A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Stewart, Harriet Bradford
STEWART, HARRIET BRADFORD,
Was born near Stamford, in Connecticut, on the 24th. of June, 1798. Her father. Colonel Tiffany, was an officer during the revolutionary war, but he died while his daughter was very young, and her youth was passed principally at Albany and Cooperstown, in New York In 1822, Miss Tiffany married the Rev. C. S. Stewart, missionary to the Sandich Islands, and accompanied him to those distant and uncultivated regions. She had previously, in 1819, passed through that mysterious change denominated regeneration. "Repeated afflictions," says her biographer, the Rev. Mr. Eddy, "the death of friends, and her own sickness, led her to feel the need of a strong arm and a sure hope. She turned to Him who can give support to the soul in the hours of its dark night, and guide it amid the gloom."
The great subject of a missionary life was presented to her view, connected with a proposal to accompany the Rev. C. S. Stewart to the Sandwich Islands, as his assistant and companion. She accordingly married him; and they sailed, in company with a large number of others who were destined for the same laborious but delightful services, on the 19th. of November, 1822.
They arrived, in April of the following year, at Honolulu; and after a residence of a few days, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart located themselves at Lahaiua, a town containing about twenty-five thousand inhabitants, who were mostly in a degraded condition. Here they found but few of the conveniences of life, and were obliged to live in little huts, which afforded but slight shelter from the scorching heat or the pelting rain. In these miserable tenements did the child of luxury and wealth reside, and in perfect contentment perform the duties of her station. She suffered, but did not complain; she laboured hard, but was not weary; and cheerful in her lot, smiled even at her privations and sorrows.
In 1825, her health began to fail. Unable longer to labour for her perishing heathen sisters, she sailed for England, in order to enjoy medical advice and care; but instead of improving by the voyage, she continued to decline, until the hopelessness of her case became apparent. She embarked for America in July, 1826, her residence of a few months in England having rendered her no permanent benefit. In her low state the voyage was anything but agreeable, and she arrived among her friends the mere shadow of what she was when, a few years before, she had gone forth in the flush of youth and the vigour of health.
For a time after her arrival, strong hopes were cherished that she might recover. The balmy breezes of her own native valley, the kind congratulations of friends, the interest and excitement of a return to the scenes of youth, gave colour to her cheek, and life to her step. But this expectation, or rather hope, proved delusive; she died January, 1838, aged thirty-nine.