Margaret Stewart (b. 1914) was the daughter of Duncan Gordon Stewart (1875-1954) and Ethel Stewart nee Stewart. Duncan Gordon Stewart was a prominent Ottawa lumberman and President of Stewart Bros. Ltd., Waba. In 1909, he married Ethel Margaret Stewart nee Stewart; they had six children, among them: Donald Burton Stewart (died in infancy); Margaret Robertson Stewart (dietician and part-time lecturer at MacDonald College, Que.); and Duncan Edward Stewart (later married Elizabeth Wallace [Bessie] nee McLaren). Following her studies at Queen’s University, Kingston, Margaret worked as the Dietitian-in-Charge, at MacDonald College, Montreal, for over 25 years.
Language
English
Acquisition Source
Donated by Elizabeth Stewart-Hessel in 1993 and 1994.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of 32 Series containing a large number of files, photographs and negatives, primarily of family members and places. Other material consists of pamphlets, catalogues, postcards, a lapel pin and a 1912 dime. The records contain such information as the following: the Stewart Brothers Ltd., (one of the area’s oldest lumber mills, dating back to the 1840’s; over the years, the mill produced cedar shingles and lathe as well as lumber (pine was the mainstay), pot barley and cheese from a cheese factory; a fire on December 6, 1956 destroyed everything, but the mill was rebuilt the next spring; Duncan E. Stewart sold the mill in December 1968 to Edwin Kennedy (an American entrepreneur who also owned a saw mill in Calabogie); Donald Stewart (1829-1883) who was born in Beckwith Township in 1829 [son of Alexander) moved with his father to Waba in the early 1840s and later became senior partner of the Stewart Brothers enterprise there; he served as Reeve from 1869-1875 and Warden of Renfrew County in 1875; he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Reformers in the 1871 Ontario election; he never married. Donald had 3 brothers: 1. Alexander Jr. who stayed in Beckwith, 2. Robert, 3. John (born in 1841 in Beckwith Township and died at Waba in 1925). Robert and John also were partners in the Stewart Brothers enterprise at Waba. John married Margaret Robertson of Robertson’s Corners (see file Robertson’s Corners). John Stewart served as Reeve from 1879-1889 and from 1906-1913. He also served as Warden of Renfrew County. He was politically active on behalf of the Reform Party.
Box 1
File includes such records as the following: the minutes of the proceedings and by-laws of the County of Renfrew (1882), tax notice, notice of assessment, correspondence to John Stewart (Reeve of McNab and Warden of Renfrew County) and other correspondence (for example from the County of Lanark, County Clerk’s Office), list of article in bill of sale from Allan Stewart to George Seelerf, list of arrears for the 5th Concession line, regulations of the public Works Department under the Colonization Road Act (Ontario Statutes, 1907, chapter 17, section 4), 1883 Auditor’s Report (Expenditures on Roads and Bridges), bylaw to defend the duties of pathmasters and provide for the due performance of statutes labour within the municipality of McNab, 1876-1877 Auditor’s Report for McNab Township, and a 1997 real estate flyer about an 1870 home formerly owned by the Stewart family.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 2
Dates of Births, Marriages, and Deaths. -- 1835-1970. -- 1 folder.
File includes such records as the following: dates of births, deaths, and marriages of family members, certificates, passport of Annie Jamieson Stewart, and 1922 will of Annie Stewart. Three passports of Margaret Stewart and her birth certificate are also included.
File includes such records as the following: notices of deaths, clippings, remembrance cards, and a receipt for perpetual care of cemetery plot. Some of the names mentioned include Mabel Stewart, Catherine Annie Stewart, Dr. John Robertson Stewart, Annie J. Jull, Percy L. Jull, Donald Burton Stewart, and Isabel Stewart.
File includes such records as the following: Ontario Hydro bills, Bell Canada bill, invitation, receipt for goods and services, parcel post, and life insurance (Ontario Mutual Life Assurance).
File includes such records as the following: personal correspondence of a personal/family nature and clippings. Some names mentioned are Katherine Isabel Stewart and Ernest J. Stewart.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 6
Western Canada. -- 1882; 1888; 1896; 1911. -- 1 folder.
File includes such records as the following: clipping, one letter to John Stewart (Manitoba) to John Stewart (Waba), 1896 clipping about an Arnprior man’s stay out in Manitoba for three months, and two booklets: Millions of Fertile Acres, Guide to Settlers, January 1888 (published by the authority of the Department of Agriculture) and Western Canada, Manitoba, Assiniboia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, 1899, issued by the authority of Clifford Sifton.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 7
Transportation other than Railways. -- no dates. -- 1 item.
File contains a booklet, Motor Car Magneto by Victor Page and Clifford Shattuck.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 8
Stewart Brothers--Sale to Kennedy. -- 1968-1970. -- 1 folder.
File contains such records as the following: financial statements, letter to employees, and list of assets.
File contains such records as the following: receipts, letters, lumber estimate, time sheet, notes regarding concession lines, notes on degrees Bagot lines are run on (1885), Duncan Stewart’s business card, and letter regarding lease of lot 26, concession 11, Darling Township.
File contains such records as the following: catalogues and pamphlets on cutter heads, leading evaporator, shingle packer, saws, sugar-camp fixtures, letters, and special instruction about saws. International Log Rule and Lumbering Tools, Cant Hook and Peavey Handles are some examples. Pamphlet in French also included.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 11
Politics. -- 1884; 1900; 1923; 1925. -- 1 folder.
File contains such records as the following: clipping of “The Observer in Queen’s Park”, letter from House of Commons, receipt for services in the electoral district of Renfrew South 49.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 12
Military Interest. --Letters from Val Horn to Margaret. -- 1939-1945. -- 1 folder.
File contains letters from Val Horn while she was on active service in charge of food preparation in Europe, a 1940 black and white photo of Val Horn, and a War Savings Certificates pamphlet.
File contains such records as the following: list of medical costs, receipts in order to claim hospitalization benefits, 5 black and white postcards regarding Dr. Locke, one back and white postcard of an unidentified nurse, a pamphlet on Eclectric Oil, a 1904-1905 Queen’s University Convocation program (Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Law, and School of Nursing), exercise booklet, 1896 Electric Almanac, and a 1926 gastro-intestinal tract examination. Names mentioned are Margaret Stewart, Ethel Stewart, and Dr. Locke.
File contains such records as the following: letter from author Hugh MacLennan, letter from K. Margaret DuPorte, high school certificate, birth certificate, school results (lower, middle and upper schools), Queen’s University results, letter of congratulations on 25 years of service, letters to Santa from Neil Stewart and Margaret Stewart, letters to family from Margaret.
File contains such records as the following: a 1900 Oath of Engineer (James L. Morris), a 1938 subpoena for The King vs. Thomas Gale regarding theft of logs belonging to Stewart Bros., 1885 letter to John Stewart requesting legal advice, notes about Gale case, a 1926 receipt for a claim against R.D.F. Campbell.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 16
Jim Stewart. -- 1906; 1911-1912; 1948. -- 1 folder.
File contains such records as the following: a black and white photo of Jim, letters between Jim (in Montreal) and his parents, and a 1906 letter from S.R. Smith Infirmary in Staten Island, New York, to parents regarding Jim.
File contains such records as the following: clippings regarding the sale of timber limits in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia, sale of Ottawa limits owned by William Mackey in 1902 (bidding started at $200,000 on 129 3/4 miles), several issues of Canada Lumberman (December 13, 1899, December 1902, December 1903), clippings from the Montreal Daily Witness (January 12, 1906), information on the production of lumber in Canada from 1919-1938, exports to the United States, imports from the United States from 1926-1939, Spruce Waste in the Sawmills of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces by S.B. Prince (1940), a 1904 Annual Report (Bureau of Forestry, Province of Ontario) and a 1901 2nd Annual Report (Canadian Forestry Association), Old Original Pine by William Hall, and a 1923 Ottawa Agency timber license issued to John Stewart for timber located in Bagot Township
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 18
White Lake Presbyterian Church. --1886; 1889; 1908-1921; 1956; 1960-1962; 1967.
File contains such records as the following: Diamond Jubilee of St. Andrew’s United Church, White Lake 1881-1956 booklet, a 1919 Book of Family Devotion, a life-member of the United Church lapel pin, a 1912 10-cents piece, a letter from the Board of Managers about the 1960 Church budget, financial statements for the United Church (1962, 1979, and 1987, White Lake, Pastoral Charge), a 1921 notice of assessment for the Presbyterian manse, 1968 treasurer’s statement and a 1916 bank book (Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church), 1934 letters to Mrs. Stewart, list of distribution of funds (Presbyterian Church, 1912-1913), notes on the weekly offering, receipts, 1914-1915 budget for Presbytery of Lanark and Renfrew, a 1967 St. Andrew’s Church service program, lists of arrears of stipend and schemes of the Church (1908, 1910, and 1914), and a 1917 certificate for the memorizing of scriptures by Duncan Stewart.
File contains such records as the following: letters regarding investments with various companies and agents (AEmilius Jarvis & Co., Wood, Gundy & Co., Goldman & Co., Bank of Nova Scotia, Dominion Mortgage & Investments Assoc., Dominion Securities Corporation, International Portland Cement Co. Limited, The London Guarantee and Accident Co. and International Finance Co. Ltd.), a 1912 balance sheet for The Thornbury Transportation & Reduction Co. Ltd., a 1894 Annual Report of the Ontario Mutual Life Assurance Co., 1912 receipts and 1913 clippings from the Spokane Daily Chronicle and the Evening Citizen.
File contains such records as the following: a 1896 Trade List of the Subscription News Co., Weekly Globe (January 29, 1896), Daily British Whig (April 24, 1906), Catalogue of Lightning Evaporators, 1902 Male Attire catalogue, Cataloguing of Books for Schools and Libraries 1901, American Farmer (December 1892, Springfield, Ohio), 1931 letter from The Eaton Co., The Globe Toronto (July 10, 1912 and November 11, 1914), Montreal Daily Witness (March 5, 1891 and November 9, 1895), Weekly Globe and Canada Farmer ( September 25, 1912, November 12, 1913 and February 26, 1913).
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 21
Oversize Items Box 3 G13.2
1. Poster of “Canadian soldier”, painted by Lilias Torrance Newton, circa 1942. One of a series produced by this war artist.
2. Certificate of Baptism, Donald Burton Stewart, 1918.
3. Cradle Roll for Margaret Robertson Stewart, 1918.
4. “Royal Visit” contains 29 b&w (black & white) photographs, mostly taken by Duncan E. Stewart of Waba, of the 1939 Royal Visit in Ottawa. Also 2 b&w photographs of unidentified women in front of the Ottawa Normal School (Teachers’ College) in 1911. Names mentioned include Duncan G. Stewart, Margaret Stewart, Ethel Stewart, Maggie and Lizzie Burton, and Duncan E. Stewart.
5. “Waba School” contains 13 b&w photos of the Waba School (located on the 5th Line in Pakenham Township, Lanark County and served parts of Pakenham Township in Lanark and parts of McNab Township in Renfrew), and 1 b&w photo of an unidentified school.
3. “Waba - family pictures” contains 53 loose b&w photographs, an album with 8 b&w photographs, and 3 colour photographs, all of the Stewart family of Waba. Most photos are identified.
4. “Negatives--Margaret Stewart, Waba, 1955” contains 16 negatives of that year.
5. Portrait of Margaret Stewart by Arnprior photographer Handford.
6. “Waba--scenery” contains 11 b&w photographs of Waba, mostly taken by Margaret Stewart.
7. “Stewart-McLaren wedding” contains 8 b&w photos of the 1936 wedding of Duncan E. Stewart and Bessie McLaren, in Waba.
8. “Margaret Stewart, camp pictures” contains 2 b&w photos of 1924-25 vintage, taken at Andrew’s Island in White Lake.
9. “Kingston Air Show” contains 4 b&w photos taken in 1930.
10. “Waba Mills” contains 9 b&w photographs of Waba Mills and related subjects.
11. “Car pictures” contains 12 b&w photos and 1 negative.
12. “Margaret Stewart”, Handford Photographer, no date.
13 “Duncan G. Stewart”, Ottawa Auxiliary Bible Society certificate, 1953.
14. “Mrs. Duncan G, Stewart, Ottawa Auxiliary Bible Society certificate, 1953, and a Woman’s Missionary Society certificate, 1953.
15. Bachelor of Household Science and the red cylindrical case, Margaret Robertson Stewart, McGill University, 1940
16. School certificates, Margaret Stewart, School No. 3, Pakenham Township, 1925-1927
Box 2
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 22
Advice. -- ca. 1908. -- 1 folder.
File contains such records as the following: notes on raising children, sexuality, and home life.
Domestic Science Notebook dated 1903, Renfrew Collegiate Institute containing hand written notes, recipes, instructions on how to make a bed for an invalid, how to wash blankets, etc. From the date of this item it could possibly have belonged to Mabel Stewart b. December 10 1888. The book was found in Margaret Stewart's home in 2018 and donated to the AMBA as an accrual by E. Stewart.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 23
Duncan E. Stewart. -- 1956; 1962-1963; 1968. -- 1 folder.
File contains such records as the following: three letters from Duncan E. to Ethel (his mother), wedding announcement of Duncan E. of Waba to Bessie Wallace McLaren, of Renfrew, and a clipping about the marriage, and letters to Margaret.
File contains such records as the following: one black/white photo of the factory, letter to and invoice made out to Alexander Stewart, list of accounts of clients, and an index to names of clients.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 25
Alexander (Patriarch) letters to John (son). -- 1883. -- 2 items.
File contains two letters from Alexander to John.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 26
Bessie Stewart. -- 1940; 1966. -- 1 folder.
File contains a letter to Margaret from Bessie (1966) and a receipt from Rosamond Memorial (1940).
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 27
Annie Burton Stewart to her grandchildren (Margaret and Duncan). -- 1921. -- 1 item.
File contains a letter.
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 28
Agriculture. -- 1892-1957. -- 2 folders.
File contains letters about the identification of plant material, clippings (for example on the topic of dairy v. grain raising), and publications. Some of these publications include booklets by the Department of Agriculture (federal and provincial) on such areas as insect control, apple culture, poultry house construction, the potato, agriculture and colonization, the angora goat, hothouse or winter lamb raising, sheep husbandry, the stave silo, lime-sulphur wash, Wabigoon Country (Rainy River District), reports from the Experimental Farm; other books include the Farmer’s Advocate (May, August and November 1892 issues), M.T. Buchanan’s catalogue on hay tools and wire fence (Ingersoll, Ontario), Bettshen’s pamphlet on corn and root cultivator, Massey Harris Illustrated: A Journal of News and Literature for Rural Homes (September-October 1897), and a Massey-Harris catalogue of farm machinery (1896).
File contains such records as the following: 1909 marriage certificate to Duncan Gordon, letters from A. Jull (Ethel’s sister), death certificate, birth certificate, remembrance card, and letters to Margaret from Ethel and Duncan Gordon.
Margaret Stewart Fonds
Duncan Gordon Stewart. -- 1908-1909; 1925-1926; 1953-1954. -- 1 folder.
File contains such records as the following: letters to Duncan Gordon from Ethel (of Renfrew) before they were married, letters from Isabella W. Fraser, letters to Margaret (1953), a 1909 letter from the minister about the wedding, 1925 and 1926 letters between Duncan Gordon and Dr. John Stewart (also called Jack, his brother), a remembrance card, a 1954 death certificate, a clipping about his death, and Duncan Gordon’s business card.
File contains such records as the following: cancelled cheque from Wood, Gundy, and Co., list of cheques issued, Duncan Stewart’s account/passbook at the Bank of Ottawa, Arnprior (1911-1920 and 1961-1962), a 1906 Bank of Ottawa Annual Report, letter to Duncan from Bank of Nova Scotia (1920).
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 31
Duncan Stewart. -- 1909. -- 1 folder.
File contains a copy of his last will and testament. Names mentioned in will are Annie Stewart (his wife), Daniel B. Stewart, Peter D. Stewart, William Stewart (all three are his sons), John Stewart (his brother), Daniel W. Stewart (his nephew).
Margaret Stewart Fonds: Series 32
John Stewart. -- 1872-1920. -- 14 cm of textual records.
John Stewart was Reeve of McNab Township from 1879-1889 and from 1906-1913 as well as Warden of Renfrew County. He was also treasurer of Church at Waba (1911).
File contains such records as the following: Fred Ostler’s receipt books (1909; 13 of them; Fred Ostler & Son owned and operated a store at the northeast corner of White Lake’s main intersection; it is not known how John Stewart came into possession of Ostler’s books), The Weekly News (Arnprior, February 10, 1906), financial papers (receipts issued by Town Hall (1882 and 1907), treasurer’s account for McNab (1880), list of arrears for stipend, recapitulation of account), legal papers such as indentures, land deeds, declarations of ownership, and list of articles seized (some of the names mentioned in these papers include James Barr, James Morris, George Gillespie, D. W. Campbell, A. F. Campbell, John Campbell, Hugh Frederick McLachlin, Alexander Stewart, John and Ellen Byrne, Carl and Mary Strike, School No. 15, Daniel Fyfe, John and Amelia Rose Phillips, William Box, August Boese, William Burton, William McAdam, William Alexander Leckie, Alexander McLean, Peter McLean, James Stewart, James Taylor, Archibald White, Thomas Lindsay, Timothy O’Connor, John Odbur, John Hill Wright, Peter Duff), by-law no. 745 regarding equalization of assessment rolls, and correspondence (dealing with such matters as Claybank bridge, J. B. Hutson, assessment and election supplies, Town’s account with the Bank of Ottawa, Robert Young, School No. 7, Horace Russell about the opening up of town line between McNab and Pakenham, Education Committee of Renfrew County, Ditches and Watercourses Act, Donald Watt).
Notes
Records are a good source of information on lumbering machinery, agriculture, and even on Western Canada at the turn of the 20th century.
Accruals
April 2018 - Domestic Science notebook donated by Elizabeth Stewart. Added to Series 22.
Related Material
See also Duncan E. Stewart collection, Accession No. 95-0057.