I was replying to someone who posted about a Dr William Stuart who died in India in 1800 and proceeds from his estate were sent to his father John Stuart of Birkenburn.
There's a will of John Stuart esq, late of Birkenburn, thereafter feuar in Fife Keith, dated 4 April 1844.
Esq implies he owned land, and if so there should be something in the Registers of Sasines. LIBINDX has a reference to John Stuart, son of John Stuart of Birkenburn and Helen Anderson of Mudhouse, who sold Birkenburn to the Earl of Seafield in 1824 and died in Fife-Keith in 1837.
A John St*art was buried in Keith on 3 March 1844. I think he must be the John Stewart living in the Square, Fife-Keith in 1841, aged 70, with Jean, 60; Ann, 60 and Cathrine, 50, all born in Banffshire.
The 1851 census lists Jane Stuart, 76 with her sisters Ann Stuart, 73 and Cathrine Stuart, 69, all annuitants and all born in Keith.
Ann Stuart, daughter of John Stuart, Birkenburn, died in Keith in 1864. Her death certificate describes her father as 'Landed proprietor' and says he mother's maiden surname was Ann Stewart. An announcement in the Banffshire Journal confirms that she was a daughter of John Stuart, Birkenburn.
There are baptisms of children to John Stuart and ? Stuart in Keith
Patrick 5 June 1774
Jean 24 November 1776
Anna 24 July 1778
Katherine 5 August 1781
Elizabeth 16 July 1785
George 14 April 1791
There's a notice in the Aberdeen Journal in 1823 inviting anyone having claims against or debts due to the late Mr John Stuart, of Birkenburn, to submit them to Mr John Stuart, Birkenburn.
The death of Jane, eldest surviving daughter of the late John Stewart Esq of Birkenburn, was announced in the Elgin Courant on 5 December 1856.
Catherine Stuart, mother's maiden surname Stuart, died in Keith in 1868 aged 87.
An obituary of Alexander Kynoch says that his wife was Magdalen, daughter of James Stephen and granddaughter of John Stuart on Birkenburn. Magdalen Stephen, one of six children of James Stephen and Mary Stuart, was baptised in Keith on 7 May 1826.
So as well as the listed baptisms, there were at least two more children - John (d 1844), Mary (m John Stephen) and probably another, William, (d 1800 in India). Or could John S of Birkenburn have been married twice, first to Helen Anderson and then to Ann Stewart?
There are four baptisms of children to John St*art and Helen Anderson
John, 14 December 1764
William, 1 September 1767
Robert, October 1768
Alexander, 21 November 1769
There are numerous newspaper references to John Stuart of Birkenburn as a cattle breeder and dealer in the 1850s and 1860s. Also to a William Stuart, farmer, Mains of Birkenburn. However there don't seem to have been any Stuarts actually living at Birkenburn in any census.
So, putting together information gleaned from a variety of sources, there seem to have been at least 5 John St*arts of Birkenburn
(1) born 1733, married Helen Anderson, died 1822
(2) married Ann Stewart
(2) son of (1) above, born 1764 and died 1837
(3) son of (2) above, died 29 February 1844, buried in Keith 1844 3 March, apparently unmarried
(4) cattle dealer after 1851
Unless (1) and (2) are the same person, and the 1837 death date is spurious .... so many questions, so few answers
At any rate, I think it's clear enough that the John Stuart who married Elspet Bremner and founded the Quaker Oats dynasty can't have been a Stuart of Birkenburn unless the connection was much further back.