Jr. appears in Spotsylvania court records in the late 1740s, and he could possibly be identical with our ancestor before he came to NC. It may also support the idea that Charles Stewart (md. Mary Proctor) did indeed have a son Charles, as he is styled Junior. In summary, there is not one shred of evidence that our Charles Stewart was the son of Reverend James Stewart except for a popular and largely unresearched belief perpetuated over and over by descendants. It is based on a statement in an 1879 genealogy. There is absolutely no proof that Charles Stewart (son of Rev. James) actually came to North Carolina other than the author's statement, and that seems to be contradicted by original correspondence appearing in the same book. There is also no proof that the Charles in question was identical with our ancestor Charles. C.P. Stewart did not identify Rev. James' son Charles as our Charles; he merely stated that Charles and his brother Alexander came to NC. That doesn't prove our ancestor had any connection to that family at all. The connection just looks like a good fit, so researchers have taken something completely unproven (and erroneous) and made it into fact. Hope this clarifies my previous posting. Mark Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board. ********************************* PLEASE PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION to the address fields when you are sending or replying to list mail. ---------------------------------- Please visit Clan Stewart in America's web site: http://www.clansstewart.org ------------------------------------ Looking for Scottish games in your area? Visit http://www.scottishinfo.org _______________________________________________ STEWART mailing list [email protected] ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message