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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Perthshire => Topic started by: JEB54 on Monday 05 August 19 03:00 BST (UK)
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Hello, my 2nd great grandmother was Cathrine Stewart b. 1822 in place unknown, Scotland. Cathrine emigrated to Nova Scotia (NS), Canada in 1847 according to Canada census records and married Ebenezer Bezanson in 1850/1. They settled in Guysborough County, NS, before moving to Pictou County, NS. Cathrine and Ebenezer had 6 children - John Allen, William George, Alexander, Eliza, Daniel Donald James, and Lydia J Bezanson. Catherine died in March 1903 and is buried in the Bezanson Cemetery, Mt Thom, Pictou Co, NS.
On John Allen Bezanson's death record, their eldest son and my great grandfather, it states that his mother was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire but this is uncertain. Different family trees show her family as living in Perthshire so I am uncertain as to which is correct. I have tried looking in every place that I can find for information but no luck so far. I haven't been able to find her in the Scottish census records of 1841 -- none of the Cathrine's are living with their families.
There is a story that a Jane Stewart who married Donald Kennedy in Stirling, and emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1848 with their two children, Thomas & Elizabeth, was Cathrine Stewart's sister -- just have to prove this.
Appreciate any info on possible other records to search -- I have even tried Scotland's People, but couldn't determine if she was on there.
Thank you,
jane
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Hi Jeb54,
I found my STEWARTS in the parish of Logierait, Perthshire.
With a little luck you could try there and some parishes that are nearby.
Good luck
Geoff
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Trying to find a connection for Catherine & Jane/Jean may prove difficult, I doubt if the records below would help much.
The only likely marriage for Jane on SP
KENNEDY DANIEL JANE STEWART 06/11/1843 St Ninian, Stirling
The only birth for Elizabeth nothing for Thomas.
KENNEDY ELIZABETH DONALD KENNEDY/JEAN STEWART 15/06/1847 Larbert, Stirling
There are 11 Catherine Stewarts on SP born 1821 – 1823 but I guess the 1822 date came from other sources, so it could be more than +/- 1 year. How sure are you on Catherine’s birth year?
Only one was in Perthshire & 7 in Glasgow, the other 3 elsewhere.
I tried to match parents for birth sisters without success and as you say on some of the census returns Catherine was a servant.
Did the census returns or marriage record in Canada provide any extra data?
Colin
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Hello, thank you for your replies.
Catherine's date of birth comes from the 1901 Canada census records as being 30 Nov 1822. Her grave memorial indicates that she died 25 Mar 1903 at the age of 81 years. I have been unsuccessful in getting any documentation for her here in Canada -- tried to get their marriage record but was told that it would contain no information on parents if found and no death record.
As stated previously, my great grandfather's death record is the only one which provides information as to where his mother was born, other than just Scotland, states that she was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire. There seems to be some questions on this from relatives who think she was born in Perthshire to a Donald Stewart and Elizabeth Cumming and that Glasgow was the port of her emigration. There doesn't seem to be any documentation to verify that Donald and Elizabeth were her parents.
She seems to be a very elusive person to trace!! LOL
Again, thank you.
Jane
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Hi Jane,
Been having a wee search for you - nothing so far, I'm afraid.
Looking at Catherine's daughters names - Eliza and Lydia
Lydia has obviously been called after Ebenezer Bezanson 's mother ( I saw his death registration on FamilySearch) Therefore I would think there was a good chance that Eliza has been called after Catherine's mother (Eliza or more likely Elizabeth) Us Scots were very good at naming our children after grandparents ;D .
Normally 1st daughter - mother's mother 2nd daughter- father's mother.
1st son - father's father 2nd son - mother's father.
Looby :)
Added - there are , of course, often exceptions to that rule ;D
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There was a marriage.
STEWART DONALD ELIZABETH CUMMING 16/12/1804 Fortingall
Children Fortingall
Jean 1809, Duncan 1811, Allan 1814, Girsel 1815
Then same parents but no other marriage for those names?
Jane 1832 Blair Atholl
Maybe as there were gaps/errors a Catherine was born 1822?
Colin
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Hello
I think Cathrine followed the naming pattern for her daughters but unsure about the sons. Ebenezer's father's name was John William Bezanson, his father was Jean Jacques/John James, and his father was Jean Georges. Catherine and Ebenezer's sons names were John Allen, William George, Alexander, and Daniel James -- I know that the name Allen was not a Bezanson family name nor Daniel/Donald.
So, maybe the Donald Stewart and Elizabeth Cumming are her parents?? Given that there doesn't seem to be much documentation, I was hoping that DNA would help, but no matches yet.
I appreciate both of your efforts to assist me!!!!
Jane
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Do you have Cathrine on a passenger list with other Stewarts or relations & were there others with surname Stewart close to where Cathrine was living in the 1851 census for any clues?
"There is a story that a Jane Stewart who married Donald Kennedy in Stirling, and emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1848 with their two children, Thomas & Elizabeth, was Cathrine Stewart's sister"
Have you looked at the names of Jane's children for any clues?
Annie
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Hi, I have tried to connect Jane Stewart Kennedy with Cathrine but it has been very difficult. The reason that I think there's a link between the two is that a couple of her descendants say that there is a letter written by Jane describing their walk to see Catherine & Ebenezer Bezanson upon their arrival in Nova Scotia. We tried years ago to find their parents but were not successful, though, some Stewarts in Dundee, Angus looked promising.
The names of Jane's children don't follow the naming pattern -- eldest son was called Thomas Walker Kennedy (I am not sure who he is named after -- Donald's father was Findley Kennedy -- perhaps her mother was a Walker?? The daughter Elizabeth McKay Kennedy may have been named after both grandmothers (Donald's mother was a McKay).
Jane Stewart was born in 1816 (the date shown on her headstone) so if Donald Stewart and Elizabeth Cumming were her parents, I am not sure if they are the same parents of the one born in 1832. By looking at the birth record, it seems unlikely. I think Donald and Elizabeth did have another daughter but she had an unusual name but I can't remember offhand -- something like Janet Matt. Could Cathrine have changed her name?
Regarding the children of Donald & Elizabeth, I think that their sons Duncan & Allan also emigrated to Nova Scotia and perhaps their mother too (but will have to check). Duncan married Janet, the daughter of a Robert Stewart.
Regards,
Jane
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Appreciate any info on possible other records to search -- I have even tried Scotland's People, but couldn't determine if she was on there.
See https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=714261.0
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You can eliminate Jane 1832. She was illegitimate with both parties living at Fenderbridge.
Throth
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Thank you, Forfarian. I think what you are telling me is that there are no other places to find records for information on Cathrine Stewart's parents if a birth record for her is not found on Scotlands People??
Thank you, Throth, I didn't think that they were the same people!!!
Regards,
Jane
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ScotlandsPeople is providing information from a primary source and you are being urged to treat secondary and tertiary sources with a degree of caution.
Obviously there are other primary sources such as family bibles, estate papers, kirk session minutes and so on. These are 95% reliable - yes, we have examples of where the registrar has written down an incorrect name - but the reliability of secondary sources such as family trees lacking the references to the primary sources can be extremely variable, and should not be taken at face value.
For example, a couple of years ago we saw a family tree with the surname of 'Dunlop' in Blair Atholl parish. Immediately we knew that something was wrong as there were no 'Dunlop' individuals in this parish. We traced this back to very scrawled census return for a family by the name of 'Douglas' which had the spelling 'Duglass'. Now a double 'ss' used to be written 'fs' with a long tail on the 'f'. Hence it had been misread as 'Dunlop', so anyone using this family tree (a secondary source) would be barking up the wrong tree.
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Thank you. I usually do treat them with caution and use them only as a guide mostly. I have tried to find what source was used to determine that Cathrine's parents were Donald Stewart & Elizabeth Cumming -- 125 trees by relatives do not have any records to confirm Cathrine's birth, etc. I was a bit surprised at that to say the least. One relative said that she got the information from a book written about the Bezansons by a Bezanson but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is correct. Some my search continues!!
Jane
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Thank you, Forfarian. I think what you are telling me is that there are no other places to find records for information on Cathrine Stewart's parents if a birth record for her is not found on Scotlands People??
Very nearly but not quite. In practical terms yes, if there is no record on SP it's not going to be indexed or transcribed on any other web site.
However I have to leave a little wriggle room just in case some other researcher has seen and transcribed a record from one of the tiny number or sources that SP does not include.
These sources include the records of the Scottish Episcopal Church and of a handful of minority congregations who have not given permission for their records to be on SP, and private documents such as family bibles.
If you can't find a baptism, the overwhelming probability is that it's because no record has survived, not because it's not on SP.
With a name as common as Catherine Stewart, no definite information about exactly where and when she was born, and no reliable source of her parents' names, you're into the realms of guesswork.
Sadly, many people do not realise that so many early 19th century records are missing - I have seen estimates of 30% or even 50% missing - and they just pick someone who looks likely and add them to their tree. Then another 124 people copy that and hey presto! 125 trees say Catherine was the daughter of Donald Stewart and Elizabeth Cumming, so it must be true.
Never trust anything you find online unless it is an image of an original document, and even then be wary because errors in original documents are not unknown.
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Wikitree has https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stewart-33235 which says that Catherine was the daughter of Donald Stewart and Elizabeth Cumming, and gives as its source "Bezansons from Nova Scotia", by Dorothy Evans, Halifax, Nova Scotia: Privately Published, 1986, revised 1991 (bezansons.com)
So it looks as if the parentage of Catherine is from this (secondary) source. You need to get hold of a copy of the book and see what the author's source is for saying that these were her parents.
However this is linked to another version saying she was born in Glasgow and that her father was born in Strathdon in 1778.
This version says that Donald Stewart, born 1778, husband of Elizabeth Cumming, was the son of Arthur Stewart and Beatrix Farquharson, and that he died in 1862. The son of Arthur Stewart and Betty Farquharson did indeed die in 1862 - on 26 April in Tornahaish, Strathdon. However his death certificate says he was married to Janet Downie - and as the informant was his son Arthur, one assumes that Arthur knew better who his own mother was than some careless researcher a century and a half after the event.
The 1861 census shows at Tornahaish, Strathdon, Donald Stewart, 83; wife Janet, 81; daughter Euphemia, 50 and son Arthur, 48, all born in Strathdon. So Euphemia would have been born in 1810/11 and Arthur in 1812/13, contemporary with the recorded children of Donald Stewart and Elizabeth Cumming.
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Forfarian, thank you. I will check further into the book by Dorothy Evans regarding the source she used for the information on Cathrine Stewart. I went back through old emails and I did happen to find the names of the parents of the Jean Stewart who married Donald Kennedy. There is also a book written by a Sangster relative from Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, which is the "source" for Jean/Jane being Cathrine's sister. I have never seen a copy of this book.
Jean Stewart b. 1816 to James Stewart/Stuart & wife Jean Anderson -- married 15 Jun 1806 Kettins, Angus, Scotland. Definitely not Perthshire or Lanarkshire!! LOL!!
Regards,
Jane
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Jean Stewart b. 1816 to James Stewart/Stuart & wife Jean Anderson -- married 15 Jun 1806 Kettins, Angus, Scotland. Definitely not Perthshire or Lanarkshire!!
No, but Kettins is right next to Coupar Angus which is in Perthshire.
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see previous messages re Cathrine Stewart Perthshire or Lanarkshire
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Baptisms to Donald Stewart & Elizabeth Cumming on FamilySearch
Jean 5 May 1809 Fortingall
Duncan 16 Feb 1811 Fortingall
Allan 28 May 1814 Fortingall
Girsel 5 April 1815 Fortingall
Jane 12 Aug 1832 Blair Atholl
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQ7Y-48Q
Quite a large gap with room for other children like Catherine.
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I see you already have this info from earlier post
Threads merged.
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Thank you. I forgot that I previously posted regarding Cathrine.