Mount Stewart, Prince Edward Island
"Settled in 1790 and incorporated in 1953"
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John Stewart
By Author: Frank Pigot
Excerpts from Frank Pigots Book: printed 1973
John Stewart 1757 - 1834
Where Mount Stewart takes its namesake.
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John Stewart of Mount Stewart
In mid November of the year 1775, invested in howling gales and swirling eddies of snow, the immigrant ship "Elizabeth" was foundering on a sand bar at the entrance to Malpeque Bay. The situation was oddly appropriate as, among its passengers, the ill stared vessel numbered one of the most tempestuous figures ever to agitate the political life of Prince Edward Island. There is, indeed, evidence to suggest that John Stewart, then a youth of sixteen or thereabouts, had already begun to display indications of that volatile temperament which was eventually to win for him the appellation of "Hell Fire Jack" .According to Thomas Curtis, a passenger on board the "Elizabeth", "one of Judge Stewart's sons and Thos. James Townsend servant being on the main deck quarreling about some little frivolous affair they came from words to blows". (footnote: Curtis, Thomas. Voyage to the Island of St. John's. In Harvey, D.C> ed. Journeys to the Island of St. John. Toronto, Macmillan, 1955, p. 23.)
The "Judge Peter Stewart" to whom Curtis refers was very new to the vocation of Judge, having been appointed Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island in the spring of 1775 and having yet to be formally installed by the Island authorities.
Along with his two older sons, John and Charles, his second wife, Sarah Hamilton Stewart and their young family, he had joined the "Elizabeth" party at Cork, Ireland. As a result of the ensuing shipwreck, the family lost almost all its possessions; however, the future, although bleak, was not hopeless. It so happened that Colonel Robert Stewart, Peter's brother-in-law and one of the principle landowners on the Island, resided at Malpeque, and the family was able to winter at his home in comfort. The oath of office as Chief Justice was administered to Peter Stewart in the summer of 1776. His appointment to His Majesty's Council followed.
John Stewart did not live under his parental roof for long. By 1774, we are told, he had been married and living separate from his father 5 or 6 years. He first lived in Charlottetown and he then purchased a large property on the south bank of the Hillsborough as early as 1789. There, on a rising stretch of ground overlooking the river and slightly forward from the house presently owned by the MacEachern family, he built his home, Mount Stewart. It is from this estate that the present village of Mount Stewart takes its name. The Census of 1798 lists Captain John Stewart as a resident of Lot 37.
The House was destroyed by fire during the latter part of the 19th century.
An Account of Prince Edward Island in 1806 By John Stewart
An Account of Prince Edward Island was published in London in 1806, and is the first published history of the Island. The first half of the book, up to "Cultivation and Rural Affairs", is concerned largely with a description of the natural history of the Island. This is probably the most valuable part of the book because it tells us what the Island was like nearly two hundred years ago.
The next two chapters "Discovery and Settlement" and "Administration of Lieutenant Governor Fanning" are concerned with the politics of the Island, and especially the issues surrounding the conduct of absentee landowners. The author does not tell us the role he played in these matters; it is only from other sources that it becomes clear that he had a prominent role in the politics of the Island, and the story he tells is intended to persuade the reader of the rightness of his point of view. The two long lists of the state of each lot with respects to the terms of settlement are clearly very important to the point that John Stewart is trying to make, but seem tedious to the modern reader. The chapter "Constitution, Laws and Religion" describes the constitution of the colonial government of the Island and describes the laws that had been passed by the legislature.
About the Author:
John Stewart was born c.1758 in Kintyre, Scotland. He came to the Island with the rest of his family, in November 1775 after his father, Peter Stewart, had been appointed chief justice of the colony. After the American revolution broke out, he became a lieutenant in the military corps raised by Administrator Callbeck for the defence of the Island.
He and his family became political opponents of Governor Patterson. He was elected to the legislature in 1784 and was chosen as speaker, but lost his seat in the next year's election. When Patterson was replaced by Lieutenant Governor Edmund Fanning in 1787, Stewart was again elected to the legislature where he was speaker from 1795 until 1801.
In 1789 he bought part of Lot 37, where he built Mount Stewart, a beautiful country residence overlooking the Hillsborough River. In 1802, he went to London to obtain powers to prosecute for arrears of quitrents.
In 1804 he left the Island when he was appointed paymaster general of the British forces in Newfoundland.
In 1816 he was summoned to the Island by Governor Smith to prepare an account of his receipts and expenditures as receiver general of quitrents.
In 1824, Stewart returned to the Island permanently
In 1824,He was elected again and was re-appointed receiver general of quitrents in 1828. In 1825 he headed the subscription committee to build the Kirk of St. James, the first Presbyterian church in Charlottetown.
Stewart retired from public affairs in 1830, and he died on the 22nd of June 1834.
Information from Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Volume VI. (1821-1835). University of Toronto Press. 1987. p.735-738.
Excerpts from www.rootsweb.com:
The name of Stewart is a prominent one in early Island affairs, and is particularly mentioned in Warburton's History of Prince Edward island. It might be interesting to note here the inscriptions to be seen on two large stones in this old graveyard; thus reads one: "Sacred to the memory of Peter Stewart, Esq. Who after a faithful discharge of his duty as Chief Justice of this Island for the space of 25 years departed this life the Xth day of November MDCCV, Aged LXXX years".
Foot Note * Paul Maby represented Charlottetown in the House of Assembly for several years, and a colleague of his, during the administration of Governor Smith, was Robert Hodgson, afterwards Sir Robert Hodgson, Chief Justice.
The other of the same name is quaintly inscribed as follows, " To the memory of John Stewart, of Mount Stewart, Esquire, Deputy Paymaster general of H.M. Forces, and collector General of Quit Rents in this Island, who departed this life the 22nd day of June, A.D. 1834, aged 76 years". Intimately connected during a long and active life with the teaching interests of the country. The energies of his mind were ever devoted to the advancement of education. "The paths of duty lead but to the grave".
The graving of this stone, as well as the companion stone to the memory of his wife, is beautifully executed, which is true of many other of the old monuments.
Excerpts from www.library.mun.ca:
John Stewart was born in Kintyre, Scotland around 1758. He moved to Prince Edward Island with his father, Peter Stewart, when the elder Stewart was appointed Chief Justice there in 1775. Strong-tempered and noted as somewhat of a rabble rouser, John Stewart always seemed to be in some sort of trouble; particularly with the Island Governors whose policies he often opposed because they were detrimental to his family's fortunes.
He was elected to the Prince Edward Island Legislature on a number of occasions and served several terms as Speaker. Between 1804 and 1817 he lived in St. John's, Newfoundland, where he served as Deputy Paymaster General for the British garrison stationed there. He was the author of An Account of Prince Edward Island (1806), the first history of the Island to be published.
Stewart married three times: his second wife was Mary Ann James whom he married in St. John's, May 29, 1817. He died at his Prince Edward Island estate, Mount Stewart, on June 22, 1834.