The Stewart Family

The Stewarts were the largest Black family in Saint Andrews in the early 19th Century. They may have arrived with a troupe of Loyalist Black American ex-slaves called the Black Pioneers, who were granted their freedom by the British in exchange for helping the British in their fight against the Americans in the American War of Independence. The captain of this troupe was a White man named Charles Stewart and since it was common for Black slaves and servants to take the name of their master, this may explain the many references in early records to various Black Stewarts. 

(Information courtesy of David Sullivan, The Blacks of Saint Andrews)