A Brief Record of the Stewarts of Bright in the County of Down in the Province of Ulster

CONTENTS

Appendices

This brief Record of the Stewarts of Bright, in the County of Down, has been compiled by Henry Hilliar, (husband of Ann, great granddaughter of George Stewart (14) of Marshallstown). The following members of the Stewart family have been extremely helpful in providing information and sorting out innumerable letters etc.:-

• Ann Hilliar
  
• Marjorie Gilchrist (Great granddaughter of Charles Stewart (12) )
  
• Charles Stewart (Great great grandson of Charles Stewart (12) )
  
• Betty Spratt (Great granddaughter of George Stewart (14) )
  
• Doris Stewart Brown (U.S.A.) (Great granddaughter of Samuel Stewart (8) )
  
• Charles Stewart also did the photography and drew the map.
  
• Mary Hilliar, (daughter-in-law of Ann and Henry Hilliar), typed the draft for the printers.

2. The information, in the main, has been obtained from a number of old letters, mostly from America, written by Stewarts between 1815 and 1907, the majority of them in the possession of Tommy Stewart, (son of George Stewart (20)), now in his eightieth year. Some has been culled from old legal documents and papers and some from conversations and stories handed down over the years.

3. To facilitate reference, paragraphs have been numbered and to simplify identification, numbers have been allotted to persons referred to in the Record. The Key to the numbers is contained in Appendices A and B. The rate of exchange, dollars to pounds, has been taken as five to one the rate in force in those days.

4. It is not claimed that the information in the Record is completely accurate; neither is it intended to be a finished product at this stage. Its purpose is to promote discussion and further research among interested members of the Stewart clan, with the view to producing a more accurate record later. Any suggestions, therefore, will be gratefully received by the writer at the address shown below.

5. Information from the U.S.A. will be particularly welcome as it is known that the Stewarts ranged far and wide there. New York State, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, California, New Mexico and Florida are all mentioned in their numerous letters, Mexico too.

"Rockmount",
Spa,
Ballynahinch,
Co. Down,
Northern Ireland.

September, 1964.

PART I - INTRODUCTION

1. If any of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century Stewarts of Bright could walk down the hill today, from the ruin of the castle, to the cluster of farmhouses, most of which were once owned by them, a kind of Stewart hamlet, it is unlikely they would notice much change. The road is now metalled and slates have replaced the thatched roofs, but that is about all.

2. The main Stewart house, which presumably was first occupied by James Stewart (1), originally of Ballachulish, in 1700, is much as it was in his days. It is a typical "plantation" style, (early seventeenth century), farmhouse; long, low and sturdily built with very thick walls. It has a big Kitchen, which once boasted a very large fireplace where whole sides of beef and ham were smoked, and the family gathered round at night. There is a parlour and three bedrooms: and it is hard to imagine how such large families were packed away in so small a space. Originally the rooms were open to the thatched ceiling and the smoke blackened beams. Now they are sealed. Outside are a number of whitewashed outhouses once used for farming,

3. The farm at Bright consisted of 36 acres, but over the years more land was acquired and it is believed the total eventually was 120 acres; a sizeable holding even today. It remained in Stewart hands for just over two centuries, being sold to a local farmer in 1918. Today, the main house is occupied by Miss Mary Denver who well remembers the visit of Alcee William Stewart (29) and his son, Seymour, early in this century, when they came over from St. Louis, U.S.A., to see the old home and look up relations.

4. Bright is in a beautiful setting a mile or so from the Irish Sea, on the coast of County Down; and from the castle ruin, which dominates the scene and is located in one of the fields once owned by the Stewarts, the view along the shoreline to the Mountains of Mourne, in all their majesty, is a magnificent sight. It is small wonder those early Stewarts, who left Ireland for America, longed for home, decades even alter they had left it.

5. This record begins, albeit somewhat sketchily, in 1664 when James Stewart (1) was born in Ballachulish, Argyllshire, Scotland, He is said to have left Scotland in 1700, and became a farmer in Bright, County Down, in Ulster, one of the four provinces of Ireland - (the others being, Leinster, Munster and Connaught). James (1) had a son, James (2), about whom nothing is known except that he is supposed to have left his family when quite young and went to America¹. He was never heard of again. His son William (3) married Mary McConnell (4) and had a large family. It is here that the record really begins.

NOTE ¹ There is a story told by Grace Elizabeth, (daughter of George (20)), who died early in 1964, of a Stewart ancestor who got involved in a fight at an election and killed his assailant. He escaped and fled to America. There is a possibility he may have been James (2).

6. Of William (3) and Mary’s (4) eight sons and three daughters, four sons emigrated to America, and it is believed one of the daughters too, but proof is lacking about the latter. Charles (12), the eldest son, remained in Ireland and eventually took over the farm at Bright. George (14), the next eldest, enlisted in the British Army in 1801 and spent twenty—five years soldiering, mostly in the garrison towns of England, Scotland and Ireland. It is unlikely that he saw any active service. John (5), James (6) and Robert (16) emigrated as did Samuel (8) the youngest son. William (7) remained and farmed in Bright; Alexander (11) did the same until murdered in 1843.²

NOTE ² This information is taken from a tombstone erected in Bright churchyard, (by that inveterate tombstone erector Samuel (8)), that Alexander (11), (1789-1843), was murdered at Tullygorter, half-way between Bright and Downpatrick in a dispute over bills for crops. Further information is being sought as to details.

7. It is interesting to speculate on James's (1) reasons for leaving Scotland for Ireland in 1700. Those were troublous times in the British Isles; most of the trouble stemming from the rivalry for the throne of England and religious strife. James (1) would probably have been a "dissenter", a Presbyterian, and may have left for religious reasons; but he would have gained little because dissenters in Ireland were treated no better than they were in Scotland. He may have left to join relatives or friends whose forebears had taken part in James the First's, King of England, plantation of Ulster, by English and Scottish settlers in the first two decades of the seventeenth century. He may, however, have emigrated to "push his fortune" over the water.

8. What a span of history those two centuries cover! James (1), born soon after the restoration of the monarchy in England, after Cromwell's bloody reign of terror, at least as far as Ireland was concerned, would have known, intimately no doubt, about the massacre at Glencoe, a few miles from Ballachulish. He would have had first hand accounts of the siege of Derry and the Battle of the Boyne, the outcome of which established the Protestant ascendancy in England and Ireland; and which has been the cause of all the trouble in Ireland ever since. The Old and the Young Pretenders and their abortive efforts in 1715 and 1745, to oust the Hanoverians from the throne of England. The French Revolution and its influence on Irish patriots like Wolfe Tone and Emmett. The American War of Independence; Napoleon and his wars; Trafalgar, when Samuel (8) was four years old. Waterloo, a few weeks after which the first letter in the record was sent from New Burgh, New York State to Bright from John (5) to his mother Mary (4).

9. It is not hard to understand why so many of the Stewarts emigrated. They could not all have made a living on the farm and as there were no opportunities for them in “poor Ireland” as Samuel (8), in one of his letters calls it, the obvious outlet was the growing United States where most of them did well and played their part, as technicians and men of business in building up that great country. Those that remained in Ireland experienced the horrors of the famines in the “hungry forties”, which caused the mass migration of hundreds of thousands of the Irish, chiefly to America.

10. The American Civil War, in which it seems that there were Stewarts serving with the forces of the Union and the Confederates, and which caused the loss of their fortunes and the severe depression in the Southern States which lasted twenty years or more after it. It is interesting to reflect that the Stewarts of those days would have owned slaves, although it is more than certain they were well treated.

11. From an analysis of the letters and papers available about these Stewarts and their times, (and here it is fully realized there are many gaps in the story), it is possible to draw a number of salient conclusions which are discussed under the following headings, in no particular order.

Religion

12. It seems that most of the Stewarts were Presbyterians originally but some became Church of Ireland, the ascendant religion in Ireland at that time. There were certain advantages in doing this. They all seemed to be deeply religious as a lot of space in their letters was given over to comment about Gods will and the hereafter. A favorite phrase, usually when commiserating on the death of a member of the fatly, was “We must all submit to the will of the Lord”.

Family Feeling

13. They had a deep sense of family feeling and would help each other whenever possible; often with loans of quite large sums of money. John James, (28), for example, and after his death in 1888, Hunter (30) looked after George’s (20) interests in New Orleans for close on thirty years and were most diligent on his behalf. Furthermore, they all had a great love and respect for their parents and did their utmost for their children.

Longevity

14. In days when medical science was largely cloaked in ignorance, and the expectation of life was considerably less than it is today, it is remarkable that the majority of them lived so long. Notable examples are James (1), 88; Mary (4), 77; Margaret Giquel (9), 73; Margaret (10), well aver 70; Charles (12), 71; Maria (13), 90; George (14), 70; George (20), 71; Mary (24), 80; and the record, a daughter of Samuel’s (8) who was 96 when she died in 1941.

Education

15. Their letters were written in a good round hand and the grammar, spelling and content are good considering the limited educational facilities available then for people of their class. National schools did not come in until 1840 and prior to that a lot depended on the local landlords and gentry, some of whom employed a master, (at around £30 a year), ($150), to teach their own children and often taught children of their tenants as well.

16. There were also academies for boys where education could be purchased and dames or ladies schools for the girls. It is evident that these early Stewarts were well grounded in the three “Rs”, (reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic).

17. Their letters were much like the air mail letter forms of today; light in weight and folded similarly. No stamps are evident until the 1840s. Earlier letters were stamped “Per Sailing Ship from Boston”, and later “Per Steamer from Boston”. They were usually addressed to a tradesman or innkeeper in a town thus, “Mrs. Stewart of Bright, c/o Mr. Patterson, Irish Street, Downpatrick, Ireland”.

Status

18. Amidst the poverty and starvation endemic in Ireland in the nineteenth century it seems they were reasonably prosperous small farmers; possibly sub-tenants of the tenant of a local landowner until the end of the century when the Land Acts enabled them to purchase their fans. The social standing of those who went to America improved greatly as they got on in the world. Indeed, it is remarkable what some of them achieved; Samuel (8), Robert (16) and George (20) in particular.

Travel and Living Conditions

19. The comparative prosperity of their parents and the brothers who had gone on ahead, enabled them to travel to America a good deal more comfortably than was the lot of most emigrants in those days: as for example the “coffin” ships of the Irish Famine period which carried thousands to their graves instead of America.

20. They would have traveled to an Irish port by stage coach or farmer’s cart and from thence by sailing ship on a two month’s voyage to New Orleans. Some would have gone to Boston.

21. Television and the cinema, (“Gone with the Wind” for example), give a good idea of travel and living conditions in America in those pioneering days. Mississippi steamboats taking Stewarts, and "Mavericks" (!) up and down the river; a wagon train taking William (17) to California in the gold rush period. Films of the Civil War paint a vivid picture of what the Stewart sons had to contend with in that long, internecine struggle.

Famine

22. Fear of crop failures and famine, which stalked Ireland for the first half of the century, can be sensed from the few letters available from Ireland to America. The harvest and the state of the crops and the prices, particularly the potato, staple diet of the poorer classes in those days, are almost invariably mentioned.

Principal Characters

23. Three principal characters emerge from a study of the available material, George (14), Samuel (8) and George (20). They are discussed in the following three parts.

PART II - GEORGE STEWART (14)

1. George Stewart (14) was born in 1782, the second son of William (3) and Mary (4). On the 5th July, 1801, he enlisted in the 6th Regiment of Dragoon Guards, probably in Downpatrick where they were garrisoned, and served without a break until 5th October, 1826, when he was discharged, at the age of 44, and became an “Out-Pensioner of His Majesty’s, (George IV), Royal Hospital Chelsea”. His pension was one shilling and a halfpenny per day, paid quarterly in arrears.

2. Among his papers is a notice to the above effect: re-issued in June, 1836, during the reign of William IV. There is also a notice headed with the Royal cypher and “Victoria Ragina”. It is dated “War Office”, 15th June, 1846, and gives details of arrangements for the payment of pensions to Chelsea (Army) and Greenwhich (Navy) pensioners. It warns them to be respectful to the staff officers appointed to pay out pensions!

3. While serving in Scotland he was said to have met Margaret Christie (15) while watering his horse at a stream and that they eventually eloped; she with fifty spade guineas sewn into her corsets. On Christmas Day, 1826, they were married. Margaret was from Mid-Calder in Scotland and her father was a weaver. There is a possibility that she was related to the Christies who started the world renowned London firm of auctioneers of works of art.

4. In the same year George bought the farm at Marshallstown³ of about 30 acres, not far from Bright; now owned by Leslie Cotter his great grandson. This is not to be confused with the other farm at Marshallstown, a few fields away, which eventually came into the Stewart family through John (19) marrying his cousin Margaret West, who owned the farm. When they both died in 1892 the farm was left to George (20), and is now owned by his grandson, Marshall Stewart.

NOTE ³ Marshallstown is the anglicized version of the Irish Ballymariscall, the “town of the marshal”. It is possible a Norman “Marechal” lived there eight hundred years ago, responsible for law and order in the district.

5. George (14) and Margaret (15) had three children: William (22) who died in America in 1847; George (23) and Mary (24). George (23) married a widow Foster of Downpatrick, who owned an hotel and two stage coaches and the story is that he was sent to prison for her former husband’s debts. He eventually went to Belfast where his son started a successful baking business which has only recently been taken over by a large combine. Mary (24) married Arthur Cotter from Cork, a schoolmaster who was in charge of a small school at Ballynewport not far from Marshallstown. It was she who was interviewed by her cousin Alcee William Stewart (29) and his son a year before she died in 1908 aged 80; and the story is that the old lady was extremely confused by all the questions fired at her by the Americans.

6. It is believed that George (14) displeased the family by enlisting in the army, and that relations were very cool until he settled at Marshallstown. In those days a soldier did not rate very high in society, although it was he who did all the dirty work and fought his countries battles, with scant reward. It is strange that a reasonably well educated young man, in days when literacy was the exception rather than the rule, should not have gained promotion in the ranks or even a commission. Evidently he had no ambition in this direction. He is buried in the parish church at Downpatrick overlooking the street where his cavalry horse must have clattered by many times, one hundred and sixty years ago. (This grave was opened for the last time this year to take the remains of Jane Stewart, aged 91, widow of George Stewart, son of George (23)).

PART III - SAMUEL STEWART (8)

1. Samuel Stewart (8) was born in 1801, the youngest son of William (3) and Mary (4). He emigrated to America in 1826 and became a builder; but it is not known if he served an apprenticeship for his trade or learnt it as he went along becoming, eventually, in the building boom of the period the owner of his own business. The latter seems likely as he employed a number of his own nephews as apprentices.

2. In 1834, he married Marguerite Nisida Giquel (9), a Frenchwoman. They had, a very large family, details of which are given in Appendix “C”. Their eldest son, Seymour Alexander (27), was tragically drowned during a storm at Last Island while celebrating his twenty-first birthday. When he was found he was identified by papers in his pocket and twenty one gold dollars his mother had given him for his birthday.

3. More is known about Samuel (8) than any other Stewart as he became the “father figure” in America and was loved and respected by all. His brothers and nephews thought very highly of him. He was a very kind and generous man and the number of relations and others he helped must have been a legion. His love for Ireland never grew dim and right to the end in 1868 his thoughts kept returning to Bright. He even had ideas of buying or renting a farm there but death intervened.

4. He had a great reverence for his departed parents and relations and spent a good deal in erecting tombstones for them and repairing those that needed it. He did this for his parents and brothers buried in Ballee and Bright churchyards; his brother George (14) in Downpatrick parish churchyard; his brothers in America and his nephew William (22) in New Orleans. His son Alcee William (29) carried on the tradition.

5. It is thought that he made at least two trips home to Ireland; one certainly in 1852 with his wife and elder children. They also visited France to look up his wife’s relations. There is a story that while staying at the Down Hunt Hotel, Downpatrick, some friends and relations from Bright came in to see him. To their delight he ordered a bottle of whiskey and then, to their chagrin proceeded to bathe his feet in it, saying that all the walking he was doing in the country was hard on his feet!

6. Three of his Sons fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War; one was wounded on the field and another probably a prisoner of war. The war dealt a severe blow to his business, built up over forty years, and this must have hastened his end as his letters after the war were generally depressing. His son John James (28) carried on the business after he died.

7, In spite of his losses, however, his and his widow’s estate was assessed at $142,000, (£28,000), the widow’s portion being $66,000 (£13,200). The real estate was valued low, at $85,000, (£17,000), probably to avoid taxes. An extract from a New Orleans paper of 1888 regarding the widow’s estate is as follows:-

"MRS GIQUEL’S ESTATE” “The inventory filed in the’ succession of Mrs. Marguerite Giquel, widow of the late Samuel Stewart, shows: Cash $400, (£80), silverware $76, (£15), household goods $471, (£94), real estate $31,937, (£6,400), claims $2l,905, (£4,400), burial lots $25, (£5), gas deposits ,$11 (£2), motes $940, (£200), separate property $10,000, (£2000), a total of $65,766, (£13,000).”

8. His widow died in 1887 aged 73. Samuel (8) left her well provided for and in 1871 she let her house, 205 Camp Street, New Orleans to the U.S. Government for $3000, (£600), a year, and went to live on Baronne and Josephine Street. In 1885 she bought a "2 storey cottage", 255, Louisiana Avenue with basement; immense rooms 20’ by 24’; dining room and library etc. etc.; and wide galleries. The frontage was 150’ and depth 360’ and ran through to the next street. It would be interesting to know if this “mansion” still stands in New Orleans.

9. Samuel’s (8) son Alcee William (29) moved to St. Louis in the seventies and it is likely that his firm supplied timber for the World’s Fair held there in 1904: the first of the modern World’s Fairs. It is interesting to record that a great great grandson of his father’s brother, George (14), Michael Hilliar, has an exhibit in the Irish Pavilion at the World’s Fair of 1964, in New York (a large silver rose bowl).

10. Since the above was written Doris Stewart Brown has provided further information regarding her great grandfather, Samuel (8). Apparently he designed and built the noted Pontalba Apartments in New Orleans. They are on Jackson Square, on St Peter and St Ann Streets, and were the first apartments built in the United States. They were built by the Baroness Pontalba, daughter of Don Almonasti-Micaela. The ironwork for the balconies was ordered from France and was lost at sea in a severe storm, which wrecked the sailing vessel. The Baroness sued Samuel (a) for the cost of the ironwork. In court the judge ruled In favour of Samuel (8), saying the storm wan an “Act of God” and that Samuel (8) had no control over the elements! Read more details here.

11. After that the Baroness and Samuel (8) and his family became close friends. Dorothy's grandfather, Alcee William (29), told her that he and some of his brothers and sisters, with his father and mother, visited the Baroness at her villa in France. They took eighteen trunks with them!

12. The apartments are still in use and are quite impressive. On the iron grille work there are the Baroness’s initials, “A.P.”

13. It seems that Samuel’s (a) wife’s (9) ancestors were well connected in France. One of them, (Sieur Durand de St. Romes), served in Louis XV's army.

PART IV - GEORGE STEWART (20)

1. George Stewart (20) was one of Charles (12) and Maria’s (13) six sons, born in 1830. He went to America when he was 20 years old and worked for his uncle Samuel (8) in New Orleans. He was a joiner by trade and eventually ran his own business and owned property in New Orleans.

2. He seems to have been an astute business man and sent home to his mother a good deal of money which, it is said, was invested in land. He moved around quite a bit in the U.S.A. and there are a number of envelopes addressed to him in Mexico. It is not certain whether he took part in the Civil War, but there is one reference in a letter of 1862 which indicates he may have done. His brother, Alexander (21), says, “his mother was uneasy about him as they had heard he was in the field of battle”. This letter cost one shilling, (25 cents) to send to New Orleans. Many of the letters sent from America to Ireland arrived stamped, “insufficient postage”.

3. In all her letters to George (20), his mother, Maria (13), urged him to come home and buy a farm and settle down in Ireland. She feared the climate in New Orleans and its general unhealthiness, due to yellow fever, cholera, typhus etc. would one day take him from her.

4. He returned to Ireland a number of times and finally in 1869 leaving John James (26) to look after his eight properties. He owned property on Magazine Street, Camp Street, Felicity Street, and Perdido Street—the latter seems to have been in a rough quarter. John James (28) tried for twenty years to sell them for him; but at times he could not have given them away so bad was the real estate business.

5. When John James (28) died after a long illness, losing three stone in the process, in 1888, Hunter (30) his youngest brother took over George’s affairs. He studied at Columbia College (University?) taking a degree in civil and mining engineering. In 1888 he was deputy city surveyor in New Orleans and his office address was, Room 48, Kenner Block, 25, Carondelet Street. In 1890 he was employed by the Fort Jackson and Grand Isle Railroad from Algiers to Grand Isle in the Gulf of Mexico.

6. George (20) must have farmed at Bright until 1872 when purchased 117 acres at Ballygallum and Ballywarren for £1600, ($8,000). The deeds for the former can be traced back to 1739 and the latter, 1772.

7. In 1872, George (20) married Margaret Huddleston, 20 years his junior, and they had seven children. One, Thomas George, is still alive, aged 80; and was the last Stewart to own Ballygallum and Ballywarren. Soon after his marriage George (20) was sued by Miss Eliza Jane Larmour for breach of promise claiming £2,000, ($10,000). She traveled from America for the case, but it is believed she was Irish. The Court of Exchequer's document lists defendant's costs at just under £60 ($300). The last entry in this document reads: -

“Case was subsequently settled by your father-in-law behind our backs for £300, ($1500), damages and £100, ($500), costs, and with which we were not at all satisfied considering it far too much”.⁴

8. George (20) after an eventful life, just saw the turn of the twentieth century and was buried at Ballee Presbyterian Meeting House. His grandson, Marshall Stewart, who owns Marshallstown still has his gold watch, the case of which was made in New Orleans.

PART V EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM AMERICA

1. The first letter is dated August 9th, 1815, from John Stewart (5) addressed to his mother Mary (4) at Bright. His address is given as New Burgh, New York State. His commiserates on the death of his father, William (3), who died some 5 years earlier. He blames the war with England for his not being able to communicate earlier. He mentions a Captain Lowry who sailed from Newry, Co. Down, as the last news he received from Ireland.

2. He asks his brothers Charles (12) and William (7) to send brothers Robert (16) and Samuel (8) to New York. He will see that they learn a trade; and that they will get all found while serving their time as apprentices. He understands that with the peace, (after Waterloo), all troops of Great Britain will be “disembodied”. If that is so tell his brother George (14), (then in the Sixth Dragoons), to come too and get a job as a weaver, “which is a pod business to go in for”. He adds that he will pay George’s (14) passage out of his share of the estate, (presumably his father’s), as he had heard his father had only left George (14) a very small income, (probably because George (14) had displeased the family by enlisting in the Army in 1801).

3. Be charges brothers Charles (12) and William (7) not to let his mother, (she died in 1829), or his sister Jane “want for anything that his part of the place can afford”, especially his mother (4).

4. He mentions his brother-in-law Richard Carson who lives 72 miles up the Hudson river. He refers to his brother James (6), but is not sure where he is. Believes he has gone to Ohio to buy a farm. He says since peace was signed between Great Britain and America business has been very good. A mechanic’s wage was 12 to 16 shillings a day, ($3 to $4), and their “board and washing” cost them about 4 shillings a day; (compare this with the Irish laborer during the Famine of 1847 getting eightpence per day!)

5. Apropos of nothing in particular he ends his letter with the comment, “the ladies of America are very handsome and polite”. He signs himself John Stuart, whereas letters from other members of the family at that time use the spelling Stewart. Unfortunately the date of his birth and when he went to America are unknown.

6. The next letter from John (5) to his mother (4) undated 1819 from New York. He is concerned about lack of news of his soldier brother George (14). The second half of his letter is to brother William (7) whom he tells to let all young men who talk of the U.S.A. know that they can get rich quick there, (Samuel (8), his brother, and others tell a different story 20 years later). He says that he knew little when he arrived but was glad he came. He cites his brother-in-law, Richard Carson, as an example—“such riches and splendor”. (It has not been possible to discover which of his sisters married Carson).

7. Four years later, 29th August, 1823 James Stewart (6) from Jefferson, Muskingum County, Ohio, writes to his brothers and his mother (4) to tell of the death of his brother John (5), the writer of the first two letters above. He and John (5) had gone to Indiana, about 400 miles West of Jefferson, to buy some land. On the way back they separated and an “express”, (pony presumably), came after him 150 miles, to tell him John (5) had been drowned fording a river on his horse. James (6) went back to the spot and collected John’s (5) horse, money, clothes, papers etc.

8. The land they bought was on Cole Creek, which emptied into the Wabash river not far from Tippecanoe Ohio. The land office was at Crawfordsville. The letter is addressed to Mrs. Wm. Stuart (4), Bright care of Mr. Samuel Patterson, Irish Street, Downpatrick. It is stamped “LIVERPOOL SHIP LETTER” and posted from Dresden, Ohio on the 3rd September, 1823, arriving 16th October 1823.

9. James (6) in a postscript asks what is to be done about John’s (5) estate and adds “I cannot give a definite address as names of places and counties are changing so often in that new country”.

10. In October, 1834, Samuel (8) writes from New Orleans to his brother Alexander (11) at Bright a short note chiding the folks at home for not writing. Samuel (8) says he had fever for five weeks and has been convalescing for three months. This is the first letter of his. He refers to himself as a builder but whether he served his time as an apprentice there is no evidence. In a postscript he nonchalantly adds “I have partly concluded on getting married to a lady of this State, (Louisiana), speaking French and Spanish only and I very little but English”.

11. In June, 1840, Samuel (8) from New Orleans writes a very long letter to his brother George (14) at Marshallstown. He is reluctant to advise people in Ireland on whether to emigrate or not. He says it is up to them. He has seen far too many go to an early grave, “for the want of a proper control over the passions”. He thanks God for his own good fortune in doing so well in a material sense. He mentions meeting a Mr. Riley at the wharf waiting for a steamer to St. Louis. He gave him news of his brother Robert (16) and said he was very prosperous with a splendid farm 100 miles north of St. Louis on the Mississippi river. Mr. Riley gave Samuel (8) a letter which convinced him that Robert (16) was alive, (previously he had thought him dead having read an account in a newspaper that a R. Stewart had been drowned in a steamboat explosion, (a not unusual occurrence in the early days of steam), on Lake Erie). Robert (16) wrote that he had written to Samuel (8) several times but getting no replies concluded that he had died in a yellow fever or cholera epidemic, of which there were many in that period, Samuel (8) then wrote and received several more letters from Robert (16) who had married a widow from St. Louis.

12. Brother James's (6) son Charles Stewart then arrived in New Orleans with a flat boat load of flour and whiskey. The flour he sold at $4 a barrel and the whiskey at 22½ cents a gallon, (those undoubtedly were the days!) His account for the 1700 mile journey, from St. Louis, which took 5 weeks was: -

The crew's food is referred to as, “bacon, corn whiskey and fixings”.

13. He refers to Charles as a fine tall, slim young man with the “Stewart eye”. (The Stewart blue eye is very much in evidence to this day—at least this side of the Atlantic).

14. He mentions some snatches of news from Ireland and says that his sister’s son Samuel (?) had left his trade and Philadelphia and gone to work on the farm at Newtown, Long Island.

15. A Mr. William Hunter on his way home to Ireland takes with him a draft of money for some of his relations there. In addition, 3 bottles of snuff to be divided between Mr. West, (husband of Margaret (10), his sister), and old Nelly McArtny, (whoever she may be!): six plugs of tobacco for James West and Tommy Gall; and two lithography prints of Samuel (8), one for George (14) and one for sister Margaret West (10). (In his hand he holds a letter for Ireland). Marshall Stewart, great grandson of Charles Stewart (12), has the one sent to Mrs. West (10) framed in his home at Marshallstown. Dorothy Garland Brown, of St. Louis has one too.

16. He ends his letter with the news that Mr. Hunter sailed on 1st June and hopes that, “the mosquities don’t get him or the steam too high”. He asks that his letter be circulated among his friends and relations.

17. James Stewart (18), from New Orleans, 17th November, 1842, writes to his parents, Charles (12) and Maria (13) at Bright. He says brother William (17) and he were recovering from yellow fever. Extols his uncle Samuel’s (s) virtues; how kind he was to them when they were ill. Mentions Samuel's (8) growing family and his second son James (28) who is at a French school. When quizzed he insists he is a Frenchman! The weather is very bad and workmen unable to work. Too many immigrants from Europe who can’t get work. Three ship-loads, six to seven hundred were landed at New Orleans in one day.

18. James (18) urges his father to give his brother the best education possible, “as there is nothing like it. Let them make themselves acquainted with the dictionary and grammar”. Very anxious for news of Ireland.

19. On 28th September, 1845, Samuel (8) writes to brother George (14) at Marshallstown. Says he visited brother Robert (16) in 1843. It took him 10 days by steamboat up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and 20 hours by steamboat to Robert’s (16) farm north of St. Louis. Mentions Robert’s (16) 6 children and his third wife. He came home via New York where he stayed with some nieces of his and suffered an attack of fever.

20. He refers to George’s (14) excellent health for his age, (he was then 63), and that it was due to the healthy life in Ireland. He, at 44, because of the climate of New Orleans feels twice as old. He relates that in a pine wood near a lake close to New Orleans there were some who lived to a great age. Mentions a “lad” of 60 crying because his grandfather had beaten him for not wearing his shoes!

21. He reminds George (14) of the old man who said to him when he first saw him in his Dragoon’s uniform, “you’ll miss your mother’s cream crock"!

22. He gives Robert’s (16) address as Attica, Pleasant Hill, Pike County, Illinois.

23. William Stewart (22), on 28th November, 1846, recently arrived from Ireland, writes from New Orleans to his parents George (14) and Mary Stewart (15) at Marshallstown. The letter took 8 weeks to arrive. It is mainly about his trip from Belfast. He regretted the ship went north—about Ireland along the Antrim, Derry and Donegal coasts as he missed seeing Bright Castle for the last time.

24. The ship was a sailing ship and he was prostrate with sea sickness for nearly a fortnight in extremely rough seas. The letter reads more like a weather report and information for shipping, with much mention of latitude and longitude; trade winds and so on.

25. On reaching the West Indies and passing between Guadeloupe and Montserrat they “came up with the Lord Dufferin and spoke her in the Caribbean Sea”. Then they were three days becalmed opposite St. Domingo with unpleasantly hot weather. It took one and a half days to cross the Gulf of Mexico and arrive at the entrance to the Mississippi on the 24th November. Transferred to a steamboat for New Orleans where he met his cousins William (17) and James (18) who took him to his uncle Samuel (8).

26. William (22) writes again to his parents on the 7th February, 1847, to give his first impression of New Orleans. He is amazed at its size. It stretches four miles along the river and the sailing ships and some tall stacked steamboats, packed tightly together along that frontage. Mostly loaded with cotton, Indian corn, wheat, potatoes and apples. Many flat boats which ply with goods on the branches of the Mississippi.

27. He visited the Sunday market where there was excellent flesh meat for sale. Great extremes of heat and cold and very heavy rains. Coming home from work he was up to the knees in water. The city was below the level of the river.

28. He refers to the high wages of the mechanics, (coopers, carpenters, plumbers and blacksmiths), but no future for white laborers, all the heavy work and laboring being done by negroes. He would recommend no one without a trade to emigrate. He is an apprentice carpenter with his cousin George (20) under Uncle Samuel (8). Well satisfied with his wages.

29. He talks about the vast orange groves and the plantations of sugar cane. His sojourn in the New World was to be short. In little more than a year, he died at the age of 19. On 21st February, 1848, Samuel (8) writes to his sister, Margaret West (10). This was a short time after the Great Famine in Ireland, in which many thousands starved and hundreds of thousands emigrated, mostly to America. (Anyone interested in this period should read the book by Cecil Woodham-Smith, “The Great Hunger”).

30. He commiserates on the loss of her sons James and Thomas; their brother Alexander (11) and her worthy husband. He refers to the many losses and wonders who will be next. He refers to the great love he had for his mother, Mary (4), and how she influenced him. He well remembered how at Bright, she used to pray for the poor mariners on a wild, tempestuous night. (The scene around the huge fireplace at Bright is easily imagined).

31. He reports the death of his six year old daughter, Margaret Nisida, of water on the brain and gives news of brother Robert (16), a white-haired handsome man of 50, and very prosperous. Laments the terrible sickness in the area—yellow fever mainly.

32. He thanks Margaret (10) for her portrait and says the ladies in New Orleans were amazed at the remarkable freshness of the skin for a female approaching 70. She beats some American 25 year olds and also, “got all her teeth in good order”!

33. He then gives a list of his growing family (detailed in Appendix C) and says “what think you of maintaining all these on the old farm with all the others when it is now costing $50 or £10 a month for the four eldest, schooling only. Some consolation for an heir to the old castle, (Bright Castle)”.

34. May 20th 1848. “Per steamer from Boston”. Samuel (8) writes to his brother George (14) and sister Mary (15) at Marshallstown, reporting the death of William (22), their son, of typhus fever. In the end his brain was affected but he remained calm and resigned to his fate. The Rev. Theodore Clapp, (Samuel (8) named one of his sons after this worthy), ministered to him and buried him.

35. Samuel (8) then lets fly about doctors and their ignorance, “for unfortunately from my experience in medicine I am losing all confidence in the practice; although we have some able physicians, particularly the native doctors who acquire their education in Paris. For who can tell the effect of drugs on different systems or constitutions”.

36. He goes on to extol the virtues of the Creoles thus, “at the Bay of St Louis, William (22) was attended by an old Creole or native women with some roots and herbs of the place and in 3 days she sweat him and broke the fever, when at the same time a German and an Italian that was attended by a doctor died. The typhus or ship fever was very bad and usually fatal but how nephew William caught or taken it none can tell”. (It seems that he is referring to an earlier attack from which William recovered).

37. He asks George (14) to pay his brother Charles (12) £100 ($500) as money sent him by his sons William (17) and James (18). Also encloses bill of lading for William’s (22) trunk. He included some sugar and rice, 10 barrels of each, freight paid on board the American barque Antelope, for Belfast). (In famine stricken Ireland this must have been a priceless gift).

38. On 3rd June, 1848, Samuel (8) to Mary Stewart (24), his niece, refers to a letter from her to her brother William (22) which arrived after his death. He gives her details of the inscription he is putting on William’s (22) vaults:-

39. On 13th February, 1849, Samuel (8) to his brother George (14) at Marshallstown. He is still grieving over William (22) and feels that he may have induced him to emigrate. He thinks, where possible, young men should not leave their families and friends, “to climb the rugged path in a strange country”. Nevertheless he concludes that William’s (22) decision, at the time, was the right one because, “for what little encouragement is there in poor Ireland for a poor young man with honesty, industry and energy, but no capital or friends to push him”. He would not dream of returning to settle in Ireland. (He changes his mind nearly 20 years later).

40. He says what great prospects in the building trade there are for men with capital and ambition. His advice to any young man now would be to go to Glasgow and become an engineer or learn how to run a foundry and then emigrate. In America they could only learn as they go, by trial and error. He wanted all his relations to become carpenters or joiners. Ends with reference to another epidemic of yellow fever and Asiatic cholera. Many emigrants have died and he lost, “four fine trusty and honest blacks in ten days”.

41. November 26th 1852. Samuel writes to his sister-in-law (15) at Marshallstown and refers to the death of his brother George (14) the soldier. He was so upset about this that he was unable to write earlier. Mentions several family bereavements and dilates generally on death, and the hereafter. “On All Saints Day, 1st November, the Catholics, particularly the Creoles, cleans up and paints the tombs and vaults of their relations and have candles lighted and beautiful wreaths of flowers covering the tombs. I shall put some flowers on the tomb of your son William (22).” He gives news of Stewarts in various parts of the U.S.A.:—

• Nephew George (20) in New Orleans with him.
• Nephew James (18) in Memphis, Tennessee.
• Nephew William (17) in California and a
• James Patterson (? ) in Memphis, Tennessee.

42. William (17) to his brother George (20) in New Orleans, from Sacramento, California, on 3rd September, 1356. He is glad to hear George (20) is doing well. “I have done tolerable myself”. He built himself a brick two storey house on his lot and let it for $50 (£10) per month. He says there is plenty of trade. Materials low in price; lumber from $30 (£6) to $60 (£12) per 1000, (foot run presumably), and falling as well as cost of labor. Californian Oregan lumber $60 (£12) to $80 (£16). Bricks to $8 per 1000. Sand nothing but 75 cents a load haulage. Carpenters $3 (12 shillings) to $5 (£1) per day. Board and lodging $7 (£1/8/0) to $8 (£1/12/0) per week.

43. Gold is harder to find and miners now turning their attention to farming. They can raise the best and largest vegetables in California.

44. Sacramento is growing daily because people are leaving San Francisco due to the prevalence of earthquakes. There is great excitement over the coming election. Can he send any presents to his mother (13) and sister. Tell the folks at home he is still single.

45. Maria Stewart (13), of Bright to her son George (20) in New Orleans 5th November, l866. (This is a well written letter for an elderly country woman). She mentions that William (17) is coming home to see them all. The harvest is safely gathered in for the year. She says that her nephew George (23), soldier George’s (14) son, has married a widow, Foster, in Downpatrick. Her husband, James Foster, left her a hotel and. a staging post in Downpatrick and a load of debt. He ran the stage from Downpatrick to Belfast.

46. She recommends George (20) to go to California and join William (17) where the climate is far healthier than New Orleans.

47 Sometime in 1858, Mary Stewart, wife of William (17), in Sacramento, California, writes a most extraordinary letter to George (20) in New Orleans. It is full of grief. On 1st September, William (17) came home at noon and remained until 4 p.m. He then said, “I must go and see what I can do for my country”. “Thirty minutes gone when he met up with this villain John Perry and murdered him instantly”. (Could this be one of those “first on the draw” incidents?) She doesn't know why and never heard of any dispute between them. William (17) now out on bail. See note regarding this story

48. Rumors are that he will get off lightly but the case will need money to get him off! She refers to the newspaper about the murder being sent to George (20).

49. 20th September 1859. Maria (13) to her son George (20) in New Orleans. She has received his letter and cheque. Very favorable harvest but on the light side. Potatoes, however, were all right but prices low. She refers to a great wedding between her daughter Eleanor and a John Moore of the Grange. There were several cars and 43 people. They all drove to Dundrum, (about 12 miles), for dinner there. She hopes George (20) will soon come home.

50. 6th May, 1861. Decatur, Illinois. John Stewart (25) to his cousin George (20), He is uneasy about them all in New Orleans. Hopes they will be protected in their rights in the war. Hopes soon, “to see the day when our government of the U.S.A. will bring about peace and harmony which has so long been the sourse of prosperity with us and to live under a flag other than the Star Spangled I never can nor never will never never never so help me God. Our Government we have tried and if we do not like it we can, as we made it, change it after the form of Republicanism or true democratic principles by the ballot box, much more like Christians, than should we be, if we would, being in the minority, take up arms against the majority. To commit treasonable offence against my country that I have helped to make the loins of never never an long as there is breath in me, never. My father took the oath to support my country and he has always taught me to be law abiding. I hope to God that none of my relations would do otherwise though I understand Uncle’s (Samuel (8) ), two eldest sons have joined the Southern mob, for I can call it nothing else. If Uncle tolerates their actions tell him I never want to hear from him again. I write the sentiments of my heart though I may fall by the rebels blow." See followup to this letter

51. He goes on to say, “We are expecting a collision or battle at Cairo soon. There are about nine or ten thousand troops down there. A thousand went down last night and according to my account of what have passed here there are ten or twelve thousand there now of government troops and ten thousand more forming in Springfield to be in the service of the State. Up to Saturday, this State has had forty thousand volunteers and twenty thousand more offered their services and are waiting to be received. They are getting up a regiment of cavalry to serve where called for. The Legislature has been called and passed laws putting the State on a permanent war footing; another for the support of widows and “orphants” left by volunteers and one for the punishment by “deth” for anyone found guilty of aiding or abetting treason or secession”.

52. “Volunteers must be over 18 and not over 45 and in good health and vigor. It is supposed there will be another call and if there does it will be a great turn out, for business men and farmers are fretting to go. Never was this country so roused before. General talk everywhere is never let one foot of territory separate from another of this glorious United States. I say name. It is supposed that the Southern people think they are imposed upon by the North, tho’ the North wants nothing but what the Constitution calls for and that is Republican and true democratic loyalty to the Union”. He closes this very forthright letter by saying, “our correspondence will likely be out soon”.

53. 1st June 1861. A brief note from an A.E. Stewart, (unidentified), to his friend George (20) in New Orleans. He refers to the difficulties of getting mail through because of the war.

54. 28th July, 1862. Alexander (21) from Bright to his brother George (20) in New Orleans. “We saw in the newspaper New Orleans being taken which made us more uneasy. We get the Belfast Whig (ceased circulation 1963), which tells about the War. His mother, Maria (13), was sorry to hear Samuel’s (8) sons are at the war. She hopes it will soon be over. Refers to a Miss Larmour in New York, (who ten years later was to sue George (20) for breach of promise).

55. December 1862. Alexander (21) to George (20) in New Orleans. He hopes there has been no confiscation of property. He refers to the distress in Lancashire. Four hundred thousand in want because no cotton getting through from the South. The price of food in Belfast markets seriously affected by the war.

56. 6th Apr11 1863. Alexander (21) to George (20). Upset that the war is going so badly for the Confederacy. Mentions one of Samuel’s (8) sons being wounded on the field of battle.

57. Early 1865. Samuel (8) to George (20), who apparently in now in Ireland, three short letters. The Civil War is over and he talks about returning paroled Confederate soldiers. Negro sentinels now guarding important places instead of whites. Passes necessary to cross the lines and business really bad. Food is dear. Beefsteak 35 cents, (one shillings and fivepence), a pound. Potatoes $7 to $8 per barrel, (£1/8/0 to £l/12/0). Creole eggs 10 cents a dozen. Vegetables scarce and dear. Flour $9 to $13 per barrel, (£1/16/0 to £2/12/0). Conditions couldn’t be much worse. To top everything smallpox is raging in New Orleans.

58. He tells George (20) that some young widows and other young ladies are asking after him. He talks of renting a small farm but advice he has received is not to as everything would be stolen. His son Samuel is living on salt port and one pound of meal daily, (presumably a prisoner of war). He thanks George (20) for sending him the “Down Recorder” and mentions the great difficulty of sending letters. When they can be got away they go by steamer via New York. There is no call for timber except by the Government and they use eastern timber.

59. 15th August, 1865. Samuel (8) to George (20) in Ireland. Refers to his sons, Alcee William (29), James (28) and Samuel returning home from the war. Mentions death of Mr. Moore who was “strong for the Confederacy: defeat hastened his demise”. New Orleans is full of returned citizens. His house is now filled. Twelve at table and including children and servants, twentyone. Things are dull and will get worse when the Government begin to discharge their employees.

60. 12th November, 1866. Maria (13) to her son George (20), now back in New Orleans. She fears the yellow fever and hopes he will not get it. Says the harvest was difficult to get in this year, but prices were good. She tells him there are some good farms for sale and why not come home and buy one.

61. 29 July, 1867. Samuel (8) to George (20) in Ireland which he has just reached. He hopes to visit Ireland in 1868. He asks Georga (20) to asks his brother John (19) about a small, farm to rent or for sale; in a pleasant situation; with good neighbors; a good cold spring and plenty of fruit and eels. He says the rumor in New Orleans is that George (20) went home to get married.

62. Updated 1867. Samuel (8) to George (20) in Ireland. Mentions when he and his family were in France in 1854. Much sickness, yellow fever along the Gulf Coast, Texas and Florida. “I think the doctors kill as many as the disease”. Refers to Hunter (30) at college. Asks to be remembered to playmates of his youth, McCriskin, Patrick McHerron, John Denver and Peter Denver — “his father a stonemason in Lower Bright”. (These names still abound in Bright). Complains of difficulty in getting food. “Fruit and vegetables available would make an alligator sick”.

63. 10th August 1867. Samuel’s (8) last letter to George (20) who is back in Ireland again. He envies George (20) the pleasure of meeting up with old friends and relations. He wishes he had taken the trip with him. Much yellow fever and Asiatic cholera in New Orleans. Period of great depression. The city is dull and deserted. Reports the failure of the first National Bank and some private banks. “Collecting rents is like pulling teeth”! Most of his tenants are months behind with their rent. And all pressing for a reduction. Nothing for it but to comply. There is general lack of confidence in business circles.

64. Refers to a quotation for building a house for a client $13,900 (£2,800). Two stony frame without fences, paving or flagging. Three marble mantles and grates.

65. He asks George (20) to send or bring back with him:—

(a) Three bottles of water from the dear old spring, (see para. 7 appendix “D”), “so that I may have the delightful gratification of drinking from the best of springs. Let the bottle be corked and sealed in the water to avoid contamination”.
(b) Some limpets partly boiled and the jars sealed with wax or plaster of Paris.
(c) Also some sand eels and dulce.

66. 10th May, 1868. A Charles A. Stewart writes from Galveston, Texas, to friend George (20) and commiserates on the death of his uncle Samuel (8). He says what a good country New Mexico is. Adds that there is much unemployment in Galveston and those with work find it hard to get paid for it.

67. 12th_Augist 1868. His sister, Mrs. Moore of Ballylegg, writes to George Stewart, (20) Camp Street, New Orleans and mentions the death of Samuel (8) the last of the brothers. She refers to the debt of £130 of Alexander Stewart’s (?) being paid. She hopes the yellow fever will not be so bad this year. In Ulster it was the driest summer since 1826.

68. 1868. A letter from John Carson, Hoboken, New York, to George (20) refers to the death of his uncle Samuel (8) and says what a fine man he was. Like a father to them all.

NOTE: There are a considerable number of business letters from John James (28) to George (20) but little of interest in most of them. John James’s letter headings were Stewart and McCarthy, Commission Merchants, 57, Carondelet Street, New Orleans.

69. 21st June 1871. John James (28) to George (20), now permanently settled in Ireland. He is trying to get $5000 (£1000) for George’s (20) Felicity Street property. His brother Samuel is in town doing nothing. Ha sunk all his money and $7000 (£1400) of John James’s in planting operations and Doyal (?) burn't his sugar house down! Rents are hard to collect and state and city taxes exorbitant.

70. 22 October 1872. John James (28) congratulates George (20) on his marriage. He has managed to sell buildings in Magazine Street for $4250 (£850); $1250 (£250) down and the rest over 2 years at 8%. He has had no luck with Perdido Street, “which is ocoupied by niggers who won’t pay their rent”.

71. 26 February 1873. John James (28) to George (20). “What think you of affairs here. Two Governors, two legislatures and the people almost starving”. “This place is sinking every day and if many people were not tied down here they would get up and dust—but the whole country is in the same fix, outside of a lot of plundering politicians”. In a short note later John James (28) says, “matters are getting worse. Three thousand empty houses and stores in the first district alone. Many are leaving for Texas”.

72. 30th April 1874. John James (28) to George (20). Handling some lawsuit in connection with George’s (20) New Orlean's property says, far as your pudden headed lawyer is concerned he is the laziest good for nothing in the world and if I had the chance of doing better in the Bankruptcy Court, the way it is managed, I would employ another but bribery is the only successful advocate there”! He goes on to say that money is tight and the rich of former years as poor as church mice. He sends a newspaper and adds, “they contain few items of interest outside of startling revelations in high places, it is rather discouraging to send abroad”.

73. 14th May 1877. John James (28) to George (20). He says he has seen Alexander (?) who is enormously stout. He is the State tax collector at St John Baptist.

74. 27th August 1877. From Mrs. Alexander Stewart, St. John Baptist, to George (20) in Ireland. She says since George left America, Alexander (?) has been crippled with rheumatism. He has had great misfortune and lost all his business when her father’s reverses began, “all his vast wealth swallowed up in plantations”. Only managed to salvage a small homestead which she and Alexander share with them. For ten years they have been living on her parents. She has 5 children, 4 boys and a girl. The eldest 10 youngest 2.

75. Alexander had a job as collector of the parish, (rents and rates presumably), under the Republican government. He had a handsome salary but now since reform, only a pittance and unlikely to last more than another year. Alexander’s illness terribly expensive as doctor’s bills very high in the country. (Apparently he owed George (20) a good deal of money).

76. She was compelled to sue him in court and the judgment was that she was given a separation of property to secure herself end her children against disturbance from his many creditors. She apologizes for all this and adds, “charity begins at home”! Most people are in debt and she cites Samuel, Alcee William (29) and. many others in a worse dilemma than Alexander who may be able to get clear one day.

77. She says that before his illness he was a most portly and handsome gentleman and she hopes he will soon get his health and appearance back. In spite of his debts he is a model husband and father and wins confidence and esteem of all who have dealings with him. He is very anxious to visit his birthplace. (It has not been possible to identify this Alexander).

78. 18th October 1881. John James (28) to George (20) reports the death of his mother (9). “The last link in the family is broken and many of the flock will wander away from this dull and drooping city. Money will not be freer until it comes in for the sugar and cotton crops”.

79. 21st February 1888. John James (28) to George (20). He says that from the amount of real estate in the hands of auctioneers it looks as though half New Orleans is up for sale. An office building next to the old imperial building opposite Cassidy’s restaurant on Granier Street which cost $60,000 (£l2,000) in 1864 the owner can’t sell today for, $20,000 (£4,000). He says that St Charles Street is now paved with asphaltum up to Carrolton, “and with all this the people getting poorer and poorer. I see nothing bright in New Orleans. We are gradually losing our cotton trade which is the pandora box which supports the masses. An for the sugar interests they sunk over $6 million (£l,200,000) in the past two years”.

80. November 1888. Hunter Stewart (30) to George (20) reports John James’s (28) death and says he left nothing except his share in his parents’ estate upon which he had already received an advance of $10,000 (£2,500).

81. 1st December 1890. From John Stewart (25), (oldest son of Robert Stewart (16), Creighton, Missouri, to George in Ireland. He mentions he was with his uncle Samuel (8) in 1859/60. He asks for news of Ireland. (John (25) evidently survived the war).

82. 5th April, 1895. On notepaper headed A.W. Stewart & Go., Commission Merchants, 410 Chamber of Commerce, St Louis, Alcee William Stewart (29) writes to George Stewart (20) at Ballygallum. He says his children have been asking about their ancestors on his father’s (Samuel (8)) side and can he provide any information about them. His sister Hermania told him that she heard their mother say in Ireland, in 1854, some of the family offered to give her their genealogy. He says his recollection is that their great grandfather (James (2)) was at one tine in the English army (cavalry), (he may be confusing him with his uncle George (14) of the 6th Dragoons a British cavalry regiment); and that he left it and went to the U.S.A. He thought he might be a colonel Stewart who was on Washington's staff in the War of Independence. He says that he has been living in St. Louis since 1873 but visits New Orleans frequently.

83. 8th May 1895. George (20) replies to the above letter and tells him about the original James Stewart (1) and his son James (2): the latter believed to have deserted his family and emigrating to America.

84. 31st March 1896. Alcee William (29) follows up the letter from George (20) pressing for more information. He says Stewarts on his wife’s side settled in Virginia in 1730. He refers to the cavalryman again and says his father, Samuel (8), used to relate that he was a huge man of gigantic strength and had many feats of bravery to his credit. Ho says that there have been many changes in New Orleans since George (20) left it 26 years previously.

85. 13th August 1901. This letter was written by Alcee William Stewart (29) on his son’s, (Alcee Stewart), stationery, headed Alcee Stewart, Wholesale Hardwood & Cypress Lumber. Office and yards—Yin and Tyler Streets. Telephones—Bell, Tyler 174A and Kinloch D1589”, to his cousin Mary Cotter (24’), daughter of George (14), at Marshallstown. Deals with renovations of tombstones of his ancestors and he sends a cheque for £9/6/0 for the slabs previously restored by his father to be replaced by new ones. Somewhat prophetically he concludes, “I trust the renewal of the stones may be of interest to those who come after us”. (The stones have weathered remarkably well as can be seen from photographs 1 and 2).

ADDENDUM NO. 1

1. Since the Record was typed further information has come to light. First, an original document, an Indenture, dated 6th May, 1802, drawn up between the Right Honourable, Charles, Lord Baron Lecale, of Ardglass Castle, County Down, (who would have been a Fitzgerald, son of the Duke of Leinster), and William Stewart (3), leasing William approximately 33 acres of land, plantation measure, (introduced in James the First’s plantation of Ulster, with English and Scottish settlers, in the early 17th century: now known as Irish measure. N.B. An Irish acre is larger than an English one),in the townland of Ballintuber, in the parish of Bright, for his lifetime and that of his sons, William (7), John (5) and Alexander (11).

2. In the document William (7) is described as William’s (3) eldest son aged about 15 years; John (5) (U.S.A.) aged about 10 years and Alexander (11) aged about 8 years. Ages in those days were rather vague, but if William (7) was 15 in l802 then he was senior to Charles (12) by one year and the eldest son. Oddly enough, Charles (12), is recorded on the map attached to the document as already renting land in Bright. The field in which the old castle stands was his for example. He would then have been 14 years old!

3. The annual rent was £56/17/6 plus £2/16/11 receiver’s fees, ($300 approx.), payable half-yearly in gold. This was a considerable sum of money in those days, typical of the “rack renting” of the period which was one of the chief bones of contention between landlords and tenants and the cause of much discontent. The document is signed and sealed “Lecale” and “Wm. Stewart”.

4. Two conditions of the lease, which illustrate the power and wealth of the landlords were that the landlord, his heirs, agents, followers, servants and attendants shall retain the right to hunt, hawk, fish and fowl upon the land at any time: and that the Lessee shall always grind his corn and grain in the landlord’s mill at Ballyvigas, otherwise he would be charged ten shillings, ($2.50), per barrel for every barrel ground at any other mill.

5. Second, an original document dated 20th December, 1810, headed, “Nathaniel, by Divine Permission, Lord Bishop of Downe and Connor to our well beloved in Christ, Mary Stewart (4), of the Parish of Bright and Diocese of Downe—Greeting”. This appoints her administratrix of the property etc. of her husband, William (3), who died intestate.

6. Third, an original Indenture dated 1827, which for the sum of £244, ($1220), paid to Nicholas McElroy, entitled George Stewart (14), to occupy the farm and lands at Marshallstown. The landlord at that time was Lord Baron de Clifford, (an Anglo—Norman name).

7. £244, ($220), was a vast sum of money for a recently retired private soldier to possess, and it seems likely that his wife Margaret (15) provided a good deal of it. It is now learned that she may have had a good deal more than the fifty guineas when she left Scotland. She is also reputed to have had an annual income of £40, ($200).

8. Doris Brown of New Orleans, has provided some interesting facts about her great grandfather, Samuel Stewart (8). The New Orleans Historical Society have a record of some of the buildings he erected in New Orleans. In this he is described as an architect and master builder. Notable in the list is the recurrence of the name Henry Howard, one of America's finest architects of his day. He and Gallien are locally the chief architects of old New Orleans. Samuel (8) also built St. Patrick's Church in Camp Street, erected at the expense of the Irish population of the city:

ADDENDUM NO. 2 (May 1965)

SAMUEL STEWART (8)

3. Regarding the reference in paragraph 10 of the Record to the Pontalba Buildings in New Orleans, the following was extracted from Stanley Clisby Arthur’s book “Old New Orleans”:—

“The two block—long red-brick buildings fronting either side of Jackson Square, (the main square of New Orleans), are the Pontalba apartments said to be the first of their kind erected and take their title from the married name of the daughter of Don Andrea Almonester y Roxas, the wealthy Spaniard.

The contract for the first block was given to Samuel Stewart (8) in 1849, who agreed to erect them for $156,000, (£31,200). He also agreed to erect the second block for $146,000 (£29,200).

The buildings are now state and city owned. When they were finished in 1851 they aroused the admiration of the citizens, and today, even in their tarnished beauty, they are most interesting to look upon. Visitors admire the series of spacious verandas embroidered with an elegance of tendril—like cast—iron work made in France, which displays, in frequent repetition, the intertwined “A P”—initials of the ill—fated union of the houses of Almonester and Pontalba.”

Back to Samuel Stewart, Paragraph 10

4. Two stories, handed down for more than hundred years, and now proved to be untrue, concerning Samuel (8) are:-

(a) In Ireland it was believed that he was jilted, by a French aristocrat and thereupon married her French maid instead

(b) In the U.S.A. it was believed that the reason he went to New Orleans was that one night in New York he overheard his elder brothers discussing him and they decided that at seventeen he was too young to face the hardships and rigors of pioneer America, and they intended to return him to Ireland. Whereupon Samuel upped and made his way to New Orleans where he achieved considerable fame and fortune. It is known that he emigrated in 1826 but nothing was heard of him in Ireland until 1834 when he was already established. in New Orleans.

WILLIAM STEWART (17)

5. A copy of Mary Stewart's letter, (see paragraph 47), was sent to Sacramento, California, U.S.A. and the following reply received. It will be noted that it was William Stewart (17) who was killed by John Perry and not Perry by Stewart. Her letter has been re-examined and it still gives the impression that her husband killed Perry. However, there can be no doubt that the Sacramento news report is accurate. Downpatrick is erroneously shown in Co. Antrim in the report:-

“Subject: Death of William Stewart (as copied from the July-December 1858 volume of the Sacramento Daily Union on file in the California room of the California State Library, Sacramento, California).

The election yesterday, in this city, passed off much more quietly than was anticipated, with the exception of one incident, which resulted fatally—the collision between exited parties resulting in a simple knock-down. A man named William Stewart, aged about thirty-five years; a carpenter by trade; Married, and. a native of Downpatrick, Antrim, County, Ireland, was assaulted and killed, at the corner of J and Second streets, about 5 P.M. We understand that a man named John Perry, a drayman, in the employ of Barton, Grimm and Co., and others of our merchants, (accompanied by Robert Mellon), approached. the deceased, at the above point, and struck him without provocation; that soon thereafter a general disturbance ensued, and the parties engaged fought through the saloon on the southwest corner of Second and K streets, and that the body of Stewart was dragged through the saloon. It was soon discovered that Stewart was dead, but whether he received the fatal injury within or without the building, is a matter of doubt. Perry was subsequently arrested, at his residence, as the murderer—it being alleged that he struck the deceased with his fist, dislocating the vertebrae of the neck, or, in other words, breaking his neck. The remains were subsequently removed to the late residence of the deceased, on Sixth street, between Q and R streets. An inquest, we understand, will be hold thereon by the Coroner, at 8 o'clook this morning, at the rooms of Mr. Reeves, undertaker, on Fourth street, between J and K streets. Deceased came from New Orleans in 1849, and. married in this city on the 4th March, 1857. To add to the severity of the case, it may be mentioned (as we are advised), that the wife of the deceased is on the point of confinement, and the wife of the defendant absent in the country, at the point of death from consumption. ‘Both are represented as usually quiet and orderly men.

In Sacramento, September 1st, William Stewart.

(A detailed report of the inquest is carried with the following being the conclusion of the jury)

"The testimony here closed, and the jury returned the following verdict:

We the undersigned Jurors, do find that a man by the name of William Stewart came to his death, in the city of Sacramento on the lst day of September, 1858, from blows inflicted on his person by John Perry.

October 23, 1858. The County Grand Jury made its report to the Court of Sessions. The Sacramento Bee, published on that date, reported that the manslaughter charge against John Perry was ignored and the Court discharged him from further prosecution.

In Sacramento, November 19th, the wife of the late William Stewart, of a son."

6. A copy of John Stewart’s (25) letter, (see paragraph 50 of the Record), was sent to Decatur, Illinois, U.S.A., and the following reply received:-

“Your letter of September 22, 1964 was given to no by the Mayor of Decatur. I was president of both our local historical society and the Decatur Civil War Roundtable. We read your letter to the latter group. Our members enjoyed it very much, particularly in light of the passions your late relative felt at, the thought of his brother’s intention of joining the “…Southern Mob”.

Decatur, during the period from 1861-1865, was a transfer point on the military supply line in the western theater of the war. The first continental railway in the United States was the Illinois Central, which ran from Chicago to New Orleans; and, because of that fact, this north—south railway carried Union supplies south to Cairo, Illinois. The Great Western Railroad ran east and west and intersected the Illinois Central here in Decatur.

One of Illinois’ largest training camps (Camp Butler) was just east of Springfield, near the Great Western tracks. All troops from this camp came east to Decatur, changed trains here, and were carried south to Cairo and the seat of the war.

Your relative was in a position to know the number of troops that went through here. It might be interesting to note that most people in Decatur had strong Union sentiments. We gave about 50% of our sons to the Union cause and provided 5 Brig. Generals.

On the other hand, Macon County, (Decatur is the county seat), was settled by many southerners who were pro—south in sentiment and Democrat in politics. These people organized and acted somewhat in the manner of the I.R.A. of your area. They were known by Unionists as "Copperheads", (a very poisonous snake).

I turned your letter over to the local genealogical group and they are trying to find more information on John Stewart. Either they, or I will le you know if we find anything”.

ALCEE WILLIAM STEWART (29)

The Three Alcees (circa 1903)
Son, Grandson, and great grandson of Samuel Stewart (8).

7. The following facts, taken from notes made by him many years ago, concerning Alcee William Stewart's (29) Civil war service in the Confederate Army, were supplied by his granddaughter, Doris Stewart Brown:-

8. Alcee William (29) attended a private school for boys at Catonsville, Maryland, where the boys were given military training and which undoubtedly accounts for his being commissioned at the early age of twenty.

9. He met his wife, Floyd Elizabeth Green, when he was stationed at Thomaston, Georgia, during the war. She was the daughter of Judge James W.Green of Thomaston.

10. His injury at Perryville, Kentucky, was caused by a bullet which entered his neck at the side and came out through his mouth. A miraculous escape from death in an army which had few doctors and a scarcity of medical supplies.

11. While in Paris in 1907, Alcee William Stewart (29) obtained the following information regarding his great grandfather, on his mother’s side, (Margaret Nisida Giquel (9) ), Sieur Charles Durand de St. Romes, Knight of St. Louis:-

STEWART of APPIN CLAN

12. It is more than likely that the Stewart’s Scottish forebears were drawn from the Stewart of Appin clan, as it was in this district that James Stewart (1) was born.

13. Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, Lord Lyon King of Arms, (responsible for Heraldry in Scotland), has this to say about the clan in his book “The Tartans of the Clans and Families of Scotland”:-

“The Stewarts of Appin from the West Highland branch of the great Royal race form a branch clan of considerable importance. They derive from Sir James Stewart of Pierston, fourth son of Sir John Stewart of Bonkyl, second son of the 4th High Steward of Scotland. Sir James was killed at Halidon Hill in 1333. In the 18th century the then head of the Clan, Charles, was an ardent Jacobite and led the Clan throughout the Rising of 1745”.

14. The slogan is “Creag an Sgairbh” (“The Cormorant’s Rock” on which is built Castle Stalker). The badge is “Darag” (“Oak”). The tartan has a red background upon which is superimposed green and purple horizontal and vertical stripes; an extremely attractive design.

APPENDIX A

IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

SAMUEL STEWART'S (8) FAMILY

1. In his letter of 21st February, 1848, Samuel gives this list of his children:-

2. Subsequently Edna and Eliska, daughters, and Hunter (30) a son, were born.

3. Dorothy Garland Brown, of St. Louis, Samuel’s great grand-daughter, gives the following additional information. In addition to his own children, Samuel raised a son and a daughter of “Uncle Alexander” Stewart. (It has not yet been possible to identify this Alexander Stewart. There were two (11 and 21) Alexanders born and died, in Bright but neither went to America).

4. Details of Samuel's children who married are given below:-

1. John James (28) married Gertrude Goodman. No issue.
2. Terese Ophelia married Tom Foley and later Tom Newman. She had four children by the former and two by the latter.
3. Alcee William (29) married Floyd Elizabeth Green, 15th May, 1866. They had five children one of whom was Dorothy Garland Brown’s father Alcee Stewart (1869-1935). He married Abigail Webb Sargeant, lst June, 1898. (Abigail Webb Sargeant was the ninth generation of Sargeant’s in the U.S.A. Her ancestor, William Sargeant, left England in 1630 and settled in the New England State of Massachusetts).
4. Samuel Robert married Sarah Smith Harvey. They had six children.
5. Mary Hermania married J.A.C. Wadsworth. They had four children.
6. Edna married Charles Louque. They had three children.
7. Eliska married Nicholas Harvey.
8. Hunter (30) married Armide White.

APPENDIX D

Notes on Bright, County Down and Ballachulish, Argyllshire

BRIGHT

1. Bright is a small parish near the county town of Downpatrick. (St. Patrick is reputed to be buried in the churchyard of Down Cathedral in Downpatrick).

2. Bright has been seeland (i.e. church land), since St. Patrick’s era in the 5th century A.D. In 1178 that renowned Anglo-Norman warrior, Sir John de Courcey, to whom the lands in the Barony of Locale were granted by Henry the Second of England, granted the church of Bright and the lands attached to Malachy, Bishop of Down.

3. In 1395 John Dongan, an Anglo-Norman, Bishop of Down, assigned the lands of Bright and Ardglass to Janico Dartia a gascon gentleman, who attended Richard the Second in his Irish wars.

4. Sir Janico, as he became, died in possession of these lands and by his granddaughter they passed on to the eighth Earl of Kildare in 1515. In 1639 the Protestant Bishop of Down filed a lawsuit for the recovery of the lands but the Civil War prevented any further action. They remained in possession of the Fitzgerald family, (Earls of Kildare subsequently Dukes of Leinster), until 1808 when they were sold to William Ogilvie and held by his family until the Land Acts of 1888 and 1903 were passed and the tenants were allowed to buy the land they occupied from the Government over a period of years.

5. Christopher Russell was the tenant in occupation of Bright and it is likely that the Stewarts became his sub—tenants.

6. Bright Castle., the remains of which still stand in one of the fields of the farm once owned by the Stewarts, is a house of three storeys probably constructed in the late 15th or early 16th century. Only about one half of the structure remains. Leonard, Lord Gray, (Lord Deputy of Ireland), captured all the castles in Lecale in 1538 and its destruction is probably due to him. The Castle is locally believed to have been built, or at any rate occupied, by an Anglo-Norman Deroisel or Russell family.

7. The church of Bright is in the townland of Ballintubber, (town of the well), from a holy well a quarter of a mile to the north of this church. This may have been connected with the spring referred to by Samuel (8). St. Patrick went from Saul to preach to Ros, son of Trichim, the Prince of Bright, who was a very important noble and a lawmaker. He was also a doctor of the Berla Flini, the most ancient form of the Irish language.

BALLACHULISH

8. North Ballachulish and South Ballachulish are villages on either side of Loch Leven, Argyllshire, in the beautiful country of the Western Highlands of Scotland. It is famous for its exports of roofing slates, the largest slate quarries in Scotland being in its neighborhood.

9, This district is Stewart country and steeped in Scottish history. Nearby is Glencoe scene of the terrible massacre in 1692 when the Macdonalds were slain by the Campbells. The reason given for the killing was the failure of Macdonald the clan chief, to swear allegiance to the King, William the Third.

10. The chief did in fact give the oath but he was very late in doing so, and the Marquis of Breadalbane whose lands had been pillaged by men from Glencoe, had the papers suppressed and used the occasion to avenge himself.

11, The order for the massacre was given when a card party was in progress and the order is said to have been written on the nine of diamonds. From this arises, the tradition of the playing card called the curse of Scotland.

12. James Stewart (1) would have been a young man of about 28 at the time of the massacre and apparently left Scotland for Ireland 8 years later.

APPENDIX E

Notes on the APPIN Murder

1. Near Ballachulish, Argyllshire, Scotland, is the Appin district where the much debated Appin murder took place in 1752. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote about it in “Kidnapped” and radio and television plays have also been written about it.

2. Campbell of Glenure, the King’s representative in the district was shot by an unknown man and James Stewart, (James of the Glen), was hanged for it. A monument was erected on the spot where the execution was carried out, near South Ballachulish.

3. It is probable that Stewart did not commit the crime and it is claimed by some families in the district that the name of the murderer is known to them and handed on from generation to generation, each being sworn to secrecy.

4. This story is mentioned because Ballachulish is Stewart country and it is not unlikely that James of the Glen came from the same strain as did James (1) who left the district in 1700 for Bright in County Down.

5. Murderer revealed by descendent.

APPENDIX F

Notes on the SIXTH DRAGOONS

1. The Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall, London, was consulted about the history of the “Sixth Regiment of Dragoon Guards or Carabineers” between 1801 and 1826, when George Stewart (14) was a member. (A carabine was a short gun used by cavalry. Hence oarabineer. An early attempt to provide mobile fire power).

2. The reply, dated “Waterloo Day”, 1958, was that it was a very dull one. They gained no battle honors for the Napoleonic Wars at all. In 1801 they were in Ireland, where George joined them; and until 1826 they did the rounds of garrison towns in England, Scotland and Ireland.

3. In 1806 four troops were sent to South America and in 1807 took part in the attack on Buenos Ayres. It is now known whether George took part in this expedition. It seems unlikely.

4. The Regiment was raised in 1685. After the First World War it was amalgamated with the Third Dragon Guards to become the

APPENDIX G