John Stewart from Something about the Stewarts

DR. JOHN STEWART

from "Something about the Stewarts"

Dr. John lived and owned a large amount of property on Long Island. On the other side of the island from Dr. John lived a family of Harrison's. We do not know to what extent they were acquainted with each other, if at all, but sinceboth families moved at approximately the same time, and settled near each other, this seems a fair assumption that they knew each other.

(The first record found of Dr. Stewart after he became an adult was in Hempstead Township, Long Island, New York. On 7-11-1691, he petitioned the freeholders of Hempstead, Nassau Co., New York for a right of 18 or 20 acres of land a little east of The "Pine Point", near the Plain Edge", stating that he was a cooper and also a surgeon. A cooper is a person who makes bowls, barrels & water tanks from wooden boards. He needed to be highly skilled in woodworking for this trade.)


(Sometime before 7-11-1691, he had married Elizabeth Alberti, daughter of Jan (John) Alberti & Elizabeth Scudder. By 3-29-1694, Dr. Stewart & Elizabeth had moved to Jamaica, Queens Co., NY and they are recorded as selling a piece of property to John Pollehemus. The parcel of land was at a place called Oldfields Island. By 1697, he and his wife moved to Monmouth Co., New Jersey. On May 24, he bought several tracts of land from Isaac Ong in Shrewsbury & on 10-21-1697, he bought 150 acres of land adjoining the original tracts. These last 150 acres were purchased from Mary & Susanna Barnes of New York City who were the daughters of Thomas Barnes, late of Shrewsbury).

(In 1700, he became the High Sheriff of Monmouth Co., New Jersey & held the position until sometime in 1702 when he was succeeded by Jonathan Bailey. It is not known whether he lost the election to Bailey or he chose not to run for the office again. However, later Bailey was killed and John became the High Sheriff again, & held the office for 18 years. (Per Joyce Lindstrom: This is doubtful as John died in 1704 in Sussex Co., Del.)

(On 8-27-1700, the grand jury indicted Richard Salter & 14 other men "for riotously assembling on the 17th day of July & assaulting John Stewart, High Sheriff, & Henry Leonard on the path near to the house of Alexander Adams, beat & grievously wounded the said persons, took their swords from them, break them, & carried them away & kept them, to the value of 5 pounds money of the province in breech of the peace & the terror of the King's league people." The above indictment is recorded in the New Jersey Historical Society Coll., F. 853.626,Pg. 352).

(Sometime after 1702, he moved to Sussex Co., Delaware, where he bought 200 acres of land in Wolf Pit Neck of Angola Neck from Owen Yorke. By the standards of the day, Dr. Stewart was quite a prominent citizen and a large landowner during his residence in New Jersey and Deleware. He practiced as a surgeon).

(He made his will 9-2-1704 with James Simpson, Samuel Knowles & Roger Corbett as witnesses. In his Will, he identified his profession as chirurgeon (surgeon). Dr. Stewart died shortly thereafter, probably just after the 1st of January, 1705. His Will was proved in court, in Sussex Co., DE on 1-13-1705. In his Will, he named his children: Samuel, David, John, Elizabeth, William, Hannah and Mary. He made his wife executrix and authorized her to sell any part of his land in Sussex or New Castle Co, or Monmouth Co. in East New Jersey or Nassau Co. on Long Island, "provided she bear the name of Stewart and bring up my children in fear of the Lord and as convenient to learning as to be had in these American parts").

(On 2-4-1705, his wife leased 773 acres of land in Angola Neck to Samuel Davis. This lease was for 7 years & the transaction excepted 100 acres of land which Dr. Stewart, during his lifetime, had agreed to sell to Alexander McCulloch, Tailor, of Somerset Co., Maryland and yet to be laid out).

(Within a year, his widow married Thomas Davock. Thomas got a warrant for 200 acres of land on 3-15-1715, and another warrant for 240 acres on 11-10-1719. This 2nd tract of land was adjoining the lands of the Widow Johnson & William Darter & the chain carriers of the survey crew were Richard Harvey & William Stewart. It is presumed that this William Stewart was the Dr.'s son mentioned in his Will).

(Thomas Davock must have been married before he married the Widow Stewart, because when he made his Will while he was still alive, he mentioned his orphaned children: Robert Bracy, Penelope Richardson & John Pride and stepsons David Stuart and Samuel Stuart. In his Will he also gave 20 acres of land to the church. He died sometime during late Jan. to mid February, 1719. No further record has been found concerning Elizabeth Stewart after the death of her second husband).

After Dr. John moved to New Jersey, the Stewart�s and Harrison's lived as neighbors. We surmise that they were friends on Long Island, New York. It was customary in those early years, when families became closely associated, and often joined by marriages among the young, that they moved as a group. If one family moved, by mutual agreement they would all decide to go together, whether to avoid excessive taxes, or hostile Indians. Later the lure of greener pastures was attractive. For whatever reasons, these two families were a very close-knit group of people for many years and for many moves.

Formerly it was assumed that our progenitor, Samuel Stewart, was born in the late 1600's between 1680 and 1690. However, in this search, Dr. Valentine found that our Samuel was not a son of Dr. John, although Dr. John had a son named Samuel. Our Samuel was the son of David, who was the son of Dr. John Stewart. As a result, our Samuel's birthdate was around 1710.