Robert Stewart, Jr., and Mary Gillespie in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada
This is the story of the tragically short lives of Robert Stewart, Jr., and his wife, Mary Gillespie, and the descendants of their orphaned children.
Robert Stewart, Jr., was born in the clachan of Morell in Easter Glentarken, Comrie Parish, Perthshire, Scotland and immigrated in 1833-34 with his siblings and widowed mother to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. With the likely assistance of their distant cousin, Sir Allan Napier MacNab, Robert and Mary acquired a farm in Puslinch township, just southwest of the city of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. That farm is now the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada.
Robert would have been fluently bilingual in both Gaelic (his first language) and English.
Ancestors from a Royal Clan
Robert Stewart (Jr) was the eighth of eleven children and the third son of Robert Stewart in Morell and his wife, Catharine McNaughtan. Robert was descended from the family of the Stewarts of Dalveich, who were, in turn, an illegitimate cadet branch of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich, who were the senior family of Clan Stewart of Balquhidder, a Royal Stewart clan.
They were Jacobites, loyal to the Stewart line of kings, with a notorious history in the Highlands of southwest Perthshire, Scotland. They were descended from King Robert II of Scots, the first Stewart king in Scotland. That also makes them descendants of King Robert The Bruce, the hero king of Scotland, who was grandfather to King Robert II.
Tragedy
In 1848, Puslinch was hit by a small pox outbreak, claiming the lives of Robert and Mary, and leaving four orphaned children. This is their story.
Gravestone: Robert Stewart, Mary Gillespie & Catharine Stewart (nee McNaughtan)
Robert Stewart with his 4x-great-grandson, Ewan Brown
The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada farm property in west Puslinch (shown above) was originally owned in 1834 by Robert Stewart. After his premature death, the farm passed to his younger brother, Peter Stewart.
Duff’s Presbyterian Church
Duff’s Presbyterian Church, Puslinch – exterior
Puslinch
Puslinch Township is located just south, southwest and southeast of the city of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It’s most famous resident is Justin Bieber who owns a lakefront mansion on Puslinch Lake. The township was originally surveyed between 1828-1832 by David Gibson, whose name will come up later in our family history. Our Stewarts arrived in 1834, just two years after the original surveying was completed. They were among the earliest European colonizing settlers.
By 1846 the population of Puslinch reached 1500, most of whom were Gaelic-speaking Highland Scots. One of the larger settlement in Puslinch Township is the village of Aberfoyle. It was founded in the 1840s by John McFarlane who came from Aberfoyle, Perthshire, Scotland, just southwest of Balquhidder, where our Stewarts originate. (Wikipedia)
Attawandaron Lands
But before the Stewarts arrived, this land belonged to the Attawandaron First Nation. The early French explorers called them the Neutral Nation, because they remained neutral between the Huron and Iroquois peoples.
Europeans began encroaching on this land in the early 1600s. Our trickle became a flood of immigration after the American Revolution in 1776. By the early 1800s, the nearby towns of Guelph, Hamilton, Cambridge and Galt were already established, and European immigrant farmers were moving in en masse to gobble up the land and establish pioneer settler farms.
Robert Stewart was among them those early colonial settlers.
Duff’s Presbyterian Church
Duff’s Church in Puslinch was founded in 1837. Among the founding elders were Robert Stewart, Robert’s father-in-law, Hugh Gillespie, and Peter McNaughton (believed to be Robert’s mother’s cousin.) Robert’s mother, Widow Catharine Stewart, is listed among the founding members.
The Gaelic-speaking Highlanders in Puslinch held fiercely to their homeland customs and language and Duff’s Presbyterian Church, where they worshipped, originally held services only in Gaelic and continued worship in Gaelic into the early 20th century.
Robert Stewart and Mary Gillespie in Puslinch
Robert Stewart, b. Abt 13 Jun 1813, Morell, Comrie, Perthshire, Scotland 
, d. Jan 1849, Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada (Age ~ 35 years). Robert was the 8th of 11 children and 3rd son born to Robert Stewart in Morell. Robert, the younger, was named after his father following the traditional Scottish naming pattern.
Robert married on 22 Jul 1836 in nearby Galt, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada to Mary Gillespie, b. 12 Jul 1811, Deanston, Kilmadock, Perthshire, Scotland , d. Feb 1848, Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada (Age 36 years), daughter of Hugh Gillespie, b. 19 Nov 1774, Lecropt, Perthshire, Scotland , d. Abt 15 Feb 1848, Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada (Age 73 years) and Mary Reid, b. Abt 1780, Scotland (probably Perthshire) , d. UNKNOWN, Ontario. It is not known whether Robert and Mary met in Scotland prior to emigration or in Canada after immigration.
Because their lives were cut short, Robert and Mary have left us no words of their own. There is no first-hand account of their lives. Only two of their four children left surviving descendants, and one of those is in another country, thus reducing the opportunity for even second-hand accounts of their lives to be passed down through the generations. Everything we know about them comes from the accounts of Robert’s surviving brothers, Duncan and Peter, as well as public records. What follows is my best attempt to pull together a narrative from those different sources.
Life in Scotland
Robert Stewart was born in 1813 in the clachan of Morell, Easter Glentarken, Comrie, Perthshire, Scotland. The Comrie OPR records his place of birth as “Moril.” He was the eighth child of Robert Stewart and Catharine McNaughtan.
Immigrating to the New World
When Robert was still a young boy, the local landlord in Scotland decided to empty Glen Tarken of residents and forcefully moved all his tenant cottars to the nearby village of St. Fillans. Economic conditions and increasing rents finally drove Robert’s family to the point of deciding to leave Scotland and sale to the New World. The entire family emigrated en masse, including all 11 children, the older siblings spouses and their children, as well as Robert’s widowed mother. Robert would have been 21 when the family left Scotland. The full story of their hazardous journey, including losing all their possession at the bottom of a river after their barge sank, is detailed in Robert’s mother’s notes.
Arriving in Hamilton, Ontario Canada
Upon arriving in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, the family was temporarily quarantined in the waterfront warehouse district due to a cholera outbreak. Having lost all their possessions on the journey, Robert’s family presented themselves at the door of their distant cousin, Sir Allan Napier MacNab, latterly of Dundurn Castle, Hamilton. Robert’s maternal grandmother was a MacNab from nearby to the original Dundurn in Perthshire, Scotland, not far from Robert’s birthplace. MacNab provided housing in Hamilton for the older siblings and likely assisted Robert and the younger siblings in acquiring the farm property in Puslinch.
Settling in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada
Robert and his wife Mary, along with his younger siblings, Catharine, Peter, and William, as well their widowed mother, Catharine, made the 40 km treck from Hamilton to their new home in Puslinch. There was not much of a road through the forest to travel on. The journey, which today takes about 30 minutes by car, would have taken them at least a full day by horse and wagon.
By March 1835 (at the latest) the family had arrived in Puslinch Township, Wellington County, in what was then called Upper Canada (present-day Ontario, Canada). They were among the earliest settlers in Puslinch. They occupied concession 3 lot 19-rear with Robert’s in-laws, the Gillespies, occupying the front of the same lot. When they arrived in Puslinch their property would have been uncleared forest. There was nothing there for them to live in. They had to clear the land themselves and build their own accomodations.
According to Robert’s brother Peter’s memoires, Robert and Mary and their family initially lived in a shanty “without any door, but an old country blanket hung over.” A later biography of Peter Stewart indicates that the land was originally owned by a Mr. Burnside, however it’s more likely that he was just the clerk who sold them the land. The Stewarts appear to have been the original settlers of the property.
The Stewarts and the Gillespies seem to have arrived at the same time. It’s quite probable that the two families knew each other before coming to Puslinch, and possibly even before coming to Canada.
Early census records indicate that the Stewarts were Secessionist Presbyterians, not Church of Scotland. The Secession Presbyterian Church (United Synod) Congregation in Puslinch was organized in part by Hugh Gillespie in 1837. This congregation soon merged with the local Church of Scotland congregation to become Duff’s Presbyterian Church.
In 1842, Robert Stewart was residing in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada with his wife and children.
Tragedy
Between February 1848 and January 1849 Robert, his wife Mary and mother Catherine, all died within 11 months of each other. There was a small pox outbreak in the community that year. It is presumed that was their cause of their collective deaths. Robert and Mary had four children (ages 1-11) who found themselves orphaned. Robert’s younger brother Peter and sister Catherine were in their 20s by this point (and residing on the same family farm), and assumed guardianship of their orphaned niece and nephews.
In 1851, Robert and Mary’s older children, Robert, Hugh and Catharine, were residing in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada, on the Stewart family farm in the care of their uncle Peter Stewart and aunt Catharine Stewart. Robert and Mary’s youngest son, James, was residing in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada in the care of his oldest aunt Margaret McCallum (nee Stewart) and her husband, William McCallum. James would have been still nursing at the time and would have needed a guardian capable of breast feeding him. Aunt Margaret was still having children at that point.
Robert Stewart and Mary Gillespie, along with Robert’s mother, Catharine McNaughtan, are buried in Crown Cemetery in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada, directly across the road from Duff’s Presbyterian Church.
Peter Stewart Inherits the Farm
After the deaths of Robert Stewart, his wife, Mary Gillespie, and his mother, Catharine McNaughtan Stewart, the family farm passed to Robert’s surviving younger brother, Peter.
The Stewart Orphans
Robert and Mary had the following children, all of whom were orphaned between the ages of 11-1:
1. Robert Stewart, b. 20 Jun 1837, Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada, d. 25 Aug 1922, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 85 years)
2. Hugh Stewart, b. 1840, Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada, d. 20 May 1885, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 45 years)
3. Catharine Stewart, b. 28 Dec 1842, Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada, d. 2 Nov 1887, Bellflower, McLean County, Illinois, USA (Age 44 years)
4. James Stewart, b. 22 May 1847, Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada, d. UNKNOWN, possibly Chicago, Illinois, USA
Police Detective Jack Cameron
Our family’s first encounter with mobster Rocco Perri
Detective John Cameron was born in 1862 in Hamilton. He married Minnie Catharine Stewart, daughter of Robert Stewart, eldest of the Stewart orphans. (at left)
John “Jack” Cameron was a police officer with the Hamilton Police Force. His wife’s first cousin, Jean Stewart, was married to Tom Brown, who later became Chief of the Hamilton Police.
Jack’s first encounter with the burgeoning Italian mob presence in Hamilton, was a Black Hand extortion case and raid in 1909.
Jack is mentioned in James Dubro’s book, The King of the Mob: Rocco Perri and the Women Who Ran His Rackets:
“It was the late winter of 1917 when Rocco and Bessie (Perri) first came to the attention of the police. A man came to detective Ernest Goodman to complain that after visiting a prostitute at 157 Caroline Street North and paying her a two dollar fee, he had been robbed of the rest of his cash.
Goodman, along with Detective Jack Cameron and the complainant, visited the house and interviewed Bessie and Rocco in the kitchen. (Bessie told the cops her name was ‘Rose Cyceno.’ The surname was probably an anglicization of ‘Sussino,’ the name Rocco would use later, and which was most likely his mother’s name.) In the end, Goodman had to report that the prostitute involved was not in the house. She may actually have left of the complainant may have lost his courage. The man promised to meet the police later, but didn’t show up at the appointed time. Goodman merely reported that 157 Caroline Street was a disorderly house and recommended that it be watched.” (p.36-37)
Hugh Stewart and Mary Tait in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada
Hugh Stewart, b. 1840, Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada , d. 20 May 1885, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 45 years). Hugh was the second orphaned son of Robert Stewart and Mary Gillespie, shown above.
Hugh married on 17 Sep 1868 in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada to Mary Tait, b. 5 Jan 1844, Beauharnois Canal, Châteauguay Valley, Huntingdon County, Quebec, Canada , d. 30 Dec 1927, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 83 years).
Orphaned in Puslinch at 9 years old
Hugh Stewart was born on the family farm in Puslinch Township, Wellington County, just southwest of present-day Guelph. The family were still living in a log cabin at the time. When Hugh was only nine years old his parents (and grandmother) all died within 11 months of each other orphaning Hugh and his sister and brothers all under the age of 11. Hugh and his siblings were raised by their uncle Peter Stewart and his sister, their aunt, Catherine Stewart.
In 1851, Hugh was residing in Puslinch, Wellington, County, Ontario in the care of his uncle Peter Stewart and aunt Catharine Stewart, along with his brother, Robert, and sister, Catharine.
In 1861, Hugh was residing in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada in the care of his uncle Peter and aunt Catharine Stewart. Hugh’s three orphaned siblings, Robert, Catharine, and James, were also residing with him. In the early 1860s the family moved from their log cabin into the stone farm house that still stands today.
In 1868, Hugh was a witness to his uncle Peter Stewart’s marriage to Agnes Mclean.
Mary Tait
Mary Tait, b. 5 Jan 1844, Beauharnois Canal, Châteauguay Valley, Huntingdon County, Quebec, Canada , d. 30 Dec 1927, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 83 years). She was the daughter of Leonard Tait, b. Abt 1 Apr 1821, Cornhill, Northumberland, England , d. 18 Mar 1871, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age ~ 49 years) and Jane Ord, b. 21 Jul 1815, Eccles Lodge, Eccles, Berwickshire, Scotland , d. 20 Nov 1872, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 57 years). Leonard Tait was the local blacksmith in Puslinch, where Hugh Stewart was born.
Mary Tait married Hugh Stewart and began a family with him. They were married 17 years when he died, leaving her to raise their four surviving children on her own. Her son, Leonard, took over the family grocery store after his father’s death. In 1921, Mary was living with her daughter Jean and son-in-law, Tom Brown, in Hamilton. She outlived her husband by over 40 years and outlived five of her six children
Move to Hamilton
Hugh has not been found in the 1871 census, however his only son (at that time) was residing in Puslinch with Hugh’s uncle Peter. In 1871 Hugh moved to Hamilton with his wife and first son. It was the same year that Hugh’s father-in-law, Leonard Tait, died. Leonard was already living in Hamilton, and since later census records show the Tait children living with Hugh and Mary, it seems likely that Hugh and Mary moved to Hamilton in order to look after Mary’s siblings. Having been orphaned himself, I suspect Hugh would have felt compelled to look after his wife’s younger siblings.
[Note: Lovell’s Canadian Dominion Directory for 1871 lists a Hugh Gillespie, grocer, at 263 McNab St North in Hamilton. 1871 Census shows him residing in St. Mary’s Ward, born about 1826 in Scotland. Wife Martha, children: Agnes, John, Margaret, Martha.]
Tait & Stewart Grocers
In Hamilton, Hugh worked initially as a machinist and general labourer, but in 1877 he opened a grocery store at Hunter and Walnut streets with his brother-in-law, Robert Tait. The family store was known as “Tait & Stewart Grocers.”
In 1881 Hugh was residing in Ward 2, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada, with his wife and children. Also living with them were his wife Mary’s siblings, Robert, David and Margaret Tait.
Robert Tait eventually moved to London afterwhich Hugh and Mary moved the grocery store to the corner of Ferguson & King William streets.
Hunter & Walnut Streets – location of the former Tait & Stewart Grocers
Hugh dies young
Hugh Stewart died suddenly at the young age of 44. The cause of his death is was recorded as “consumption” (Tuberculosis.) After Hugh’s death Mary ran the grocery store herself with the help of their son, Leonard, who eventually took over the family store. Two years later, their son Robert also died of tuberculosis. And in 1901, their son James also died of tuberculosis.
Hugh and his family are buried in unmarked graves in Hamilton Cemetery.
Children
Hugh and Mary had the following children:
1. Robert Albert Stewart, b. 11 Sep 1869, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada, d. 9 Mar 1887, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 17 years)
2. Leonard Tait Stewart, b. 2 Nov 1871, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada, d. 2 May 1914, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 42 years)
3. Jane Ord Stewart, b. 26 Sep 1875, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada, d. 1957, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 81 years)
4. James Gillespie Stewart, b. 28 Oct 1877, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada, d. 11 Sep 1901, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 23 years)
5. Maggie Ann McFarlane Stewart, b. 4 Oct 1880, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada, d. 17 Feb 1886, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 5 years)
6. David Tait Stewart, b. 24 Jan 1883, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada, d. 31 Jul 1883, Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada (Age 0 years)
Lieutenant Agnes Stewart
Lieut. Margaret Agnes Stewart was born in 1907 in Hamilton as the daughter of Leonard Tait Stewart and Florence McMeekin (at left).
Agnes never married and had no children. She lived with a friend, Mary Watson, for most of her life. Agnes was a Lieutenant in the military. It is impossible to conclude from available evidence if Agnes and Mary’s relationship was intimate. In that era it would not have been safe for them to have been out. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and honour what their relationship appears to have been.
Police Chief Tom Brown
Our family’s second encounter with mobster Rocco Perri
Chief Const. Thomas Albert Brown, MBE, Chief of Police was born in 1877 in Armagh, Ireland. Tom married Jean Ord Stewart, daughter of Hugh Stewart (at left).
Tom was the second member of our extended family who had dealings with the Italian mafia in Hamilton, and, in particular, with Rocco Perri.
Tom’s information is presented on the Brown in Hamilton Family Page.
Catharine Stewart and Hugh McIntyre in Bellflower, Mclean, Illinois, USA
Catharine Stewart, b. 28 Dec 1842, Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada , d. 2 Nov 1887, Bellflower, McLean County, Illinois, United States (Age 44 years). Catharine was the third orphaned child born to Robert Stewart and Mary Gillespie, shown above.
Catharine married on 11 Feb 1869 in Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada to Hugh Munro McIntyre, b. 16 Oct 1832, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland , d. 11 Sep 1910, Bellflower, McLean Co., Illinois, United States (Age 77 years).
Catherine Stewart was orphaned at the age of 7. She was raised by her uncle Peter Stewart and her aunt Catherine Stewart on the Stewart farm in west Puslinch.
In 1851, Catharine was residing on the family farm in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada with her uncle Peter and aunt Catharine and her siblings.
In 1861, Catharine was residing on the family farm in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada, with her orphaned sibligns, her uncle Peter Stewart, aunt Catharine Stewart, aunt Jane (Stewart) McCowan, and cousin Peter McCowan.
Catharine married in 1969 in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada to Hugh Munro McIntyre, farmer, originally from Glasgow, Scotland. They moved to Bellflower, Mclean, Illinois, USA where their first child was born a year later.
In 1870, Catharine was residing in Bellflower, Mclean County, Illinois, USA, with her husband.
In 1880, Catharine was residing in Bellflower, Mclean County, Illinois, USA, with her husband and children.
Catharine died in 1887 at the age of 44.
Children
Catharine and Hugh had the following children:
Catharine Stewart McIntyre-Bellflower-Ill-USA
Catharine Stewart McIntyre, Bellflower, Illinois, USA