Z 1958.000 Stewart Family Papers

Allen Stewart emigrated from Scotland prior to April 14, 1802, with his half-brother, John, and his step-mother. John Stewart and his mother later returned to Edinburgh to claim a share of his fathers estate, but Allen Stewart remained in the United States, settling in Robeson County, North Carolina. Allen Stewart married Margaret Nesbit, and they had four children: John, Katie, Christian, and Nancy.

John Stewart, son of Allen and Margaret Nesbit Stewart, married a woman from the Patrick family. Their son, Allen Stewart II, married Elizabeth Carmichael. Barbara Stewart, the youngest of their nine children, was born in North Carolina on October 3, 1815. Allen and Elizabeth Carmichael Stewart later moved to Mississippi with at least three of their children: John Patrick, Mary, and Barbara. Allen, Elizabeth Carmichael, and Mary Stewart are listed as members of the Hopewell Presbyterian Church at Mount Olive, Covington County, Mississippi, as of December 30, 1837, having joined the church sometime between 1830 and 1837. Barbara Stewart joined the church on December 30, 1837. Her mother, Elizabeth Carmichael Stewart, died on September 15, 1839.

The 1840 census for Covington County lists Allen Stewart II as head of a household of four white persons and nineteen slaves, with about half of the whole group employed in agriculture. Allen Stewart II died sometime between 1841 and 1845. Although John Patrick Stewart owned properties in Hinds and Franklin counties, he joined the Hopewell Church on October 16, 1842. He employed an overseer for his fathers plantation from 1845 to 1848. John Patrick Stewart put Barbara Stewart in charge of auctioning various plantation assets in 1848. However, in a letter dated January 31, 1848, she urged her brother to come home and assist her with the sale of the slaves.

Barbara Stewart was uncertain of where she would be living after the plantation auction, but she apparently had a job offer from J. E. McNair, secretary of the board of trustees of Zion Seminary, a Presbyterian school established about 1845, at what is now Seminary, Mississippi. Some evidence in the Barnes Family Papers, donated to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History by Barbara Stewarts great-great-nephew, Hugh Banks Barnes, suggests that she was a housekeeper at Zion Seminary until the early 1860s. She was authorized to purchase goods for school officials and students at several businesses near Zion Seminary and Williamsburg, Mississippi. Barbara Stewart was living near Dry Creek in Covington County in 1849. The 1850 census, taken in late September, lists Barbara Stewart as living with her sister, Mary, her brother-in-law, Loughton Davis, and their eight children, in Smith County, Mississippi. John Patrick Stewart deeded his share of their fathers estate in Covington County to Barbara Stewart in 1857. Although Barbara Stewart never married, she prospered. Her occupation in the 1860 census was listed as housekeeper, and her personal worth was $4,000. In that same year, she bought a house near Zion Seminary. The school was disbanded during the Civil War and was not reorganized until 1892. Barbara Stewart died on March 15, 1866. She is buried in the Pope Cemetery in Covington County, Mississippi.

This collection consists of two items: an 1813 naturalization record of Allen Stewart and an 1849 letter received by Barbara Stewart. The September 28, 1813, naturalization record states that Allen Stewart came to the United States before April 14, 1802. It originated in the office of the superior court of Robeson County, North Carolina. The December 11, 1849, letter written to Barbara Stewart at Dry Creek Post Office, Covington County, Mississippi, from Barbara McLean, Alfordsville, Robeson County, North Carolina, is filled with news from relatives allied by marriage to the Stewart family. McLean also discusses details of her medical condition.

This collection will be a valuable source to genealogists of the Stewart and allied families.

1. Naturalization Record. 1813. 0.10 c.f.
2. Letter. 1849. 0.10 c.f.