Stewarts of Campbeltown

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Re: Stewarts of Campbeltown

Postby David Jackson » Mon Aug 24, 2020 4:05 am

As I quote from the above article on Rev. Alexander, the only known officer James Stewart was no. 4 below, born 1794. Would he be too early for your James?


As for the Rev. Alexander's sons, the eldest of whom was just nine at his father's death, most went on to lead a military life. As far as I could determine, none of his descendants followed in his footsteps and chose an ecclesiastical career. A little more could be learned about his sons:
•(1) Robert Thomson Stewart, b. 6 June 1789, Lieu1. 28th Reg1. of Foot & at Waterloo in 1815. Married 1. Agnes Fish. 2. Harriet Campbell (c. 1791 - 26 July 1880). In 1851 Census residing with Harriet and daughter Jessie at Grassfield, Tarbert. Robert Thomson Stewart died 28 Jan. 1870, at Princes S1., Campbeltown (record 507 228).
•(2) Charles Stewart, b. 5 March 1791, said by family tradition to have been an 'officer in army and at Waterloo, 1815'; in Gortanane, Killean and Ki1chenzie, 1841 Census, where he is said to be 50 years old, Army, 71st.
•(3) Andrew Stewart, b. 9 Apr. 1792
•(4) James Stewart, b. 10 ApI. 1794, according to family tradition: 'an officer in army and at Waterloo, 1815'.

You can also download this old study of the Park Stewarts as pdf:

https://www.academia.edu/39877428/The_A ... _Oct_1938_
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Re: Stewarts of Campbeltown

Postby shumayes » Wed Sep 16, 2020 3:45 pm

Thanks for your response. Yes, I fear that James is too early (by a generation). However I am going back through the entire tree from Archibald of Tangie and Drum downwards to see if it yields further clues as there are many sons whose history remains relatively scant and undocumented. I had seen the pdf you referenced online and it is helpful to read and cross-reference much that is on the web. I feel a bit cursed to be following the name "James Stewart" however.
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Re: Stewarts of Campbeltown

Postby shumayes » Mon Oct 05, 2020 2:53 pm

David

With reference to previous post, I am now looking more closely at James Stewart, child of Archibald STEWART born 1712 (brother of Andrew STEWART of Park). James appears to have been born in 1747 so a more fitting timeframe. I remain interested however in Andrew Stewart as Ancestry thrulines have yielded links through myself, other family members and a fourth cousin to three of Andrew’s children. I don’t suppose any descendants of Park Stewarts would be prepared to share Gedmatch details with me? If so, my own gednumber is RF4097840. However I have a suite of others who are older folk and likely better matches, so keen to exchange details if anyone is so minded. I can be contacted at shunamayes@btinternet.com
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Re: Stewarts of Campbeltown

Postby Donnie » Sun Oct 11, 2020 9:57 am

The Rev. Alexander Stewart’s son James (1794-1863) was the governor of the general prison at Perth, Scotland. He had one son Alexander (1832-1861) who died from phthisic. He was not married and was a clerk in the prison when he died.
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Re: Stewarts of Campbeltown

Postby David Jackson » Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:16 pm

The Mysterious Origins of Two Stewart Families of Kintyre: Recent Genetic Confirmation

by

David Jackson



Where the “Park Stewarts” and closely related Stewart families of Kintyre ultimately originated has long baffled people like me (a researcher from outside). It also stymied one of the best local historians and legal minds when he turned his attention to the problem twenty years ago. (See A. I. B. Stewart, “Some Kintyre Stewarts” The Scottish Genealogist, Vol. 41, no. 3 (Sept. 1994), pp. 97-102.) I certainly never had any hope that genetics would come to our rescue.
So I was surprized to read the article of A. Martin in this journal: “Park Stewarts: A Royal Link?” (Kintyre Magazine no 80, p. 29), which opens by quoting the beginning of an article by Kirsteen Paterson:

‘A grandfather who worked in a tractor factory has been revealed as a descendant of Robert III in a transatlantic project … ‘ The man in question – one of two so far identified from a distinctive genetic marker ‘ZZ52’ – is Donald Stewart, Lanark. He was reported as having hit a ‘brick wall’ in his researches, the obstacle to tracing his Stewart line further back having been ‘John Stewart, a tenant farmer on the Duke of Argyll’s estate at High Park, Kintyre, from 1710’.

What was that discovery, and what does it mean for two well-known Stewart families (descended from Archibald’s sons John and Charles), which until then were so difficult to trace? The problem with our Park Stewarts in particular was that detailed documentation only began with our ancestor John Stewart, who had the lease beginning in 1710. But there was no convincing evidence about who his father was, a fatal problem for family history.


Still Earlier Stewarts on Park since 1685
Another problem was that several records indicated that a person named Stewart was farming at Park already in the late 1680s and early 1700s. That earlier John Stewart in Skeroblinrad (Park) was listed as a rebel in 1685. (He is found among the names compiled by Duncan C. MacTavish, ed., in The Commons of Argyll, Name-lists of 1685 and 1692, Lochgilphead, 1935.) That earlier John Stewart (who flourished in the 1680s and 1690s) was a supporter of the Campbell 9th Earl of Argyll in the latter's disastrous uprising against king James VII and II—something to be expected of a dependable Stewart tacksman approved and invited by the Argyll ruler in the mid-1600s as part of his plantation scheme. These Park and allied Stewarts, however, were apparently not pure Lowlanders like some of the Stewarts brought in under that plan: they were apparently Gaelic speakers or at least bilingual (in order to serve, as at least two of them did, as pastors of Highland churches).


Archibald Stewart (farm leases at Drum, etc.), b. about 1654

But that early John, the rebel in 1685, was not our ancestor, as I long believed. As it turns out, we Park Stewarts were descended from Archibald Stewart on the Drum, the progenitor of at least two major local Stewart family branches. As proven by a genetic marker, Archibald was the son of the John Stewart, senior laird of Blackhall and Ardgowan.
Several factors made him particularly mysterious (hard to trace) in the early years of his life. He was a love child, and may not have been automatically baptised by his mother at birth. (But we should at least search the Inverkip Auld Kirk or Wesr Parish records.)
We now can imagine that even as a nobleman’s son, life was not always rosy for him after a certain point. He faced two severe problems as a child. One was to be born from a lover and not real wife of his eminent father. The second was to be orphaned by the more eminent of parents at just the age of 4.
His uncle Sir.Archibald Stewart became laird of Blackhall/Ardgowan, and young Archibald was not suddenly forced to leave. Even from the beginning we guess that he probably was not residing in his young father’s main residence, which we guess was Ardgowan. We can assume that he was cared for all the more so by his remaining parent, his mother (the main lover of the young laird), wherever young Archibald did end up.
Archibald’s noble paternity (but not illegitimate status) was clearly remembered and claimed by at least one branch of the family, the descendant of Rev. Charles in Canada. But that was misunderstood by Ian Stewart in his article on these families (who thought they were asserting parentage by another Blackhall Stewart from the same generation, Sir Archibald). As recorded by one recent descendant, George Sturt:

The third child of Sarah Hamilton and Peter Stewart [Rev. Charles’s son], Mary Irving, made some statements towards the end of her life, which are intriguing. Here is a quotation in part: “Archibald Stewart, Cadi [Cadet], or youngest son of Sir John of Blackhall and Greenock (who lived on the estate in the time of Cromwell), was the father of Rev. Charles Stewart, whose son Peter Stewart came out to P.E. Island as Chief Justice many years ago...”

As Sturt added:
Her statements are so specific: “who lived on the estate in the time of Cromwell”, and “youngest son of (Sir) John of Blackhall.”
But twenty years ago it was unthinkable to everyone that Archibals’ paternal connection could have been with John Stewart, who was short-lived and known not to have had any offspring.


Timeline of Archibald’s Life

Ca. 1654, born in Ardgowan on the Firth of Clyde in Inverclyde, in the former county of Renfrewshire, illegitimate son of the senior son and laird of Blackhall and Ardgowan.
Ca. 1653, an older brother, John, was also born under similar circumstances near Inverkip village and parish.
1654-1658, childhood in Inverclyde with brother and mother
1658, orphaned by the death of his father (at age 24!), perhaps killed or severely wounded in battle
1659-1667, life with cousins at Ochiltree estate, Eastern Ayrshire (his cousins included David Stewart)
Between 1668 and 1676, moves to Cowall, eastern Kintyre
Around the mid or late 1670s, married Alice Campbell (an only child), whose family was tackman at the Drum and two Ballergies
1676, father-in-law dies
Ca. 1680, oldest son, John Stewart at High Park born
1682, second son, Rev. Charles Stewart (1682-1765), was born
1683, first appears in Western Kintyre records, as tacksman at Tangie (he first takes over his in-laws contract) and represents his mother-in-law
Late 1680s, tacksman in Tangie
1691 tacksman in Tangie in his own name
1692 in a return of Fencible men he is shown as Tacksman of the Drum and the two Ballergies.
1693, described as “in Tangie,” he got a tack of Corputechan and was made leading elder of the Killean congregation.
1710, tacksman at the Drum and two Ballergies
1712, last appears as juryman with local lairds

As shown by the timeline, Archibald was tacksman of Tangy Mill (Tangie) in Killean parish, Kintyre. (Tangie means tongue and refers to the shape of the land. See A Martin, Kintyre Places and Place-Names, p. 291. Tangie was an estate that was until 1698 in the possession of a private family and did not belong to the lord of Argyll. He was tacksman of the Drum and Ballergies in the 1680s first for his mother-in-law, but in 1691 he became tacksman in his own name. In 1710 he began a lease of Drum and Ballergies.
We know that in around mid or late 1670s he married Alice Campbell (who was an only child), tackman at the Drum and two Ballergies. But we do not know whether this was just before his father-in-law dies (1676), or soon after. (To marry the only daughter of a prominent Campbell captain and take over their lease was very advantageous indeed.)
He was tacksman at different times of Tangie, Corputechan, The Drum and The Ballergies - all farms on the West Coast of Kintyre. He first appears on the record in Kintyre in 1683 and survived there till at least 1712 when he served with heads of leading families on a Justiciary Court Jury.
In 1693, he is described as “in Drum” he acted as cautioner in a Bond for good behaviour by John McNeill, Tacksman of Lochorodale who, along with many other dependants of Argyll, were asked on the occasion of his forfeiture by the Crown in 1681 to give such security. In 1693, described as “in Tangie” he got a Tack of Corputechan and was made leading elder of the Killean congregation. In 1709 he is described as “in Ballergiemore” and took a tack of the farms now known as the Drum and Ballergies. In the same year a son, Patrick Stewart, took a tack of the half merkland of Strathmollich and Archibald and Robert Stewart described as sons of John Stewart in Ballergiebeg took a tack of half of the three merkland of Putachantuy in Killean Parish.
Ian Stewart at first suspected that John may be an error here for “Archibald” as there is no trace of a contemporary John in that farm. In 1692 in a return of Fencible men Archibald is shown as Tacksman of the Drum and the two Ballergies.
Archibald Stewart was from the senior Blackhall line, but being an illegitimate line it does not appear on any of the published genealogies. He was son of the senior son John Stewart (1634-1658). John’s death at just age 24 made his younger brother Sir Archibald (1635-1718) become laird.
His father had died and he was born precisely during the “time of Cromwell” —the 1650s. It seems reasonable that his passing was due to the warfare that was endemic in that period.
(As kindly shared by cousin Donald Stewart, who had the will transcribed) according to Sir Archibald’s will, he outlived his son and his senior grandson. In it he left money and a bond to his domestic servant Isobel Lothian. We believe this was for the education and welfare of his grandson’s child or children who were “about the estate at the time of Cromwell”.
The succeeding laird, his uncle Sir Archibald, is believed to have tried to support him. (He would have played daily as a child with his senior laird cousins.) Regarding that family, Donald Stewart in Lanark traced the following:
The earliest baptisms I found in the Inverkip Parish Records are four children from Sir Archibald Stewart’s (1st baronet, 14th laird) third marriage to Mary Douglas. They are - Agnas 7 Aug 1698, Margaret 17 July 1706, Mary 13 Feb 1705 and George 23 Mar 1701. These children would have been 1st cousins to Archibald at Tangy.

Descendants carry the unique yDNA marker SNP ZZ52 which was discovered through the University of Strathclyde’s Bannockburn Project.


Archibald’s Long-Lost Brother in Ulster

It has also recently been discovered that John Stewart of Blackhall/Ardgowan had two sons, one named John (b. ca. 1653) and our Archibald. Phyllis Guiver wrote in her history. “Here it is interesting to note that my father told me that when the Stewarts settled in Kintyre there were two brothers one settling in Kintyre and one in Ireland.”

YDNA results seem to bear this out. All of the testers who have ZZ52 seem to fall into two groups. The GD (genetic difference) comparisons show a distinct slight difference between the group from Kintyre and the group from Ulster
As I was informed by Donald Stewart in Lanark:
The second generation of the brother in Ulster had a farm in Raffrey, County Down. This was a William Stuart who followed his younger brother John Stuart to Staunton, Virginia, in the early 1750s. (This research is still at an early stage.)
The Ulster John Stewart was the later Park Stewart John’s paternal uncle. (My question: Could he also have been the John Stewart on Park who was a rebel in 1685 (who later went to Ulster)?


Archibald Stewart’s Three Known Sons

I had long believed that the above Archibald Stewart (at Drum, etc.) was an uncle of John Stewart on High Park. But now we know John on Park in 1710 must have been his first son. Regarding Archibald’s second and third sons, his status as father was already established through other sources such as written ecclesiastical histories and tombstones. (Family traditions posit a possible fourth son, Archibald at Uladale, also claiming a similar Blackhall lineage as recorded by published genealogy charts and discussed by Ian Stewart, and provisionally accepted by him, but in that case, the genetic tests do not confirm it.)
Thus the three known sons of our progenitor, Archibald at the Drum, were:

1. John Stewart at High Park (b. ca. 1680)
2. Rev. Charles Stewart (1682-1765)
3. Peter (or Patrick) Stewart at Strathmollach



John Stewart at High Park (b. ca. 1680)

Though we now know the first son of Archibald was John Stewart, Ian Stewart in his published articles did not mention our John Stewart (who was born in about 1680 and who was tacksman at High Park in 1710) as a child of Archibald. But knowing Archibald’s father’s name as we do, we would expect his first son to be named John! (Previous historians had tried in vain to find a paternal link with his uncle Alexander Stewart, baronet, but that was wrong.)
On “Park” as a Gaelic term for enclosed field, see A. Martin, Kintyre Places and Place-Names, p. 238. The original Gaelic name for both was Skeroblinraid. Descendants of John Stewart at High Park are commonly called “Park Stewarts.” It is a pity that no tombstone survives that was erected by John’s sons for him and his wife (whose name is unknown).

A Possible Wife
As Donald Stewart kindly informed me, there is no firm evidence about whom John Stewart of High Park married. However, one intruguing candidate is suggested by cirumstantial evidence, namely, a certain Ann Harvie. In 1729 John renewed his tack of High Park with a family of Harvies. One was an Andrew Harvie, and we think he could have been John’s father-in-law. His second son, Andrew, who married Barbara McVicar, being named after him. Andrew’s second daughter was Ann, and she may have been named after his mother. This Ann Stewart went on to marry Hector Kennedy, who was an innkeeper at Dippen, Carradale.


Early Kilchenzie Burial Monuments for the Park Stewarts

John’s three known children were: 1. Mary Stewart (ca. 1711– 1714), 2. Archibald (1713–1786) and 3. Andrew Stewart (1715–1790). At Kilchenzie church these gravestone could be found, some of which are now badly worn:

[1] Here layes Mary Stewart daughter to John Stewart in the Park who dayed February the 6th 1714 aged 3 years.
[2] 1815. Erected by Robert Stewart, tenant in Margmonigach in memory of his father Archibald Stewart late tenant in Upper Park who died March 1786 aged 73 and Jean Taylor his spouse who died August 1788 aged 55. This is the place designed for the family.
[3] Erected to the memory of Andrew Stewart the tenant in Park who died 22 May 1790 aged 75 years and Barbara McVicar his spouse who died 29 February 1799 aged 84 years.


Farm Leases held by the Park Stewarts

The early records kindly uncovered by Mr. Ian MacDonald include some old tacks (leases) of the Argyll Estates. These indicate that our “Park” Stewart family farmed Upper Park or Skeroblinraid since about 1710 at least, because John Stewart renewed his lease a further 19 years in 1729, when records are at their earliest period. In 1729 this John Stewart, who in pre-genetic times was our earliest traceable Stewart progenitor, paid jointly with James and Andrew Harvey, to renew their tack. The extent of the lands: 2 merklands 8 shillings or 4 penny lands. Rent in money: James Harvey, £152–12–8 Scots money; Andrew Harvey and John Stewart, £46–6–4 Scots money, each. Rent in produce: 32 carriages peat in proportion—James Harvey (16), Andrew Harvey and John Stewart (8 each). (£12 Scots = £1 Sterling. 1 carriage = a load of peat drawn by one horse and taken to the Duke of Argyll's house in Campbeltown for fuel or in some cases his Chamberlain's house in town.)
According to lease references gathered by Mr. Ian MacDonald and Mr. Ian Stewart, in 1769 Archibald and Andrew Stewart are mentioned as having the rental of Skeroblinraid (Upper Park), and in 1776, Archibald is tenant in Park. In 1780, my ancestor John Stewart at High Park, son of Andrew, got a lease of middle Peninver (later, in ca. 1800, John went to Skipness). The lease of High Park was then held by his brothers.


Rev. Charles Stewart (1682-1765)

The second son of Archibald Stewart was Rev. Charles Stewart. About him, the official church history Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticana, vol. 4, records:
“Charles STUART, born 1683; licenced by Presbytery of Kintyre 28th Jan. 1708; ordained priest, 5th May 1709; died 2nd April 1765. He married, 26th March 1717, Annabella (died 11th March 1779),
daughter of John Campbell of Kildalloig, chamberlain of Kintyre, ...”.

Charles and Annabella’s children, all born in Campbeltown, were:
1. Archibald, 2. Elizabeth, 3. Alice, 4. Mary, 5. Peter, 6. Robert, 7. Dugald, 6. Annabella, and 7. Charles.

Two matriculation entries appear at Glasgow University, with ages shown close to this Charles:

1 March 1698 Carolus Stewart - Scoto-Hibernus (aged 14)
18 March 1700 Carolus Stewart - no description (aged 16)
No further information was given.

Charles was minister of the Gaelic-speaking Campbeltown Highland Congregation from 1708 until his death in 1765. At one point much later in life he took over the tack of Drum and the Ballergies.

Here I should repeat what a Canadian descendant of Rev. Charles said, clearly claiming the Blackhall paternity:
The third child of Sarah Hamilton and [Rev. Charles’s son] Peter Stewart, Mary Irving, made some statements towards the end of her life, which are intriguing. Here is a quotation in part: “Archibald Stewart, Cadi [Cadet], or youngest son of Sir John of Blackhall and Greenock (who lived on the estate in the time of Cromwell), was the father of Rev. Charles Stewart, whose son Peter Stewart came out to P.E. Island as Chief Justice many years ago...



Peter (or Patrick) Stewart at Strathmollach

The third son of Archibald was Peter (or Patrick) Stewart at Strathmollach. He is buried with his father and mother, as mentioned in a Kilchenzie gravestone. He had a lease of half merkland of Clachfyne known as Strathmollach for 19 years in 1710. This was at the same time his father was still as Drum and Ballergies.
“Clachfyne known as Strathmollach” refers to part of the Clachfin farm. It was a small farm the traces of which can still be located. See A. Martin, Kintyre Places and Place-Names, p. 73. According to the same source, p. 227, Strahmollach means Grassy strath and was once a sheep farm.
Much of the additional data about Archibald’s sons I extracted from the published article of Ian Stewart, “Some Kintyre Stewarts.” No descendants of Peter (or Patrick) have yet been traced.


Illegitimacy at the Time of Rev. Alexander

As I mentioned in my article in this journal in 2002, there was a rumor of a case of illegitimacy in Rev. Alexander’s time, which so angered him that he burnt the parish baptism records. As Donald Stewart recently informed me, there was indeed now evidence of an iillegitimate child born at the period of Rev. Alexander, namely to his own brother Andrew:

ZZ52 has a child BY101802. With the help of Strathclyde University we found that BY101802 first started in Andrew Stewart (1715-1790). This means that all male Stewart descendants of this Andrew carry this mutation. James Z Stewart from Toledo, Ohio, has it and his ancestor was a John Stewart born about the time the Rev Alexander destroyed the Killean records. We think the Rev Alexander’s brother Andrew had an illegitimate son John born before Andrew married Catherine McWilliam. (My line).


Archibald at Uledale (b. 1687)

For many years we thought Archibald at Uledale (b. 1687) was a forth son of Archibald. But yDNA testing has indicated that none of the Refluich testers match the High Park results. So their paternal ancestry is from a different source.
Archibald Stewart, Tacksman of Uledale, married Flora McAlister, daughter of Hector McAllister of Askomilbeg. Their existence was proved by the tombstone erected to them by their son Archibald, Tacksman of Refluich (on the estate of McDonald of Largie), which stands in the Killean Churchyard and reads as follows: “In 1762 erected to the memory of Arch. Stewart, Tacksman of Uledale and his wife Flora McAlister, daughter of Hector Maclister Esq., of Askomilbeg by their son Arch. Stewart, Tacksman of Refluich who died 1st May 1788 aged 80.”
Archibald and Flora had at least one daughter, Margaret, who married David Galbraith, as recorded in published studies of these Kintyre families. Archibald’s youngest son was David Stewart, who was also tacksman at Refluich. The farm is in Kilcalmonell Parish, just barely. From the generation of the later Archibald and his son David onward, the descending families are commonly called the “Refluich Stewarts.” (On Refluich the place name see Angus Martin, Kintyre Places and Place-Names, p. 142.) On the Stewart families there see I. MacDonald, “Largieside and its People.” KM, no. 4, p. 25.”


Conclusions

That is what we know about the “Park Stewart” progenitor, Archibald Stewart, and two of his genetically confirmed sons (John at Park farm in 1710 and Rev. Charles). The fact that he was born as an illegitimate child who faced the additional misfortune of being suddenly orphaned at age just 4 (when his father, the young laird, had his life suddenly cut short during the violent troubles in Cromwell’s time), made him extremely difficult to trace.
Nevertheless, genetic testing has shown that descendants from at least two branches of Kintyre Stewarts can now easily trace their ancestry back to Blackhall in Paisley (or Ardgowan). Moreover, genetic testing has also even revealed the unexpected existence of an older brother of Archibald, named John, whose descendants lived in Ulster.


Bibliography
D. Jackson, “American newspaper obituaries provide a key to the ‘Park’ Stewarts of Kintyre,” The Stewarts: An Historical and General Magazine, vol. 19-4 (1995), pp. 202-206.

D. Jackson. “Captain Archibald Stewart (1794–1881): Kintyre Seafarer with a Knack for Survival,” The Stewarts: An Historical and General Magazine, vol. 20–1 (1996), pp. 33-39.

D. Jackson. “The Rev. Alexander Stewart (1755–1798) of the Kintyre “Park” Stewarts: Facts and Hearsay.” The Kintyre Antiquarian and Natural History Society Magazine, Issue no. 52 (Autumn 2002),pp. 22-26.

D. Jackson. The Ancestry and Descendants of Alexander Stewart (1 Oct. 1857–22 Oct. 1938). A Native and Long-Time Resident of Elba Township, Lapeer County, Michigan, Descended from the Stewarts on Park (Skeroblinraid) Farm in Southern Kintyre, Argyll, Scotland, as well as from such Kintyre Families as the Cooks and Taylors at Skipness, the McDonalds near Glenbarr, and the Stewarts at Calliburn, Campbeltown. David P. Jackson, Tacoma WA, 1997.

Scott, Hew, 1791–1872. Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation / by Hew Scott, D.D. — New ed., rev. and continued to the present time under the superintendence of a committee appointed by the General Assembly. — Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1915–1981? vols. 1-8, 10. 1915.

Ian Stewart, “Some Kintyre Stewarts,” The Scottish Genealogist, vol. 41, no. 3 (Sept. 1994), pp. 97–102.

A. I. B. Stewart, “James Stewart—Fact or Fiction; Another Dunaverty Mystery,” The Kintyre Magazine, no. 16, pp. 17-20 & 9.
“Sons of the Highland Manse,” The Kintyre Magazine, no. 17, pp. 17-20.
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Re: Stewarts of Campbeltown

Postby wstewart » Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:53 pm

Hi David, this article is beyond fascinating. It confirms typewritten notes I have from a Great Aunt from more than half a century ago that Archibald Stewart was descended from John Stewart, senior laird of Blackhall and Ardgowan, but we had never had any way to prove. I am descended from Rev. Charles Stewart, apparently son of this same Archibald.

I have poured over your post several times. However, the details are not clear to me. I am sure they are in your article, and it is simply my failure to understand them. The key for me is understanding the documentation or proof about Archibald. Could you be so kind as to help me clarify the following questions?

1. I understand that genetic testing has confirmed that current day Donald Stewart is related to John Stewart, senior laird of Blackhall and Ardgowan. Understand that part. I am trying to understand how this confirms that Archibald is Laird John's son. Is this because Donald knows he is descended from John Stewart, born 1680, the tenant farmer on the Duke of Argyll’s estate at High Park Kintyre from 1710, and we know that John was the son of Archibald Stewart born 1654, and therefore Archibald must have been Laird John's son by genetic continuity?

2. If I have that right, how do we know that link, that Donald's tenant farmer ancestor John was the son of Archibald?

3. Perhaps the same question - how do we know that Donald's tenant farmer ancestor John was the brother of Rev. Charles Stewart? That is, how do we know it is the same Archibald that was the father of both Donald's ancestor John and my ancestor Rev. Charles?

Thanks so much for any clarification you can provide.

William
(wstewart at william stewart dot com)
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Re: Stewarts of Campbeltown

Postby wstewart » Sun Oct 03, 2021 12:45 pm

Hi, between my post above being written and when it was approved, I have found the answer.

It turns out that a descendent of Rev. Charles Stewart has been confirmed to have the same genetic ZZ52 marker. So Donald Stewart's ancestor and Rev. Charles must have been brothers. And Rev. Charles Stewart is in the same line from King Robert III.

In addition, notes prepared more than fifty years ago by one of my great Aunts shows Rev. Charles Stewart's father as being Archibald. Loop closed.
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Re: Stewarts of Campbeltown

Postby cgms310 » Thu Nov 11, 2021 6:49 pm

For those who do not follow the Stewarts of Campbeltown website, I now believe we have discovered the missing link, to our lineage.
Donald Stewart, my cousin and myself travelled to Kintyre 2 years ago to see the farm, and enjoy the beauty that is Kintyre.

During our stay, we met with Ms. Elizabeth Marrison, a local historian and dear family friend.

While working on the damaged documentation in Invararay Castle, Elizabeth came across a remarkable document outlining the payment to a local woman for the upkeep of herself, and her son Archibald.

The document was written by the 12th Lord Ardgowan outlining an illegitimate child of his son John Stewart, 13th Lord Ardgowan b. 1634 and who died young in 1658. The male child was conceived out of wedlock with a Ms. Isabel Lotian b. 1629.
The child was named Archibald Stewart, b 1654, who would later become the Tacksman of Tangie Mill and the Drum.

John Stewart died when Archibald was just 4 years old. Obviously, Lord Ardgowan was concerned regarding the life of his grandson, and gave a considerable stipend to Isabel for his upkeep.

This would also answer the long held belief that the Rev. Charles Stewart did indeed discover this illegitimate birth in the parish record and burned down the church to hide them.

I do have a copy of the transcript, which I shared with Sir Ludovic Stewart, Lord Ardgowan, during my visit in 2019.

Ardgowan is a direct descendant of King Robert III’s illegitimate son, who was granted the estate that is today Ardgowan and other properties.

Yours aye,

Charles.
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Re: Stewarts of Campbeltown

Postby Donnie » Sat Dec 04, 2021 5:34 pm

The latest yDNA results from FTDNA dated 1 Nov 2021 have concluded that the Rev. Charles Stewart of Campbeltown and John Stewart, progenitor of the High Park Stewarts, could not have been brothers. The descendant of the Rev. Charles who has been tested shows his Haplogroup as ZZ52_1. The descendants of John Stewart’s have gone from ZZ52_1 to BY101802 and now to BY112795. The misunderstanding has occurred because the documentation for a mistaken High Park descendant was wrong. This means we do not know what Ardgowan/Blackhall line the High Park Stewarts come from. We do know however that John Stewart must have had a brother possibly in Ulster.
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