Week 31 - Oldest Ancestor - Conner / Stewart

I spend a lot of time researching my side of the family and although I have researched and proven my mother's line to John Howland of the Mayflower and my father's Dillingham line back to Thomas Dillingham, the 9th great grandfather of the future King of England, via Lady Diana Spencer....this time I am focusing on my husband's maternal line of Stewart.

Dan's Stewart line goes all the way back to Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots and beyond. Yes, that one. The one who was beheaded. The Stewarts of Lorne were descended from a son of John Stewart the last Lord of Lorne. From this family sprang the Stewarts of Appin who with Althole branches were considered in the Highlands as forming the clan, Stewart. The badge of the Stewarts was the Oak. The reason the first of the race was called Stewart or Stuart was because the aforementioned John was Lord High Stuart of Scotland to King Robert the Bruce. 

Mary, Queen of Scots

Robert Stewart the ancestor of the line here was born in Appin, Scotland and there his death occurred.  He married Jessie Duncanson and among his children was Andrew.

Andrew Stewart, born about 1715 in Argyllshire, Scotland and Barbara McVicar would have been married about 1750 based on the birth of their son John Stewart. Andrew died in Campbellton, Scotland 22 May 1790. Barbara died 29 February 1799.

Their son John Stewart (1756-1806) married Marion McGill (1761-1838), and they were the parents of seven children: Jean, Elizabeth, Andrew, Mary, Archibald, Alexander and John II. All but Mary would immigrate to Canada and America. 

Dan descends from their son John II who married Janet Cook and immigrated to Lapeer County, Michigan.

But I want to tell you about Archibald Stewart, son of John and Marion....Dan's 5th great uncle.

Archibald was number five of seven children and was raised on the family farm named Peninver and was located in Campbeltown, Scotland where he was born in 1794. When 17 years of age, he was bound as an apprentice on the brig Lord Blantyre for three years. They sailed three times to the West Indies but then wrecked in the Bay of Honduras. The ship was lost but the crew was saved. 

He traveled to the East Indies, Canada, Nova Scotia, the Americas and West Indies among others during his career. His son Archibald, when just a teen, was lost overboard during a storm in the English Channel while apprenticed on the brig Glen Orchy.

Captain Archie continued his love of the sea and was involved in both successful and also costly voyages, and he should have lost his life numerous times. On a voyage to America, his ship was caught in an ice field off the coast of Newfoundland and remained there for 20 days. He was considered a loyal, trustworthy and competent commander. His final voyage was on the brig Agnes Smith where he traveled to and from Spain.  

In 1854 he and his wife Margaret (Leitch) and daughter Mary sailed for America and settled in Newburg, NY where their son Lachlan had immigrated. 

He lived a quiet life in New York for the next 25 years. Captain Archibald Stewart died 24 Aug 1881 at the ripe age of eighty-seven. He and his wife Margaret are buried in the Episcopal Cemetery in Newburg. The Stewart Airport in Newburg, New York is located on the farm of the Stewart descendants of his son Lachlan....

 


Some information obtained from - Captain Archibald Stewart (1794-1881): Kintyre Seafarer with a Knack for Survival by James Jackson

Barbie

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