(1 April 1832-24 Jan. 1908), sessional clerk in House of Commons. (Peter A. Stewart, P. A. Stewart) Born at Breadalbane, Lochiel Township. Parents: John Stewart and his wife Anne (Annie) McLaurin. He attended school locally, learned Gaelic at home, and became fluent also in French, living with a French-Canadian family for this purpose. In his early years, besides being a farmer, Stewart during the winters gave singing lessons in the schoolhouses of his township. This was the age of GC singing schools and singing masters and of the GC rage to excel in singing. Musically versatile, he played the fiddle, organ and flute. He is reported to have been known among the French Canadians as Pierre the fiddler. He was a bookkeeper at Alexandria for the Hon. D.A. Macdonald. Also, he was reeve of Lochiel Township from 1884 to 1891, and warden of SDG for 1889.

     For some 40 years till his death he was a sessional clerk in the House of Commons, Ottawa. In his later years he is described as being the chief of the English sessional clerks, or as chief sessional writer. In The Civil Service List of Canada (1872) he is listed among “House of Commons Extra Staff” as an extra clerk paid $4 a day. Later editions of this work do not list extra staff by name. No further documentation of his appointment has come to light, and it seems likely the position was clerical in the strict sense of the word and not administrative, and was not considered high-ranking. It was probably part-time, and limited to the months during which parliament was in session, and not requiring full-time residence in Ottawa. The position Stewart held must be sharply distinguished, of course, from that of the clerk of the House of Commons, who is an important officer of state.

     Stewart was married to Annie McLaurin (whose name was the same as his mother’s). She was born at Lancaster, 17 July 1830, and died at Dalkeith, 8 July 1910. He and his wife farmed on Lot 7 of the 7th Concession of Lochiel. Baptist. He died at Vankleek Hill and is buried at Breadalbane. (six children)

Obituaries of him, Vankleek Hill Review (ND), and of his widow, VKHR 15 July 1910 * Campbell (1990), 218-220 (under Stuart) * Harkness 269 (portrait), 272 * family gravestone * C.C. Fraser, “A Short Sketch of the Township of Lochiel,” GHS, Annual Volume 12 (1972) * P.A. Stewart of Breadalbane to be in Ottawa on his official duties in the House of Commons until the end of the Session, VKHR 26 March 1897 repr. VKHR 17 Feb. 1993 * currently confined to home by illness, Glengarry News 23 March 1900