A stone wall rather than a brick wall, this. I'm trying to confirm first wife, parents and birthplace for my ggg grandfather, the above James Stewart. He was not at home for the 1841 census, but an 1837 directory lists him as a quarry owner at Lochee, nr Dundee. I'm also interested in tracking down any work he may have done as a mason.

I have details of his second wife and children from his Will (from Scotland's people). His wife was Isabel Thomson, b1796 Kinloch, Perthsire, who after his death is described in 1851 as "Quarrymistress". With her he had children Elizabeth, Betsy (my gg grandmother), Ann and George, all of whom I can track in various censuses.

With his first wife, name unknown, he had a son John and a daughter Isabel (they are mentioned in his Will). They are living together in 1851 at Lochee, fairly near their stepmother, the Quarrymistress, and John is described as a Quarrymaster. In 1841 he was a mason, living with his step-mother.

Family information (dating from the 1920s) is that James Stewart's parents were John Stewart and Lydia Couts - no trace have I found of either. Family information is also that the family were at Bualtchach, Crathie, a farm that was absorbed into the Balmoral Estate in 1848. Some family members stayed on the estate (tracked easily via the census again, one became Head Gamekeeper, and his son a taxidermist) and another from there, John, b1790, to parents Charles Stewart and Christian Brown, was a mason living at Lochee on Quarry Road, Lochee, in 1851. John's wife was Janet Thomson, b1783 at Kinloch, Perthshire, so I speculate perhaps she was sister to James's wife Isabel Thomson.

Possibly a Donald Stewart bLochee in 1815 and himself listed as a Quarrymaster there in 1851 was son of either John or James. Donald died in 1855 shortly after becoming insolvent and as he left everything to his wife Helen Kerr, his Will is not too informative.

Suggestions welcome.

Tom Swailes
(just completed some dry stone walling in my garden)