| Robert Stuart |
| 1797 - 15th April 1864 |
The baptism of Robert Stuart, son of
John Stuart and
Charlotte Boyd Cattanach, was entered in the Birse Register of
Baptisms, dated 30th November 1797:
John Stuart in New Milne had a Son baptized named Robert. Witnefses Peter Stuart and Margaret Davie
The marriage of Robert Stuart and Mary Ross was entered in the Birse Parish Register, dated 2nd December 1821:
Decr. 2d Contracted Robert Stuart with Mary Rofs both in this parish, and after regular proclamation of marriage Banns & no objections offered, were married on 27t Inst. before witnefses
Robert and Mary’s wedding was the subject of a paragraph in a letter written by his younger brother,
Harry Stuart, to their aunt,
Elizabeth Catanach, on the very day of the ceremony.
Robert was again mentioned, in two separate connections, in a subsequent letter written by Harry to Aunt Elizabeth,
dated 15th August 1823. Firstly, Harry stated that he had been talking to his mother when Robert put a
note into his hand, containing the bleak tidings that their cousin, one of William Mellis’s daughters, was dead.
Secondly, he wrote that Robert intended setting out for Huntly on the following day, the 16th, ‘if the
Rivers allow him’, and that it was therefore proposed that Robert would deliver the letter personally.
Robert Stewart (sic), a retired farmer, married to Mary Ross, died on 15th April 1864 at five in
the afternoon, at ‘Balgair Ruthrieston Aberdeen’. He was 66 years of age. The cause of death was certified as
‘valvular disease of the heart’, from which he had been suffering for ‘several years’. The informant was the
deceased’s son, John Stuart. For some reason, one form of the surname was entered for the father and the other for
John himself.
According to the
www.findagrave.com
transcript of the family memorial stone in Tarland Kirkyard, Robert was formerly in ‘Newmill & latterly at
Ruthrieston, Old Machar’.
He was recalled in the Rev. Harry’s 1877 Deed of Settlement, in which provision was made for Robert’s surviving
children, as ‘my deceased brother Robert Stuart’. In this connection, Robert’s children are not however specifically
enumerated.
One of Robert’s sons, John Stuart, composed a hand-written
pedigree in which he traced his lineage through his
grandmother, Charlotte Boyd Cattanach, and identified himself as a son of Robert’s.
Harry Stuart to Elizabeth Catanach, 27 December 1821
Harry Stuart to Elizabeth Catanach, 15 August 1823