James Stewart (1828-1892) and Isabella Bruce (1826-1902) left Scotland and arrived in Victoria in January 1853 aboard the Norman Morison. They rented land from Dr. J.S. Helmcken. Their farm was primarily a dairy farm and they sold to the nearby naval base and naval hospital. Their house on Kerwood Street was built in 1856 and demolished in 1950.
John (1851-1930), James (1858-1922), Joseph (1865-1933), and Amy (1870-1963) the youngest, were 4 of 6 children. Amy never married and tended the family farm's chicken and cows after the deaths of their parents. The 1901 Census of Canada shows a nephew, John B Stewart (b. October 11, 1889) and Gong, a labourer, as family and household members. The farmland was sold in 1912 to create a subdivision and Amy bought a double lot across the road on Stewart Avenue (then Denman Avenue) with her brother John. Amy moved onto the new property they called Seaview Farms in 1913, keeping jersey cows until the 1940s. Her niece Lillian Culling later lived in the house.
John married Margaret Murray (1861-1922), settled in the Highlands District and had 3 daughters; Agnes Marion (1898-1990); Margaret Elizabeth (1900-1980), a school teacher at Happy Valley School, married Carrol Alexander Stewart (1889-1929) in 1927; and Jessie (1903-1985) married Rudyard Thomas Kipling (1900-1984) in 1925.
In 1891, Joseph Stewart married Alice Louise “Pam” Parker (1870-1956). Pam was given her pet name by a grandchild in lieu of saying 'Gram'. Her parents, John and Mary Ann (nee Munn) had also arrived in Victoria in 1853 aboard the Norman Morison. Joseph and Pam bought a house at 551 Niagara Street in Victoria and had 5 daughters. (Amy) Lillian (1897-1994) married Harold Culling in 1936; Dorothy Alice (1900-1956) married Bert Keiser; Ethel Kathleen (1902-1938) married Laurence Horace Tapley (1897-1959) in Victoria, BC. Their daughter Rosemary was a young child when Ethel died and she was adopted by her aunt Dorothy and Uncle Bert, becoming a Keiser. Josephine Bernice (1906-1987) married a Cameron; and Viola Winnifred (1909-1992) married a Bligh.
By 1911, John and Margaret had separated, and by 1921 their property in the Highlands had been sold.
When Joseph Stewart died, Pam moved her family to 333 Stewart Avenue near Seaview Farm. Lillian (now Culling) lived at 325 Stewart Avenue.
Dorothy Keiser assisted in the founding of the first Anglican Secondary School in View Royal which was held at Four Mile House in 1943 and at the View Royal Community Hall from 1944-1945.