Was Robert Stuart/Stewart the son of James Steward of Stamford?
Elijah Baldwin Huntington wrote the "History of Stamford, Connecticut" in 1868. On page 62, he said this about James Steward:
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STEWARD, JAMES, probably a son of Alexander of Watertown. That he was a resident of Stamford in 1649 is evident from an action in court of that date, in which he was defendant, and Robert Hustice and Jeffrey Ferris, plaintiffs. It was shown that he had engaged to keep the town oxen; "to keep them from coming home, and out of the Indian's corne;" and that he neglected his duty so that the oxen injured the corn, to the extent of twelve and a half bushels of corn and two and a half bushels of peas. The court ordered him to pay the corn and peas, and "to beare the charge of the court." He was a landholder in 1650.
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Stamford, Connecticut is just 12 miles down the coast from Norwalk. George Thomas Edson, on page 17 of Volume 1, issue no. 5 of Stewart Clan Magazine (Nov. 1922), said that this James "was possibly the father of Robert of Norwalk." He further suggests that he was perhaps the same as the James Stewart who was in New Haven, Connecticut as early as 1639 and as late as 1646:
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JAMES STEWART was in New Haven, Conn., on Dec. 4, 1639, on which day a court of New Haven Colony enjoined him and another man to make double restitution to John Cokerill for 5 pounds and 17 shillings which they stole out of his chest on the Lord’s day in the meeting time. Feb 18, 1643, he and about a dozen others were “fined each man six shillings for late coming to the meeting with their arms.” May 7, 1643, he was fined one shilling for “late coming to trayne.” In 1646 he was “complained of for several disorderly expressions and contempt of the magistracye in this place.” He might have been the adventurer of the Fortune.
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Edson is referring here to a James Steward listed as a passenger on the Fortune, a ship which brought some 35 new settlers to Plymouth colony near the end of November, 1621. He notes this about James:
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In the division of lands in 1624 James received a single share, indicating that he had neither wife nor child. His name does not appear in the division of cattle June 1, 1627, and as the total population is supposed to have been represented, it has been assumed that he died or removed before that date.
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There is no known connection between James of Stamford, James of New Haven, James of Plymouth, or Robert of Norwalk, but the possibility exists for some familial relationship. Several family historians have claimed James of Plymouth as their ancestor, identifying him as a potential father of Daniel Steward of Barnstable or Hugh Stewart of Chatham.
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Below is a map (from Google Maps) of the locations of Robert Stewart and the James Stewarts listed above:
