Alexander had been fortunate in finding a wife who was not only able but willing to take care of the family and set him free to follow his vocation. She took in boarders, tended the livestock and garden to feed the family and boarders, and raised the children in her husband's absences.

By 1865, Jane and Mary were just out of their teens; Jane was a schoolteacher and was probably contributing to the family budget. Mary and Annie may also have been earning money working for farmers in the townships of Bentinck and Glenelg, whose border Durham straddled, or for shopkeepers or householders in Durham itself. The 13-year-old Joseph had left school and gone to work as a sales clerk in a store, though he soon left that job and became a schoolteacher also. Emma, at 11, was probably a very capable help to her mother. It must have seemed to that hard-working mother that life was becoming a little easier in her forties.

In 1865 she had another baby, Augusta. That summer Esther fell ill and, as the new year began, she died, at 45. The Stewart-MacKenzie monument in the Durham cemetery commemorates her, and the following obituary appeared in The Canadian Baptist in March 1866.

Stewart -- Died January 26th, in her 46th year, Esther S., the beloved wife of Elder Alex. Stewart, of Durham.

In early life our departed sister was convinced of sin and led to Christ by the Holy Spirit, and was baptized into the fellowship of the church by Elder Wm. Smith, who bears testimony to her consistant walk and conversation in youth. Half the term of her sojourn on earth was spent amid the cares and responsibilities of married life. Her husband, the pioneer missionary of the Baptists in the county of Grey, found in her a true helpmeet, as she assumed the support of the family, that he might be free to leave home and preach Christ to the scattered ones in the bush. When he expressed sorrow at having to leave her and her little ones for many days at a time, her answer would invariably be, "Go, if you can do any good to souls, and I will do the best I can."

She excelled in the grace of hospitality. Every christian who visited her house felt that he was in the company of one who waited upon him from love to his Lord and hers; especially those who preached Christ to perishing souls were made to feel that she sympathized with them in their work. Their body was refreshed by her unostentatious hospitality, and their spirit was refreshed by the exhibition of christian graces, and the words she uttered to cheer them in the way.

Her home was her world, and God having employed her for many years in showing how his servants can honour him in the common affairs of busy domestic life, drew her aside to glorify him in showing how a christian can be supported in suffering by the consolations of the gospel.

The illness, which terminated in death, commenced in July last. So great was her pain and weakness that she was not able to be moved or have her head raised more than twice in five months, yet not a word of complaint escaped her lips. Her frequent ejaculation was, "The Lord's will be done."

The many christian friends who visited her, had their faith strengthened by seeing how the Lord enabled her to bear the most excrutiating pain with patience and meekness.

Her greatest difficulty was parting with her beloved husband and children; but, after a struggle, God enabled her to resign them into his hands. She charged her children, as only a christian mother can charge, to meet her in heaven, and said, "That is all I want, serve the Lord; He will be the same God to you that he has been to me."

Her favorite hymn was "Rock of ages, cleft for me"; and greatly she enjoyed the company of a friend or two, who could join with her children in singing those soul-cheering words at her bedside.

Her death, like her life, was peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Her funeral was the largest ever known in Durham. Friends came many miles to pay their last tribute of respect to one whom they loved in life, and whose memory will ever be precious to them. Elder Muir, of Mount Forest, preached the funeral sermon from "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord". The Presbyterian and two Methodist ministers also took part in the service. May our last end be like hers.

Years later, JWAS wrote about his mother in these moving words:

It is not easy for me to write my mother's name and not pay her a passing tribute. Nor would any account of my father's work be complete which made no reference to her. If I say that that work never would or never could have been done without her, my father will be the first to endorse the statement. If ever a woman was a true helper and companion to her husband, an unfailing source of strength, courage and inspiration, that woman was my mother. With her for an ally it was impossible to be utterly discouraged or to give up. While her children live the memory of her quiet dignity and womanly grace, and deep Christian devotion cannot fade.

Always the impression abides [HSS added] that she was a woman undefeated by circumstance and a great encouragement and help to grandfather in his work. To her children she left the memory of a sturdy and beautiful Christian character.

Jane, the eldest daughter, a 22-year-old schoolteacher, took over the care of the motherless family, including baby Augusta.

The following year Alexander Stewart moved west, bringing his ministry and his family to a new frontier that reached all the way to Lake Huron. JWAS mentions briefly this period of his father's ministry.

My father had his home in Durham till 1867; he then removed to Teeswater, where he remained nearly three years; then spent one year in Goderich township, Huron, whence he went to the Indians on the Grand River.

Alexander was now covering an immense field, travelling 2440 miles in one year (1869-70) alone. His report published in the Canadian Baptist Register of 1868 was:

REV. ALEX. STEWART - CULROSS AND GREENOCK

This aged [he was 55!] and excellent missionary, whose praise has long been in all the churches, has preached at four stations, at Teeswater in the township of Culross, at Smith's school house in Greenock, on the 2nd con. south of the Durham road, and in Brant.

In his last report he writes,

"with one exception, the past year has been one of the happiest of my life in connection with the church. The members have been very kind to me, and the Lord has kept us together in peace and love, for which we thank the Great Giver of every good and perfect gift. Still I do mourn over the apparent want of success and often feel like hiding myself from the face of man, because I do not see the conversion of souls for which my spirit longs vehemently.

The brethren in Teeswater say they did not expect any ingathering for a time on account of confidence being lost in the Baptists for want of preaching two years, during which time other influences became powerful. I do not know that any one is to blame, for the Convention has done all it could, and I know of none who work harder than their missionaries. Indeed I have heard some of them say, that they would not labor so hard, only that they were receiving aid from the Convention.

As I mentioned in my last, we have a union prayer-meeting in Teeswater on Wednesday evenings and on Thursdays, one among the brethren in the country. There is one held in Greenock, and the brethren do pray for themselves, and for the conversion of others. They are not dead, but very earnest and happy in their prayer-meetings. May God pour out his Spirit on this part of his moral vineyard -- on our beloved denomination and on the whole world. May the Lord bless the meeting of the Convention and make it a benefit to many souls."

[The 1869 Register had this report:] REV. ALEXANDER STEWART -- TEESWATER AND GREENOCK

This aged pioneer missionary, of whose self-denying labors the denomination has read so much in bygone years, is still at his post, and hard at work as aforetime. During the year he has sustained appointments for preaching at six stations, viz., at Teeswater, Greenock, Brant, Smith's S. House, 3rd Con. Cuirass East, and 3rd Con. West, and has ministered the Word of Life to congregations averaging a total of 300 souls. Mo. S. says:

"In regard to the state of the cause at present, and its future prospects on this field, I would say, there are 30 Baptists in membership, six have been added during my time, five by letter and one by baptism. I have found out 8 who have been members of other churches, who are nearer to Teeswater and Greenock than any other churches, and there are 3 hopefully converted. I do hope one of them will be useful in the Lord's vineyard. There is one Baptist, and two Union schools on my field, and they are doing a good work. At the commencement of the present quarter, I took up two new appointments, one four, and the other five miles from Teeswater, and they are well attended."

In his remarks, which are too lengthy to be given here, Bro. S. makes grateful mention of the liberality of his brethren in sustaining him beyond what was promised, and also of the visit to his field, at the Association, of so many of our ministering brethren from the South, and the happy effect produced by their preaching.

In 1869 another tragedy struck the family. Jane, who had been happily married in January, was dead in July. Her obituary in The Canadian Baptist of August 1869 tells the sad story.

At her residence in Paisley. July 9, 1869, the beloved wife of Duncan Fisher Esq. in the 26th year of her age. Our beloved sister was the daughter of the well-known and esteemed Rev. Alexander Stewart of Teeswater. She professed her faith in the Lord Jesus, and was baptized by her father into the fellowship of the [Durham] Baptist Church in August 1863. Being the eldest of the family, she assumed the duties of the household after the death of her mother, which duties she faithfully and wisely discharged. She moved with her father and family to Teeswater in 1867, and joined the church there, with which she retained her membership until the day of her death.

She was united in marriage with Duncan Fisher, son of John Fisher Esq. of Wingham, on the 20th of last January. They settled in Paisley immediately after their marriage, with fair prospects of a long and happy life. About the beginning of March she took a severe cold, from which she never recovered, resulting in inflammation of the bowels. No effort was spared to procure the best medical aid, both at home and from a distance; but every effort and skill failed to produce the desired end. As long as she was able to express her mind (which she was until within a few days of her end) she gave full satisfaction to her friends that she died in the blessed hope of a glorious immortality. Sister Fisher was an example of Christian piety, zeal and activity for doing good. Of these qualities she left many blessed remembrances, especially with the young with whom she laboured as a teacher for seven years. She leaves a husband, an aged father, four sisters and a brother to mourn her loss, but she is with Jesus which is far better. Her remains were buried in compliance with her own request, beside those of her mother at Dereham [i.e. Durham]. Her funeral sermon was preached by the writer in Paisley, on Sabbath, July 18th, from Rev. 14:19, words chosen by herself.

D. M. N.

[Rev. 14:19. "So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God"]

Alexander's family was shrinking. He had lost his wife and a daughter to death. Daughter Mary had married Alexander Cameron MacKenzie, a Hanover merchant, on 12 December 1866. Annie also was married, to Peter Cole; they later moved to Michigan. I have not discovered the date of their marriage.

Before he was 15, Joseph started teaching school. Family tradition holds that he helped support his parental family, as his salary, small though it was, was bigger than his father's. In 1870, while still 17, he left home to study for the ministry and never lived in Durham again.

The youngest daughters, 16-year-old Emma and six-year-old Augusta, were still in their father's care, or perhaps in each other's care while their father continued his missionary work. The following report appeared in the Canadian Baptist Register of 1871:

REV. A. STEWART -- AUBURN

This well-known and well-worn laborer has had a dark and discouraging year, yet one which has been cheered by some rays of sunshine. We cannot give his remarks verbatim as they are too lengthy. We epitomise them by saying, that at the beginning of the year, trouble seemed imminent, growing out of misunderstanding about the chapel on the Base Line of Goderich. Bro. S. happily got that averted by collecting money or getting the debt wiped off, receipts in full signed. A short time after this a class-leader offered himself for baptism and was accepted, and the day fixed for his baptism. Being a man of good character and extensive influence, it was hoped great good would result: but on the day fixed for his baptism by the Secretary of the Convention, by whom he had been convinced of his duty, and for whom he had sent at his own expense to administer to him that holy ordinance, he peacefully breathed his last, and he who went to bury him with Christ in baptism, buried him in the graveyard, and preached his funeral sermon.

The providence has been overruled for good. Several have since been baptized. There are 26 Baptists on the field, and a church has been formed. Trouble has arisen of a very peculiar nature, and our Missionary was fain to leave his post, but has nobly held on. Bro. S. preached in Colborne and Kinloss Townships, and occasionally in Lucknow, in which place are several Baptists, and quite a good opening for a missionary.