| Notes |
- Stewart Clan Magazine says, "Charles (son of James Stuart and Elizabeth Stewart) joined the patriots in Mexico [1810] and was never heard from." (Edson, George, Stewart Clan Magazine, Tome C, June 1935, vol. xii, no. 12, pp.125-126.)
In a later 1957 article, Stewart Clan Magazine says:
Charles Stuart, born about 1775 in Cumberland or Robeson County, North Carolina, apparently was living with his mother in Robeson County when the census of 1790 was taken.
He and Thomas Carraway of Cumberland county bought Aug, 20, 1800, of James Stuart of Adams County, Mississippi Territory, for $2000, 960 acres of land in Robeson County in various tracts -- 300 acres on the upper or south side of Drowning Creek which John Cole had conveyed Jan. 9, 1779, "to James Stuart, Senr., father of the above-named James"; 300 acres on the north side of Ashpole Swamp at a branch called the Mill Branch which John Cole had conveyed Jan. 9, 1779, to James Stuart, Sr.; 160 acres on the north side of Ashpole swamp which Jesse Boward had sold Sep. 17, 1777, to James Stuart, Sr.; 100 acres on the west side of Drowning Creek* and on the north side of Ashpole Swamp, granted Nov. 12, 1779, to James Stuart, Sr., and adjoining the other tract; 100 acres on the east side of Ashpole swamp on the Bane Island, granted Nov. 11, 1779, to James Stuart, Sr., adjoining his other tract; and 100 acres on the east side of Ashpole Swamp granted Oct. 10, 1787,+ to James Stuart, Sr. The witnesses to the deed were James Carraway, Hugh McLachlan and C. S. Carraway, the last evidently being Charles Stewart Carraway, protégé of his grandfather, Patrick Stewart.
Charles, signing his name Charles G. Stuart, and Thomas Carraway of Cumberland County deeded May 2, 1801, three of these tracts -- 300 acres -- to Giles Williams for $1000, and deeded the other three tracts -- 360 acres -- to Absalom Williams for $1000, the witnesses to both deeds being George Moore and Benjamin Lee. It is highly probable that Charles Stuart, Thomas Carraway and William Jordan, accompanied by the aging Elizabeth Stuart, then moved to Montgomery County, Tennessee. Elizabeth Stewart, whose identity is uncertain, signed a bill of sale, or receipt, dated July 24, 1801, to James Stewart for $600 "in full satisfaction for a negro woman called Dinah, about 16 years old, and a negro boy."++ Her signature was witnessed by John Stewart and Penny Stewart -- evidently Penelope, wife of Duncan -- and the document was recorded in will book A, page 166, Montgomery County.
On Jan. 24, 1803, Charles Stewart, Sr., deeded to Charles Stewart, Jr., for $154, 62 acres of land on the north side of the West Fork of Red River. Charles, brother of Duncan, was hardly old enough to be the father of Charles, Jr., and other deeds of land in the neighborhood, a little way north of Clarksville, indicate that this 62-acre tract belonged to Charles G. Stewart, thus making him the same man as Charles, Junior. Now, Charles may have gone to Mississippi that summer to be with his older brother James, for on June 23, 1803, Charles Stuart of Adams County, Mississippi, signed a letter-of-attorney empowering Samuel Neely of Davidson County to sell his land. The land in question may have been the 640 acres in Davidson County on the southwest side of Big Harpeth River on the waters of the Sulphur Fork of Jones Creek (in Dickson County after 1803), adjoining the lands of Benjamin Thompson and Duncan Stewart, which Charles had been granted May 6, 1797, as assignee of Richard Lewis, one of the guard to the commissioners for laying off land allotted the officers and soldiers of the North Carolina Continental Line, the grant being recorded in Montgomery County (deed book A, page 541).
Presumably Charles Stuart remained in Mississippi. The tradition that he joined the patriots in Mexico does not tell what time. The rebellion there against the rule of Spain commenced in 1810 and dragged on for ten or twelve years. Texas belonged to the United States as part of the Louisiana purchase from France, 1803, until 1819, when it was ceded to Spain, so if our wandering boy went to fight the Spaniards he must have gone deeper than Texas. He was perhaps influenced in childhood by the example of his father, and he never came home. It was his property, no doubt, in Montgomery County, Tennessee, for which Thomas Carraway and William Jordan were appointed administrators in 1817, for a man is pronounced legally dead if not seen or heard from in seven years. At a sale of "the property belonging to the estate of Charles Stewart, deceased," Christopher Stump bought three bales of cotton, Charles Meriwether and Richard Overton bought quite a few items, and Thomas Carraway bought nearly everything else. If Charles had a wife or child their identification is lacking.
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* Little Peedee River was sometimes called Drowning Creek. In later years, after maps were revised, the name seemed to apply only to the upper course of Lumber (Indian, Lumbee) River.
+ The dates of these state grants prove that James Stuart, the elder, had not fled the state because of any antipathy for the Revolution or, if he had, somebody was acting in his behalf in the interest of his wife and children. Considering the clan spirit of the Scottish Highlanders, it is easy to conjecture that Duncan Stewart, or one of his brothers, attended to business matters affecting the security and comfort of Elizabeth, who was his cousin. James Stuart, husband of Elizabeth and said to have been her cousin through some link of consanguinity, may have left his wife for reasons more intimate than difference of opinion of the character of King George III. Elizabeth's father may have disliked him.
++ In the census of 1790, Robeson County, N.C., Elizabeth Stewart did have one negro slave.
(Edson, George, Stewart Clan Magazine, Tome G, April 1957, vol. 34, no. 10, pp.194-196.)
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Abt 1775 - 1817 (~ 42 years)
