1851

In this blog, I’m looking for coverage of my grandfather beyond what Wikipedia provides on George Neil Stewart, a thorough synopsis of what he accomplished.

This resume or curriculum vitae might be submitted to the awards committee. Now it’s an obituary listing degrees, discoveries and awards, the what and when of journalism. The “great person” formula skips the how and why, the circumstances the great person lived and his or her choices.

A few points, such as where he was born and grew up, might have highlighted his climb. Other questions not asked might have found events which affected his development.

GNS did more in his life than his succeeding generations for the simple reason that thanks to his concentration we didn’t have to start as low. That steeper road makes his story all the more remarkable.

Some decisions raised hurdles in his path. How he managed them upped his gain. It’s worth knowing that the path wasn’t certain when he was walking it.

He persevered in the rags-to-riches story invented and venerated by Victorians and Americans, yet didn’t buy sailboats, horses and cars. What time he did take off was spent vacationing with family, sometimes in the north woods on Lake Superior, other times on passenger ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean to England and Scotland. Week after week during semesters, he kept his schedule, a workday suited to a young and ambitious scientist. Lab, lecture, round, journal, research filled 12 hours most days.

As you read through this work in progress, I ask questions which beg consideration and research to find information. Parish schooling in the 1860s Scotland might be accessed on history sites, but other inquiries such as Lybster school are harder to find a source.

He didn’t come from wealthy family or privileged parents. The census of 1851 listed his father’s occupation as fish curer in Wick, Scotland. His neighbors in the next entries were farmers, tenant tillers, and laborers. Wick was a working rural community where the people didn’t write their own entries in the register. They didn’t write diaries handed to the next generation. They were hearty people living by whatever means they could manage in a rugged country. They didn’t have much to compare their lot against, yet grievances were often given center place.

Then his parents made a choice which affected all the family’s lives. Like others wanting to improve their livelihood, they emigrated to the new world, in 1858 or 1859. Those years became hazy because I found no records on this side of the Atlantic. No ship logs, landing registers, travel documents, residence, rentals. Not even the birth certificates of their daughter, son and second daughter have been found. Before the government took over recording births, marriages and deaths, churches kept records of their parishioners.

I found this information in Scottish censuses after they returned five years later.

For lack of evidence, they may never have been in Canada. They went over the horizon into unknown territory. Who can guess how this affected them ?

Occasionally uncertainty sparks a light.

Let’s hold off in the hope this fog clears and look back a little. Who were his father and mother ?