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Stewarts Marrying Stewarts: The Joy of Scottish genealogy!

Vintage Scottish genealogy family tree featuring Stewart family members marrying other Scottish families, framed by Royal Stewart tartan.

Every now and then, I get in the mood for cleaning up the families on my Geneanet tree. I start by pulling up the list of all the individuals listed with a particular last name that I pick. Next, I check who is all alone, orphaned, not linked to any parents. If I already have their parents, I make those the happy parents of that individual. Done! One orphan reunited with their parents! Ah, the joy of having a neat tree…

I got in that mood with the Stewarts of beautiful Scotland. Turns out I should have grabbed a good book and put my feet up instead…

A little bit about the House of Stuart (originally spelled Stewart)

Originally spelled Stewart, the House of Stuart was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. It traces its roots back to Brittany, France, and the FitzAlan family of Dol-de-Bretagne.

Walter FitzAlan (ca. 1106–1177) was the progenitor of the Scottish Stewart family. He went to Scotland in the 12th century and became the first hereditary High Steward of Scotland—the title from which the family eventually took its name. In 1136, he entered into the service of David I, King of Scotland. Later, he also served Kings of Scotland Malcolm IV and William I.

The first monarch of the Royal House of Stuart was Robert II Stewart, who became King of Scots in 1371.

The spelling later changed from Stewart to Stuart, with Mary, Queen of Scots (who ruled from 1542 to 1567). She was sent to France at the age of five in 1548 to be raised at the French court of Henri II and Catherine de’ Medici. She had been bethroted to their son, the Dauphin Francis, who would later become King Francis II of France.

It is said that the spelling of the royal family name changed to Stuart during this period, to suit French conventional spelling.

And so, Stewart became Stuart.

Queen Anne (Anne, Queen of Great Britain), who died in 1714, was the last Stuart monarch. The Stuart family line continued, however, until the death of Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal York, in 1807.

The red tartan in the featured image is the Royal Stewart tartan, associated with the Royal House of Stewart. It’s also the personal tartan of the British monarch: Elizabeth II before, and King Charles III now.

Back to my Stewart Nightmare

It’s been about two weeks now, and whenever I think I’m done and no longer have any Stewart orphans, guess what… I find a Douglas, a Campbell,  a Kennedy, a Hamilton, a Gordon, a Dunbar, a MacDowall, a Macdonald, a Fraser, an Ogilvy… marrying a Stewart, not yet on my tree, for whom I have no parents, those probably named Alexander or James, Elizabeth or Margaret… Stewart!!

Because yes: there is another James Stewart marrying another Elizabeth Stewart whose parents are both Stewarts… A few hours later, I’m back in the same situation: more orphan Stewarts… Arrrggghhh…!! That family will never be cleaned up!

As if Stewarts marrying Stewarts were not enough, you have the magnificent repetition of first names: great-grandfather, grandfather, father, son, first cousins, all named Alexander, or John, or James, over multiple generations. With the exception of the Jameses who were kings of Scotland (James I, II, III, etc), to make it even more fun, they are not “numbered” either like, for instance, the kings of France: Louis VI, Louis VII, Louis VIII, Louis IX (Saint Louis)… Nope!!

As of today, here are the numbers of Stewarts with the same first names on my tree:

  • Alexander: 19
  • Andrew: 6
  • James: 20
  • John: 22
  • Walter: 7
  • William: 3
  • Elizabeth: 14
  • Janet: 5
  • Margaret: 11

The Stuarts in France…

Another nightmare. A particular reliable French genealogy source might list them as “Stuarts”, while another reliable French source might list them as “Stewarts”.

Making sure to avoid duplicate individuals in any family tree is always a challenge, especially with nobility. But with the Stewarts, it is a formidable task. An actual crisis.

Finally, a couple of days ago, I had almost finished sorting out all the Stewarts on my tree. I was about to claim victory when came the pièce de résistance: a Stewart who married twice, both of his wives being… Stewarts!!

Enough with the Stewarts, already! I took a break from them and went for a long walk on a nice, cloudy day. After a few minutes, I ran into a woman walking her dog, and we started talking. As we part, we introduce each other. She tells me that her last name is… (I’m not making that up…) Stewart!!

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🌿 Genealogy on my Geneanet tree

Here are the links to several pages on my Geneanet tree related to individuals, events or places mentioned in this post: (FYI: on Geneanet, the little “green circle” on an individual’s image indicates that the person is part of my direct lineage).

Note: Some individuals or events might appear “alone” on my tree, but be sure to check the links to other pages.

Kings of France briefly mentioned in the post (all of them are my direct ancestors)

I haven’t created a page about the History of Scotland, yet, but I created these:

  • Castles of Scotland (Châteaux d’Écosse)
  • Churches of Scotland (Églises d’Écosse): page created but empty for now!! Send me an email with a church or cathedral you would like listed there.

Another page you might enjoy visiting:

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