John Stuart (Surinam)

For family tree see John Stuart on Ancestry (subscription required)

John Stuart [1767-1808] was the eldest son of William Stuart [1741-1802], the tenant of Kirktown of Forgue, Aberdeenshire. He died in Trinidad in 1808, described at his death as 'John Stuart Esq of Nickerie, Surinam' [Scots Magazine, 1808]. Details of the family of Stuart at Kirktown of Forgue can be found in William Temple, The Thanage of Fermartyn (Aberdeen, 1894).

Stuart bought plantations Paradise and Plaisance on the river Nickerie from Governor Frederici in 1799, bringing slaves with him from Grenada, and later also established plantation Diamond on the Coronie coast [R Chander, A brief sketch of the history of Nickerie]. These cotton plantation were converted to sugar under his heir (son?), William Stuart, who was resident in Scotland by 1824 [Kenneth Donk, 'Nickerie - past, present and future'].

John Stuart's daughter, Ann [d1826], married James Cruikshank, a farmer at Ardfour (Inverkeithny, Banff) [SC2/40/1 and GROS 194/00 0040 0339].

John Stuart's nephew, the son of his brother Robert, was John Stuart LL.D. [1813-77], a noted archivist and genealogist, who was among the founding members of the Spalding Club and, according to his entry in the ODNB, was from 1854 'the guiding spirit' of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Somewhat ironically for a genealogist, there is no mention of his uncle John Stuart, of Surinam, in the family tree published after his death in The Thanage of Fermartyn.

Return to Scots in Surinam for further background.