Scotland Select Births and Baptisms
James Stewart baptism November 11 1843, Foveran, Aberdeenshire, father Patrick Stewart, mother Margaret Gordon

1851 Scotland Census
Newburgh, Foveran Parish, Aberdeenshire
Head Peter Gordon, age 53 [as transcribed, retired shipsmaster [transricption is Retiria Shikmacter], born Foveran, Aberdeenshire
Wife Christian Gordon, age 60, born Foveran
Daughter Harriet Gordon, age 23, born Foveran
Daughter Jane Gordon, age 19, born Foveran
Great Grandchild [Grandchild?], James Stewart, age 7, scholar, born Foveran

Robert Carson posted the following article on ancestry attached to James Gordon Stewart a part of his Carson Dec 2016 tree
FROM NEWBURGH TO CALCUTTA AND BACK - THE LIFE OF JAMES GORDON STEWART, EAST INDIA MERCHANT

A number of years ago, I visited Foveran Kirkyard, about 10 miles north of Aberdeen, in search of my Sharp ancestors, and came across an obelisk commemorating James Gordon Stewart and his wife Elspet Leith Sharp. My mother told me that her grand-aunt Elsie had married a wealthy older widower, who had been seeking a housekeeper to help him look after his house and his two young children. Elsie said that she would only move in as his wife, so she and James duly got married. After her husband's death, Elsie was able to live in comfort for the rest of her days.
The story was actually much more complicated, as I eventually discovered when I decided to try to find out a bit more about James’s life. The first clue that things were not so straightforward was when I obtained James and Elsie’s 1906 marriage certificate, which stated that James was actually not a widower, but divorced. He was 62 and a retired merchant, while she was 35. Both were living in the village of Newburgh in Foveran parish.
James's death certificate revealed that his parents were Patrick Stewart, a shipmaster, and Margaret Gordon. In the Index to Testaments and Inventories I found that James had been a retired East India Merchant, of Newburgh House, Newburgh, Parish of Foveran, and of 61 Carlisle Road, Hove, Sussex, and that he left an estate of £10,226-13-0 (equivalent to about £580,000 today). The IGI gave his date of birth as 11th November 1843 in Foveran.
Looking back through the census indexes, I could only find him in 1851, aged 7, living with his maternal grandparents at Newburgh. This was not really so surprising in view of his occupation, but did not bode well for research into his life. Then a small chink of light appeared in a local history publication “A Portrait of the Parish of Foveran”. There was a brief reference to a Mr Stewart, a native of Newburgh who had made his money in Calcutta, having offered to present a clock to the village on condition that a suitable place was found for it. It was decided to install the clock in a tower which was added to the Holyrood Chapel in 1882.
Eventually I was able to make a visit to West Register House in Edinburgh to view James's divorce papers. His life, set out there in the greatest of detail, was even more complicated than I could possibly have imagined.
As a youngster he had attended Foveran School. After his father died about 1853, James and his mother went to live in Aberdeen where he attended firstly the Town School (now the Grammar School), then the Gymnasium (in Old Aberdeen). At the age of 14 he went to sea as an apprentice for George Thomson, Sons, & Co., shipowners in Aberdeen, and made three voyages to Australia. Then in 1861 he obtained a position in the Aberdeen office of Richard Connon & Co., shipowners, and remained there until 1865.
It was about this time that he decided to seek his fortune abroad, and managed to obtain employment with the Assam Tea Co. (the world's first tea company and still in existence). In May 1866 he sailed to Calcutta for the first time, and began work as a bookkeeper in Nazira, a town in north-east Assam. Soon after his arrival he began to suffer from deafness, an affliction he endured for the rest of his life.
James did not remain long in Assam, for in April 1867 he began work in Calcutta as an assistant with Balmer, Lawrie & Co. Soon, borrowing from relatives, he had bought a quarter share of the business and became a partner in September 1867. This company had been founded by two Scots in February that year, and is also still trading.

In February 1871 he returned home on holiday. On his return voyage to Calcutta in November 1871 he made the acquaintance of Mrs Marian Jackson (nee Fletcher), a divorcee from Walsall in Staffordshire. James and Marian were married in the Old Mission Church in Calcutta on 30th November 1872.

On arrival back in India James left Balmer, Lawrie and became a partner with William Keep & Co., piece goods merchants, with offices in Calcutta, London and Sydney. After spending three years with Keep & Co., James joined Bird & Co., railway contractors and merchants, as an assistant, later becoming manager, then a partner. This company became at one time the largest in India, and is also still in existence.

In 1874, Marian returned to Britain for the birth of her first daughter, Margaret Frances Gordon, who was born at Newburgh on 28th August of that year. Leaving her infant daughter with James's mother in Newburgh, Marian returned to Calcutta, where their second daughter, Kate Violet Gordon, known as Violet, was born on 4th November 1876. After a few months Marian returned to Britain again.

Both Marian and James made several voyages back and fore between India and Britain over the years, but they actually spent very little time together. During their visits back to Britain, various houses were bought or rented in the south of England, but the family had no permanent home. Marian and the girls made several prolonged journeys to the Continent, where Margaret and Violet studied in particular languages and music in such places as Leipzig, Heidelberg and Brussels. In 1884 Marian asked James for a legal separation, but they were reconciled.

James left Bird & Co. in 1888, and started out in business on his own account as Gordon Stewart & Co. He became owner of the Monee Tea Estate and part owner of the Dammoodah Coal Co. At first he was the sole partner, but later engaged two cousins from Aberdeenshire - John Black and James Tait. Their services were, however, soon dispensed with. James continued to run his own business until his return to Britain in 1892, after which it was run by agents until the sale of its assets in 1900.

The whole family travelled to India together in 1892 during which visit they toured the country, before returning to Britain for the last time in 1893. James bought a house at Dedham in Essex, where they family lived until 1897, though Marian and their daughters were still spending a lot of time on the Continent. Travelling in Europe seemed to be Marian's main interest, but this type of life did not appeal to James.

In 1896, while in Nice on one of the Continental excursions, Margaret met her future husband, Lieutenant Charles Marion Fahs of the US Navy. James and Marian had a disagreement about their engagement, as James did not approve of the match, but Margaret and Charles married in 1900.

James sold the Dedham house in 1897 and bought Newburgh House in Newburgh, the largest in the village. He usually spent summers at Newburgh, and winters in the south of England. Marian did not like Newburgh, and did not get on with James's relatives. During James's visits to Newburgh, he enjoyed playing golf on the local course. He also developed an interest in sailing, and had a steam yacht, the "White Queen", built in Aberdeen in 1897 by Duthie & Co.

In March 1900 there was a dramatic incident. James had been staying at Newburgh House with Violet, while Marian and Margaret were spending the winter in Nice. With little notice, Marian turned up at the door of Newburgh House. James refused to let her in! This brought the situation to a head and a contract of separation was drawn up and signed. Another reason for James barring the door to Marian became apparent in December, when an illegitimate child was born to James's servant, Minnie Mason. James acknowledged that he was the father. The child was registered as Ethel Elizabeth Gordon Stewart Mason, but was later called Ethel Eliza Gordon Stewart. The next month, January 1901, James sailed for Australia. The reason is not known, but perhaps he just wanted to get as far away as possible from all the complications in his life. James returned home in June, and rented a flat in London. He obviously resumed his affair with Minnie, because they had another daughter, Isobel Crawford (or Cranford) Gordon Stewart, who was born in August 1903.

In April 1904 James bought another house, at 61 Carlisle Road in Hove, Sussex, and thereafter spent most of his time there. It seems his stock had declined as far as his friends and relatives in Newburgh were concerned, because of his affair with Minnie, and he had decided to live in Hove and bring up Ethel and Isobel there. James and Minnie separated however in June 1904, and James was left with Ethel and Isobel. It was therefore imperative that James should find suitable help to bring up his second family. Hence his approach to Aunt Elsie.

Meanwhile, Violet had married a William Spencer, an English Board of Education Inspector, in April 1904. James was not invited to the wedding of either Margaret or Violet.

When Marian found out about the birth of James and Minnie's first child, she instituted divorce proceedings, and they were duly divorced in the Court of Session on the 1st June 1906. On the 13th of the same month James and Elsie were married!

Less than three years after his second marriage, James died on 6 April 1909. Elsie was left to bring up Ethel and Isobel, but was able to live in financial security for the rest of her life. She died in 1961, having been a widow for nearly 52 years.

First marriage was to Jackson
Second marriage was to James Stewart, divorced 1906

Housekeeper

Known as Elsie.