Last updated December 29, 2024
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The following picture was taken at Katepwa Baptist Kamp when the family had a reunion in 2023
This page is designed to present a little family history. If you have any information
or can correct the data assembled here please email the creator by clicking on
the following link.
duane.stewart@hotmail.com
The following is a picture and a quote from the Melfort Journal, December 8, 1955.
Mr. and Mrs. George L. Stewart, respected pioneers of Melfort were honored on their fiftieth wedding anniversary, Tuesday, December 6th, by members of the family, relatives and friends. The occasion was celebrated at the home of their daughter Sylvia, (Mrs. W. Paynter) 214 Crawford Avenue West, and sixty-eight persons signed the guest register during the afternoon and evening. Mr. Stewart was born in County York, King Township, Ontario, and came to Melfort in 1903. Mrs. Stewart was born, Verena Liletta Guinn at Brainard, Minn., U.S.A., and came to Melfort in 1891. They were married by Rev. J. Shire with Leopold Stewart, (now of Keewatin, Ontario) as best man and Molly Guinn, (now of Vanguard) as bridesmaid. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have lived in Melfort or Melfort district since their marriage. For a number of years they farmed, later moving to Melfort where Mr. Stewart operated a dray and cartage business, as well as doing heavy moving. It is a well known fact (to those who remember Melfort in the earlier days) the assistance, interest and concern of the Stewart family in the welfare of Melfort and its citizens. They were (and still are) ready and willing to help and many can recall the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. George Stewart. To their marriage was born a family of nine, Sylvia, Weldon (killed in an accident), Roy, Phyllis, Florence of Grande Prairie Alberta, Marion (Neepawa Manitoba), Audrey (Ottawa), Bob (Drumheller, Alta) and Bill. There are 20 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren. Included in the visitors Tuesday, were Mayor Frost and Councillors Vickar and Forde; telegrams from Premier T. C. Douglas and son Bob and a telephone call from daughter, Audrey. Florence and Marion were able to attend in person. An interesting sidelight to this Jubilee wedding anniversary is that Mr. and Mrs. Stewart received provincial wide recognition for their part in helping Saskatchewan during the past fifty years at the Pion-era celebrations in Saskatoon in July. Mr. Stewart drove a replica of a covered wagon into the city from Melfort, visiting numerous towns and villages enroute. All extend best wishes for their continued happiness. -Melfort Journal Photo
A Bible has been passed from one generation to another since it was
purchased by Robert & Maryan Stewart. The Bible was published by
Hartford: Printed and Published by Case, Lockwood & Brainard in 1872.
Duane Stewart (the designer of this webpage) currently has it in his
possession. Duane is the son of Thomas Llewellyn Stewart who was the son of
Weldren Stewart who was the son of George L. Stewart who was the son of
Robert Stewart. It contains the births, deaths and marriages of the sons and daughters
of Robert and Maryan Stewart. It also contains some loose papers put in the Bible
by various family members. One of note is a marriage certificate
signed by a Rev. James Carmichael on November
9th, 1863. The registration of this marriage is recorded on microfilm by the Archives
of Ontario. Click to see the document.
The last six pages of the bible were used to record births, deaths and marriages in the family. The pages are as follows:
Other views of the Bible
The Bible was the beginning of a search for previous ancestors.The only information that was available when this began was the data stored in the bible. As it turns out there is information in all sorts of places one just needs to ask and scour.
Since the marriage certificate of Robert and Maryan indicated that they lived in King, Ontario, that is where
the searching would begin. King township was north of Toronto and King was a town just west of Yonge Street
presently called King City. Scouring the different census listings revealed that a Robert Stewart was the son of
George Stewart and Mary Harper. According to the1881 census
and 1871 census
, Robert and Maryan
lived in the township of King in Ontario. Census documents spelled her name as Maryann but in the Bible and on the grave marker
in Melfort it is spelled Maryan. The 1871 census
has a James Stewart listed under Robert's name. He is 9 years old. Who is this James?
In earlier census information, there was a Robert Stewart age 12 in the 1851 census
living with a George and Mary Stewart. NOTE: The 1851 census was actually carried out in 1852. His age on the
1861
census
is 21. On the 1871 census
he is 31 and on the 1881 census
he is 42.
In the 1851 census
George, his father, is from Ireland
and according to the age of the children he must have immigrated to Canada between 1801 and 1833. An interesting fact is that on the
census of 1861
and
census of 1871
in the Scugog area of Ontario where Rebecca Nesbit nee Stewart was living shows
that she was born in the United States. This may be that she was born on the boat coming to North America and when the family landed in the United States they registered her birth. Looking at
cemetery records revealed George's name on a grave marker in a cemetery in King Ontario. It indicated he was from
the county of Monaghan in Ireland. He is buried beside children of Robert Stewart. On October 7, 2008 I found
marriage information for Robert and Mary McKinnon that indicated that George Stewart and Mary Stewart nee Harper
are the parents. This was confirmed by the
marriage registration
that is stored on microfilm by the Archives of Ontario. I was in contact with the
historical society in King City, Ontario and a Louise Di Iorio was kind enough to send me more information about
the family in that area. She also went to the cemetery in Eversley and took some pictures of the
grave yard and the church.
When the grave marker for Mary Harper was found it looked like the picture on the left. This marker was once leaned against the back wall of the church but has since been moved and placed
on the grave of George Stewart and has settled into the ground.
MARY HARPER
WIFE OF
GEORGE STEWART
Died May 7, 1878
aged 74 years 3 months
A special thank you goes out to Louise Di Iorio for taking the pictures of George Stewart's grave marker and others in the St. Andrews Presbyterian Cemetery in Eversley, Ontario just east of King City, Ontario. Her help in this has been greatly appreciated.
In the quest for family facts, the internet has provided different pieces of the puzzle mostly from scanning different genealogy sights and leaving messages for other Stewarts to get in contact. Some of the pieces have been provided by individuals like Maureen Middleton who was a descendant of Leopold Lorn King Stewart who was a brother of Duane's great grandfather and Neal Hastings who was a descendant of Maud Charlotte Victoria Stewart a sister of Duane's great grandfather. The "George Stewart and Mary Harper" names had Duane Stewart come in contact with Mary Morgan who had left a family tree on the website Ancestry.com with these two individuals mentioned. Mary is the daughter of Jim Stewart a person that was to become a very dear friend as he has been researching the Stewart name for a number of years. Jim eventually got wind that Duane was searching for family information and he contacted Duane to share what he had discovered. Jim had hired genealogists to research in Ireland and in Scotland. He had his DNA tested to see if he was related to the High Stewards of Scotland. All indicators say that we are indeed related to the High Stewards of Scotland and hopefully further research will give a definate connection to these individuals. George Stewart (Duane's ggggrandfather) was a brother of James Stewart (Jim's gggrandfather). In October 2013, Duane went to Toronto and met with Jim and his wife Maryln and had a wonderful time going through the information that Jim had discovered and going back to the land that was purchased by George.
History books have been another source of information on the Stewarts. One in particular "History of Toronto
and County of York, Ontario, Vol. 2 page 423" indicated that George Stewart had sixteen children and only twelve
were living at the time of his death but Duane had only found nine. While in Toronto, Duane visited the Archives
of Ontario and discovered the
will of George Stewart and there were three more individuals that
were named in the will that were children of his that were unknown up to this point.
Click on this link to see a history of the Stewart Family as I have gleaned from talking to Uncle Bill Stewart of Melfort, Aunt Audrey Braid of Ottawa and Jim Stewart of Toronto.
I would also like to thank Jim Stewart in Toronto who has been researching the Stewart name for over 30 years and has been very kind in sharing his knowledge of the Stewarts with the author of this page. Most of the information of the Stewarts before the 1800's and other information throughout the genealogy is because of his research and I am very appreciative of that information.
Front: Maryln & Jim Rear: Paul Goodfellow and his wife Carol Stewart, children Jonathan & Jamie Goodfellow. Keith and Mary Morgan
"In early 2013, Duane contacted me. He had found a brief family tree, originally put on Ancestry years ago by
my daughter Mary. From my records and Duane's knowledge of his grandparents, we turned out to be 4th cousins once
removed. I am a retired executive in my late 70s, living in Toronto. Over more than thirty years, I have researched
my Stewart family, starting with conversations with my father and my aunts, who were born in the 1890s. With the
help of Irish genealogists, I traced the family back to Ireland in the late 1700s, including visiting the family
Church at Cahans, County Monaghan, Ireland. The Cahans church records show the birth dates of the seven children
of George Stuart and Margrett Morrow, born between 1787 and 1806. The birthdates and names confirmed that these
were the correct Stewarts. Two of the brothers James (b. 1806, my G-G-Grandfather) and George (b. 1799, Duane's
G-G-G- Grandfather) came to Canada in the early 1800s and settled north of Toronto in Whitchurch and King Townships
respectively and attended Eversley Presbyterian Church. I had traced the descendants of both brothers -- James
completely to the present and George to some of his children and grandchildren. For a century and a half, up to my
father's generation, my ancestors had lived and farmed north of Toronto. While George (1799) had 16 children and
thus many descendants (including Duane's family), there is only one male descendant of James (1806) left, a fourth
cousin of mine. I had researched and identified the graves of James and George and those of their wives and some
children at Eversley, King Twp. and had identified and visited the farms they had owned, some for a century. I was
able to provide Duane with considerable data on the Eversley Church, including a copy of a
Call for a Minister in 1837 that included both James and George Stewart. I also had anecdotal evidence of the
family's original Scottish origins. A few years ago, I completed DNA testing, confirming that our Stewart family
had descended from the Ancient Stewards to the Scottish Kings in the 12th century. Duane was given extensive
written records of my research. When he visited me in October, 2013, I took him to the Church and Cemetery where
George and James and their wives are buried, and to the farms where his ancestors had lived, gave him other
information on the family and encouraged him to complete the DNA tests.
Duane's DNA tests later confirmed our relationship and his ancestry back to the Ancient Stewards. This was a very warm, friendly and exciting meeting for both Duane and me. We will continue to work together as friends and cousins on Stewart genealogy. My main endeavor is to identify where they came from in Scotland and go back and stand on that ground."
The picture that follows is the land purchased by George Stewart on November 26, 1826 in the township of King Lot 11 Concession 4 and he passed it on to his son Robert on July 22, 1863. Robert then sold it on November 23, 1886. Use scroll bar at bottom of browser to pan across picture.
Text that appears green was information found in the Bible.