Men in Eden: William Drummond Stewart and Same-Sex Desire in the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade

Acknowledgments

vii Acknowledgments Writing history is often the art of following a slender thread wherever it leads. For anyone writing early gay history the first challenge is finding a thread to follow, and for the thread that led to this book I have to thank Jim Wilke, whose article in Frontiers magazine first alerted me to the life of William Drummond Stewart. Wilke in that 1998 article lamented the lack of books on early gay American history and suggested a number of topics that someone should write about someday. Here, so very many years later, I answer that call. My travels in pursuit of Sir William’s story led me over many miles and into many archives. Many institutions throughout this country and abroad deserve my gratitude for the numerous ways they aided my research, but a few should be singled out for particular mention. The staff members of the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming were beyond question the most accommodating archivists I have ever encountered. They opened Mae Reed Porter’s research files to me in a way that made my stay in Laramie phenomenally productive (with the lagniappe of being able to eat my lunch each day surrounded by Alfred Jacob Miller’s paintings of Sir William and Antoine Clement). The archivists at the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh went above and beyond the call of duty to provide me with the ribbon-tied bundles of Stewart family papers, even when a labor strike intervened at the least opportune time. Closer to home, I gladly make a long-overdue acknowledgment of the staff members of the Interlibrary Borrowing Service at the University of California, Berkeley, who for my last three books have conjured out of the ether the most obscure publications and delivered them swiftly into my hands viii just at the moment I most needed them. The service they provide to scholars is beyond measure and beyond price. One individual deserves special recognition: William R. Johnston, emeritus director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Dr. Johnston not only opened his personal research files to me, he also slipped me in the back door of the building before the museum opened to the public and hosted me to a lunch at which he frankly discussed his views about Stewart’s sexuality. He was particularly helpful in volunteering to serve as liaison between the Miller family and me in my attempt to track down the originals of the letters Alfred Jacob Miller wrote from Murthly Castle. My memorable morning at the Walters began with Dr. Johnston quite literally racing through the museum in his excitement to show me Miller’s portrait of Antoine Clement. The generosity with which he welcomed me into his busy schedule is very much appreciated. My trips to the Missouri Historical Society (now known as the Missouri History Museum Library and Research Center) and to the National Archives of Scotland were underwritten in part by a research grant from the Librarians Association of the University of California. The university’s commitment to professional development and scholarly research even during these challenging economic times is a mark of how strongly it maintains the lofty goals upon which the University of California was first established. I would not have been able to take advantage of the generous grant without the understanding and flexibility of my employer, the University of California School of Law (Boalt Hall). Moreover, Berkeley Law’s unsurpassed collections of Anglo-American and international law were indispensable in my research. As will be demonstrated in the following chapters, much of William Drummond Stewart’s life can be documented only through court records. Once launched, all research projects provide unexpected pleasures. For this particular project it was the magical experience of connecting with a number of people who quite literally carry the dna of the story I was trying to reconstruct. I am very grateful to Hans-Wolff Sillem of Hamburg, Germany, descendent of Sir William’s companion of 1835–36, Adolph Sillem. Herr Sillem provided me with the correct first name ix of Adolph as well as with a very valuable sketch of his ancestor’s life. Jan Wood of Devon, England, provided a similar service, as she is a descendent of another of Sir William’s companions, Charles Howard Ashworth. In this case also I started with only a last name and a few brief biographical details. Ms...