Family of Alexander Steward, 1817

Dr. Alexander Stewart came to American in 1817.  His four daughters remained in Scotland with Grandparents until he and his wife were settled.  After a long journey across the Atlantic and a short stay at New Harmony, Indiana, they came to White county, about a mile from the "Scotch Settlement" of Liberty, IL.  He sent money and instructions to a friend in Scotland to bring the girls to America.   They landed in New York and the "friend " went into town to find lodging and never returned.  In the evening a man with a tall silk hat and gold headed cane came walking toward them and stopped to talk.  He could understand the girls perfectly and in fact had been a classmate of Dr. Stewart.  Seven years pass and the girls are now 19 to 11.  They had all been raised by Scottish families, given a fine education that included dancing lessons and had the advantages of the wealthy children of that day.  Finally (I don't know the details), word comes to the father of their whereabouts.  He had presumed they had been lost at sea.  Armed only with a shotgun and on foot, he walked from White county to New York.  After a wedding for the oldest daughter, they began the journey back to Illinois.  (The above story was written by Isabella Miller, a granddaughter and sent to me by Ted Reeves from Merced, California, sometime in the 1990's.)