Searching for Robert Stuart

Wendy,

A birth around 1835 is long before the start of statutory birth registration in Ireland (1864). To locate Robert you would need to rely on church records. So you would need to know his precise denomination and roughly where he came from. Looking at the 1901 Irish census there were 427 people named Robert Stewart/Stuart so it’s a very common name. It would have been equally common in the 1830s. Without knowing his parents names it’ll be next to impossible to identify the right baptism. I assume his marriage and death certificates don’t give parents names? Did he serve in the military? If so their records sometimes records parents details.

You can use this link to see where the surname was found in Ireland in the mid 1800s (the majority were in the counties of Ulster ie close to Scotland):

https://www.johngrenham.com/surnames/

Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

Hello Wendy,

The 1910 census for 72 year old Margaret Stuart on Cooper Street, Beverly, New Jersey, shows that in her lifetime she had 10 children, with 8 children still living as of 1910. The 1910 census, from ancestry.com, is attached to this reply

Have you obtained any of the 20th century death records for the 8 Stuart children who were still alive by 1910? One of their death records may at least tell you a county in Ireland where their parents came from. For Robert and Margaret’s married daughters, you’d have to know their married surnames to uncover their death records. This type of research could take some time and some expense, if ordering death records.

I had this same challenge many years ago when I was looking for my ancestors. On the death certificate of one of their children who was born and died in the 1870s, the counties of birth form the parents were recorded as Cavan for the father and Limerick for the mother. From this one death record, I eventually found where my great grandmother came from in County Limerick.

Having a least a county of birth for Robert Stuart/Steward and Margaret Patterson may help to locate further information about them in Ireland.

As Elwyn mentioned you’d have to look for their individual baptism records in the parish registers of their religious denomination. Evidence shows they were Presbyterian, as I found their marriage record at Ancestry.com, showing they were married in the Chambers-Wylie Memorial Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, on 3 September 1857. The index of the marriage is below, while a copy of the original marriage record is attached to this reply.

U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1970

Name: Miss Margaret Patterson
Event Type: Marriage
Marriage Date: 3 Sep 1857
Marriage Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Church: Chambers-Wylie Memorial Presbyterian Church

Spouse: Robert Stuart

Presbyterian Historical Society; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1907; Accession Number: 10-0526 67J Box 1
____

When you open the attachment you’ll find the marriage at Number 168 of the Chambers-Wylie Memorial Presbyterian Church register.

For more information about the Chambers-Wylie Memorial Presbyterian Church:
https://hiddencityphila.org/2014/06/south-broad-streets-limestone-legac…

Indications are that Robert and Margaret knew one another for several years before they married in 1857, as I found the “Steward” and Patterson families living near one another in Philadelphia in the 1850 Federal census. The census is attached to this reply. The Steward household consists of residents who were all born in Ireland. The head of the household is a farmer, 36 year old Alexander. He is followed by 32 year old James, employed as a weaver. The next four members of the household are also weavers. They are 28 year old John; 21 year old Daniel; 19 year old Alexander; and 15 year old Robert. The youngest in the household is 10 year old Margaret. Also in the household is 19 year old Charles White, employed as a weaver. The Steward household begins on census line 15 and ends on census line 23.

The John Steward in the 1850 census may be the same John Steward who was living two doors away from Robert and Margaret’s family in the 1880s census you mentioned.

Census line 24 begins the household of 30 year old Martha Patterson. No occupation is listed for her. She and the two other members of the household were born in Ireland. They are 11 year old Margaret and 4 year old John.

Just to recap Wendy, see if you can find as many death records as possible for the children of Robert and Margaret Stuart. The later in the 20th century the deaths occurred, the more likely it is the death record will contain information about the person’s parents, such as their county or parish/townland of birth in Ireland.

There is no guarantee however that any of the death records will tell you where in Ireland Robert and Margaret came from.

Good Lick with your research,

Dave Boylan

Sources:

Ancestry.com