| Notes |
- Lt. Col. Dr. George Home-Steuart of Argaty, Dep. Sec. of Maryland, Mayor of Annapolis
Dr. George Home-Steuart's birth is not recorded. It is most likely that he was born at his family's estate of Ballachallan in Kilmadock parish, Perthshire, Scotland, on the border between the Highlands and Lowlands. His exact date of birth is not known, though American records estimate it to be about 1700. He was born into a staunchly Jacobite family and would have been raised to speak both Gaelic and English (Scots). As a younger son, he was not destined to inherit the family property of Ballachallan from his father. As such, he trained to become a medical doctor and graduated from the University of Edinburgh.
In 1721, George immigrated to Annapolis, Maryland, USA. Why? We do not know, though it may have been to escape the political unrest after the failure of the 1715 Jacobite Uprising or that he felt he had better financial prospects there. In Maryland, he established his medical practice, became a slave plantation owner and an influential local politician. George was connected by friendship and marriage to the family of the Calvert Barons Baltimore, who founded and ruled the province of Maryland. He benefited greatly from Calvert patronage and eventually amassed a significant land holding of over 4000 acres in Anne Arundel County in Maryland.
In 1742, the teenaged Benedict Swingate Calvert, illegitimate son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, was sent from England to live with George Steuart. Benedict Calvert's future daughter, Elizabeth, would, in 1780, go on to marry George Steuart's son, Dr. Charles Mark Steuart.
In 1747, George Steuart purchased the estate of Dodon in South River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay, from Stephen Warman for £40 Sterling and £262 Maryland. At Dodon, Steuart farmed tobacco and and propheted enormously from slave labour. He also took up horse racing. Horse racing became popular among the Maryland aristocrats. Future president George Washington was one of the participants and was a guest in George Steuart's home. (Wikipedia)
On 22 July 1747, George received a visit in Maryland from Alexander Stewart, footman to Prince Charles Edward Stuart, who had been transported to Maryland as a rebel. Alexander wrote, "Dr Stewart, and his brother William, both living in Annapolis, and both brothers to David Stewart of Ballachallan in Monteith, Scotland, who were all my loyal master's fast friends." (Paton, Henry, The Lyon in Mourning, Vol. 2, Edinburgh, 1905, p. 242)
Through the patronage of the Calvert family, Steuart went on to hold the following offices and positions of influence:
Appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of The Horse Militia under Governor Horatio Sharpe (1753)
Deputy Secretary of Maryland (1755 to 1756)
Mayor of Annapolis, two terms, (1759-1761 and 1763-1764)
Judge of the Land Office (1755-1775)
Member of the "Council of Twelve."
Judge of the Court of Admiralty.
Commissioner of the Loan Office,
Steuart's grandson, Richard Sprigg Steuart, wrote:"When [my grandfather, George Hume-Stewart] went over [to England] in 1764, to take my father [James Steuart] to school, he was commissioned by a number of Marylanders to call upon Lord North, England's new Chancellor of the Exchequer, hostile to America, on his way through London, and make representations on the subject of taxation. He was politely received and the minister put a great many questions to him, and seemed to acquiesce in all he said. [...] At all events my Grandfather had the pleasure soon after to hear of the repeal of this obnoxious tax" (Wikipedia)
On 9 Sep 1768, George received a disposition from his brother, David, for the lands of Annat, Ballachallan and Argaty. (A disposition was a contract naming the recipient as the guaranteed heir of the properties.) George inherited these lands on his brother's death on 9 Nov 1774 (not in 1758 as per Wikipedia). This caused an immediate dilemma for George.
The Boston Tea Party had already taken place a year earlier. The First Continental Congress met just weeks prior to George's inheritance. Talk of Revolution was very much in the air. George's personal loyalty leaned towards the Crown. He had lived through the failed Jacobite Uprising of 1715 and would have heard horrific stories from back home about the failure of the 1745 Rising.He knew just how the British Government treated rebels. Now he was facing the same prospect in Maryland. He was personally acquainted with George Washington and other leading revolutionaires. He was 75 years old and too old to fight. If he supported the revolution then he knew he would forfeit his newly acquired estates in Scotland. But if he supported the British Crown and the rebellion succeeded then he knew his Dodon estate in America would likely be confiscated. Thus, he skillfully sought to play both sides. in 1775, he took his eldest son George with him to Scotland to take possession of Annat, Ballachallan and Argaty, granting Annat and Ballachallan to his son, George, and keeping Argaty as his own residence, while leaving Dodon to his wife.
As Richard Sprigg Steuart recalled: "He was an ardent admirer of the American Colonies, and believed the principles for which the colonists contended were just, and truly English. But though he sympathised with his American friends, he said he could not turn rebel in his old age, being 75 years old when the Revolution broke out...he would have forfeited [his Scottish estates] if he had joined the Revolutionists. He therefore went over to Scotland and saved his property there. He gave all his estates in Maryland to his wife [Ann], telling her by letter...how to leave the property in America, which was finally done." (Wikipedia)
His strategy appears to have worked as his family kept all their estates, though he never saw his wife and younger children again. He died in Scotland in 1784. His wife Ann died in Maryland in 1814.
Some sources claim that George and Ann had two unrecorded children who died in infancy prior to the birth of their first recorded son, George in 1747. No documentary sources have been found to confirm this claim.
The Steuart farm at Dodon, Davidsonville, Maryland, USA, is still family owned, though they only have about 550 acres left.
For more information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steuart_family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Steuart_(politician)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodon_(farm)
https://dodonfarm.com/about-us/our-history
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1700 - 1784 (84 years)
