RootsChat.Com

My earlier post confirms that an uncle was involved in his emigration.

In a publication called Biographical Sketches of Early Settlers of Wellington County John is listed. It says he was induced to come to Canada by his uncle James Chalmers. He is said to come from Aberdeenshire. In the 1851 Scottish census, there is a John Shewan aged 4 living with his grandmother Helen Chalmers at Old Deer. The census says this is in Banffshire but it is actually in Aberdeenshire. I think this is probably your man. It's a starting point anyway.

Sorry, but I think you may be on the wrong track. David Shewan and his wife Jessie Thomson had a son John Kerr Shewan in 1847. But my records show he married Rebecca Walker, and died in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1907.  You might want to check this by looking at his death certificate on Scotland's People as I have not totally verified the info ( not my direct line).   If you look for John in a census like 1851 it might shown you where his father was born.

I have found that there are 'pockets' of Shewan's in Shetland, NE Scotland and NE England. But I've never really managed to link them up   

James married in 1847 and that is before compulsory registration started in 1855.   It's only from then that you can more or less guarantee seeing the parents names.   What you have in 1849 is just what the parish clerk decided to write in the church register.   Some give more detail than others but very few in Scotland seem to give parents names.   So it isn't really a marriage certificate but just a local record of the event. 

Census records from 1851 onwards confirm his place of birth as Banff and his likely year of birth as 1822.   It's a pity that he was already living away from home in 1841 - a neat entry living with his parents would have been wonderful.

I see it was a son who registered his death.   He quoted his grandfather as a 'pensioner' and his grandmother as 'unknown'   If James' parents died when he was quite young, it's possible that even his wife and children never knew them and didn't know their names or even what the grandfather did for a living.