The 1817 Stewart of Atholl Census

Sometime around the year 1815, Colonel David Stewart of Garth (later promoted to Major General) was contemplating writing a history of the Highland Stewart families, of which there are three principal ones: the Stewarts of Balquhidder, the Stewarts of Atholl, and the Stewarts of Appin. He commissioned his Factor (estate manager/personal secretary), Capt. James Stewart, to conduct a survey of each of these three clans and to record every living Stewart still in the Highlands of Scotland who belonged to these three clans, including as much of their family history as they could recall, and indicating which branch of each of these clans they belonged to. It was a monumental undertaking that would involve visiting house-to-house throughout the regions of Balquhidder. Atholl and Appin.

The Balquhidder Census

For reasons which we may never know, David Stewart of Garth started this project with a survey of the Stewarts of Balquhidder, rather than his own clan, the Stewarts of Atholl. His Factor’s survey of the Balquhidder Stewarts was completed around 1822 and comprises about 100 pages of notes, sent to David Stewart of Garth in the form of letters. The letters relating to the Stewarts of Balquhidder were collected together and later published in a collection called The Stewarts of the South, discussed in full here on this website.

The Atholl Census

In the year 1817, David Stewart of Garth’s Factor appears to have begun work on a similar survey for the Stewarts of Atholl, however this work was never completed to near the same extent as the Stewarts of Balquhidder survey. For those familiar with the Balquhidder survey, you will be sorely disappointed with the comparative lack of information included in the Atholl survey. However, any information is better than none, so we hope that Atholl researchers find this document helpful.

DISCLAIMER: As the Stewarts of Atholl and the Stewarts of Balquhidder are two separate clans, the Stewarts of Balquhidder Research Group is not researching the Stewarts of Atholl, nor are we researching the content of this document. Everything we know about the content and history of the 1817 Stewarts of Atholl Census is presented on this page. We offer this document here as a courtesy to Stewart of Atholl researchers. However, we are unavailable to answer any questions about this document. If you have questions about the content of this document, then we encourage you to seek out fellow Stewart of Atholl researchers to address those questions.

The Appin Census

David Stewart of Garth’s work on the Stewarts of Appin was never started. David Stewart of Garth died in 1829 and his hoped-for history of the Stewarts was never completed.

Provenance, Custody, and Publication of the Documents

David Stewart never had any children of his own, but his personal collection of documents was passed down through the family of his sister, a Robertson, until they came into the hands of James Irvine Robertson, author of Garth’s biography, The First Highlander: Major General David Stewart of Garth CB, 1768-1829. James Irvine Robertson retired from active research in 2021 and gifted his collection of Garth documents to the care of esteemed professional genealogist Gordon MacGregor, author of the Red Book of Scotland.

We are pleased to offer a digital copy here for the benefit of Atholl researchers.

The 1817 Stewarts of Atholl Census