The tradition was that, at the time of one of the early Jacobite risings, a nurse in charge of two young children appeared in Belfast, Ireland. They came from Scotland and the woman immediately on arriving fell ill of small-pox and died refusing to tell anything about the children except that their names were John and Walter Stewart, and that they were the sons of a man of rank who would soon come for them. She had with her no money but some fine jewels, no one ever came to claim the children, but as it is recorded in history that some Jacobite families are known to have been exterminated in their bloody and unfortunate battles, this may have been the fate of the relatives of these boys, too young to tell anything about themselves. They were brought up by a man, appointed their guardian. He treated them harshly and as soon as grown they left him and came to try their fortune in a new land. John first acquired some property in Boston, which he left in his will to his son Nathan, but soon came to Goshen and settled there, buying in 1744 eighty acres of land, "and the houses thereon" from William Jayne. From this it appears that the Steward house may have been erected previous to 1744, but "houses thereon" may have been a mere legal term, and the house was probably built by John Steward. It is certain, however, that it has been standing since 1744. He bought more land, about 120 acres in all, at a later date. To farming John Steward joined the occupation of blacksmith, erecting a little to the left of his house a forge, which was in operation as early as 1758, the family having still in their possession, a deed of sale bearing that date of a slave named Tite, warranted to be a good blacksmith. Later at this forge, John Steward II, during the Revolutionary war made sabers and bayonets for the Continental Army.