Robert Stewart (1655 - 1714)

Records of Sir BERNARD BURKE

1. Sir JOHN STUART Perthshire Scotland 2. WALTER STUART-Perthshire Scotland 3. ROBERT STUART born 1656 Perthshire Scotland Died 1714 Edinburg Scotland. he was a Convenanter, fled Ireland during The Reign of JAMES. He settled in Londonderry. After Peace was restored he returned to Edinburg where he died. He married JANETTE FORSYTHE. After his death JANETTE FORSYTHE STUART came to America Her Children were: JOHN ROBERT JULIA ANN SAMUEL ALEXANDER:

ALEXANDER STUART Born 1680 Edinburg, Scotland Died 1714 married 1704 MARY BAILEY-Daughter of JOEL and ANN SHORT BAILEY of Chester County Pennsylvania{ See Bailey Book from BRONEHAM, Wiltshire England } ALEXANDER STUART arrived in America as a Bound Boy assuming his father had lost much of his possessions during The Reign of JAMES VII and KING WILLIAM

CHILDREN: JANE Born 1709 Married 1730 JOSIAH TAYLOR ROBERT Born 1710 Married MARTHA RICHARDSON 1732 ANN born 1712 Married 1734 HENRY MARSH MARY, Born 1714 Married JOSEPH TAYLOR

ROBERT STEWART Born 1710 Chester County Penn. died 1783 married MARTHA RICHARDSON Daughter of ISAAC and CATHERINE GANDY RICHARDSON from England

Records of Wilkes County Georgia of Wills 1792-1801 Page 54 STEWART-MARTHA To esch of My Children: ELIZABETH. JEHU. ISAAC--CATHERINE--GRAVENOR--RACHEL--and HANNAH, Five Shillings each. To Grandaughter MARTHA BROOKS, Feather Bed when she is 18 To Son AMOS 150 acres of Land whereon My Son GRAVENOR now lives, Cattle etc. AMOS to Be the Sole Executor, March 27 1791 Probated September 20 1793 JESSEE PUGH WItness

CLATHE KANSAS January 20 1959

I Have Your Letter of Inquiry of December 27

It Says: You are correctly informed. ELIZABETH STEWART was a Daughter of ROBERT and MARTHA RICHARDSON STEWART and ROBERT was The Son of ALEXANDER STEWART of KENNET TOWNSHIP ,CHESTER PENNSYLVANIA. This Family has been rather well looked up and considerable information about these STEWARTS has been printed in STEWART CLAN MAGAZINE in the Years Past. A Book was printed about them by one of the STEWARTS who heads Carnation Milk Company in Seattle. a copy of which I have and which gives credit to STEWART CLAN MAGAZINE for established the Line of ROBERT STEWART. Although a Quaker, took some part in The Revolutionary War and The Settlers who escaped Massacre took Refuge in South Carolina until Hostilities ceased. Their having taken part in the War resulted in ROBERT'S Son's quitting the Quaker Connection Their Grandfather ALEXANDER STEWART was not originally a Quaker, but he married a Quaker Girl in Pennsylvania. He was a Bound Boy, imported from Scotland and sold into Bondage to Pay The Passage. His fathers name is unknown, but the presumption is that this Family of Stewarts lost its possessions during some Trouble in The Reigns of King JAMES VII and KING WILLIAM.

YOURS TRULY GEORGE EDSON.

Edson correctly describes the family of Alexander Stewart of Chester. Note that he does NOT link Alexander to the Stewarts of Londonderry, New Hampshire. Edson was himself a descendant of the Stewart of Londonderry and he knew that Robert Stewart, Covenanter, never had any son named Alexander.

First of all, there is no basis for "SIr John Stuart Perthshire Scotland" as father of Walter Stewart/Stuart from Perthshire. The research of the late Philip B. Stewart II, aided by Scots genealogists Kenneth Robertson and James Dinwoodie, shows Walter to have been Walter Stewart, 7th of (or "in", rather) Gartnafuaran in Perthshire, and Walter's father was named Andrew, not John.

Robert Stuart/Stewart, Covenanter, married Janette (Jeanette, Jonet, Janet) Forsyth and has four known children: John, Robert, Julia Ann, and Samuel. (Some sources mistakenly break Julia Ann into two separate daughters, but Joseph Stewart's 1818 letter calls her "Julieyn" or Julian, i.e. Juliana or Julianne.)

Robert and Janette certainly had no son named Alexander. The parents of Alexander Stuart/Stewart of Chester Co., Pennsylvania, are unknown and probably will always be unknown, but DNA tests of Alexander's descendants indicate that he was descended in the male line from the MacRaes, and thus was not a Stewart in the male line.

There is no evidence linking Alexander Stuart to the family of Robert and Janette, nor any evidence that he had anything to do with any Stewart family of Perthshire. No one know where Alexander Stuart of Chester Co., Penn., was born, and there is no basis for the claim that Alexander had arrived in America "assuming his father had lost much of his possessions." Rather, some genealogists wrongly inserted Alexander into Robert's family just because they were casting about looking for Alexander's parents.

Why did they choose to insert their Alexander into my ancestral Stewart family?

I think it is because they found the old published genealogy written by B. Frank Severance, "The Descendants of Walter Stewart of Perthshire." In that book, Severance published two letters written in 1818 and 1819 by Joseph Stewart, a grandson of Robert Stewart, Covenanter. In those letters, Joseph provides valuable information on his family and the life and times of his grandparents. In the 1818 letter, Joseph also mentions another, related Stewart family, the Stewarts of Colrain, Massachusetts, who descended from "Young James" Stewart of Colrain, son of "Old Father James" Stewart of Colrain. Young James was the third husband of Margaret Stewart (who is my own ancestress), daughter of Charles Stewart, son of John Stewart, eldest son of Robert Stewart, Covenanter.

Joseph Stewart says Young James had a younger brother named ALEXANDER who owned a "catalogue" of the Stewart family that traced the genealogy of Robert Stewart, Covenanter, and the genealogy of "Old Father James" Stewart of Colrain. Joseph says both Robert Stewart and "Old Father James" Stewart belonged to branches of the Royal Stewarts. in his 1818 letter, Joseph says it had been some years since he'd been able to consult Alexander Stewart's "catalogue," so he couldn't remember the details of their royal ancestry, because, Joseph says, Alexander had "carried off" the catalogue with him when Alexander moved to PENNSYLVANIA.

So, I suspect that this reference to an Alexander Stewart and Pennsylvania gave some of the descendants of Alexander Stuart of Chester Co. the idea that there must have been a connection between their Alexander Stuart and my Stewarts, the Stewarts of Londonderry, New Hampshire. And then looking at the probable year of birth for their Alexander, they decided he must have been the otherwise unknown eldest son of Robert and Janette. (Of course, the Alexander Stewart mentioned by Joseph Stewart was a son of Old Father James Stewart of Colrain, and was only related to the family of Robert and Janette through the marriage of Young James Stewart to Robert's great-granddaughter Margaret. The Stewarts of Londonderry, New Hampshire, and the Stewarts of Colrain, Massachusetts, were two separate Stewart families, both of royal origin but not closely related other than through marriage. A Big-Y700 DNA test this month has proven that Old Father James was descended from the Stewarts of Blackhall and Ardgowan, just as Joseph Stewart said in his 1818 letter. But Robert Stewart, Covenanter, came from the Stewarts of Gartnafuaran. The Blackhall line goes back to an illegitimate son of King Robert III, while the Gartnauaran line goes back to Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, nephew of King Robert III.)

But there's never been a shred of evidence to support the placement of Alexander Stuart of Chester as a son of Robert Stewart, Covenanter -- and now that false parentage is spread all over the internet and infects countless Ancestry.com family trees. It even made it here on Wikitree, but thankfully that error has been corrected.

You are more knowledgeable about this line than myself, so, my question is:

According to your research, the information sent to me (that I have posted here) is mostly correct, save the son Alexander Stewart, which is an error. Is this correct?

If not, please give me a short summary of which children are supported or proven, and which children are not.

Thank you!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this family. I think Alexander belongs to another Chester County, PA Stewart family.

He seems guilty by association, and intermarriage.

James Stewart (Steurt) S7620 Guilford County, NC

Thomas Stewart --Rev War Pension S31998 Born Cumberland Pennsylvania To Mecklenburg NC to Wilkes and Greene Co Ga. to Alabama.

SAMUEL JACK Rev War Pension SC4216 Captain John McClure Col Edward Lacey

Amos stewart Rev war pension R10161 South Carolina

I think Amos descends from Robert and Martha (Richardson) Stewart.

I think the Alexander that has been mistakenly attributed to your Gartnafuaran line actually belongs to the line of Thomas Stewart and James Stewart above.