Child adoption

[oldohiohome]

I would guess that Stewart Harris of Cedarville, Ohio, in 1920, received that name in Ohio. This is his census information from 1920:

1920 Cedarville, Greene County, Ohio
Elmer Spencer, 46, married, born in Ohio, parents also, farmer, general farm
Mary F Spencer, 69?, married, born in Kentucky, parents also
Charles M Harris, 46, stepson, married, born in Ohio, father in Ohio, mother in Kentucky, farm laborer
Myrtle S Harris, 42, stepdaughter, married, born in Ohio, parents also
Stewart Harris, 7, stepgrandson, single, born in Ohio, parents also
Myrtle [something], 2y or 2m, lodger, born in Ohio, parents also

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDYJ-P4M?lang=en

Charles and Myrtle were brother and sister, not husband and wife. Their mother Mary was previously married to John S Harris, a marshall in Cedarville who died in the line of duty. John S Harris' grandfather was named Stewart Harris. [Was John's middle name Stewart?] There is a Stewart Cemetery in the area. Here is a brief tree, based on the tree at familysearch, and a few findagrave sites. I didn't verify the information but it seems to hang together pretty well.

Evan Harris (1755 - 1836)
  + Rachel Stewart (1757 - 1838)
    - Stewart Harris (1785 - 9 Jan 1869)
             buried Stewart Cemetery, Bowersville, Greene County, OH
                https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38574186/stewart_harris
      + Mary  (1784 - 1852)
        - Evan Harris (1805 - 1867)
          + Phoebe Smith
             - William Harris 
                    buried Stewart Cemetery, Bowersville, Greene County, OH
                + Elizabeth
             - John S Harris, marshall (1849 - 1883)
               + Mary F Albright (c 1849 - )
                       her second: Elmer Spencer
                  - Charles M Harris (c 1874 - )
                     + Belle Emma Cline
                        - Maude M Harris (1895 )
                        - Ilo B Harris  (1897? )
                        - Stewart Harris (1912 - )
                  - Myrtle S Harris  (c 1878 - )


Charles M Harris in familysearch tree
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/L4B3-RXQ

his wife, Belle Emma Cline, remarried in 1914. Daughter Maude is with Belle in 1920. Daughter Ilo is married by 1920, leaving Stewart with his father and grandmother.

Charles, Belle and daughters in Cedarville in 1910
Charles Harris, 37, - owner and manager of a restaurant

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLX3-MMR?lang=en


John S Harris at findagrave, but without his second wife, Mary F Albright
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21547143/john_s_harris

comment on greene county site discussing grandparents and brother of John S Harris:

"Within the family the last known residence of William and Elizabeth was on Dayton Hill in Xenia. William was the son of Evan Harris, who was first school teacher in Caesarcreek Twp. Evan was the son of Stuart Harris an early settler. Williams brother Marshall John S. Harris was the first lawman killed in Greene County (Cedarville). Both William and Elizabeth are buried in Stewart Cemetery, Bowersville. My grandmother Edythe Harris Davis was raised by William and Elizabeth at the residence listed in the dispute."

https://www.greenecountyohio.gov/Blog.aspx?IID=277


Which all means that the child born to Janet McCallum in Glasgow in 1912 most likely did not leave Scotland with the name Stewart Harris. Or Canada for that matter, if he was ever in Canada.

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Edited to add: this family has no apparent connection to Scotland for generations as far as I can see, so I don't think they received Stewart directly from there. I might be wrong though. My guess is they were looking for a farmhand and got Stewart somehow, legally or otherwise.

[oldohiohome]

Some questions you should ask yourself and try to answer:

Could Janet have given up the child soon after his birth?
Were there charitable organizations in Glasgow that would take him in?
Did he end up in a workhouse and then fostered out? Are there workhouse records?
Was there anything like the Home Children system that sent children from England to Canada, if I have the name of the system correct? Or did the Home Children include Scottish and Welsh children as well?
Was there some informal or illegal pipeline of children out of Scotland into Canada or the U.S.?

edited to add: On second thought, I think those are the questions you are asking us. I don't know enough about the British Isles to answer.

---------------
And a question: You said Janet "used two names instead of adding fathers name, she used Janet Patterson and Janet McCallum." Do you mean on the birth certificate? So could the father of the child be a Mr. Patterson?

[oldohiohome]

I would think that if an adoption took place, it was in Scotland, before the mother Janet left for the USA; and probably before she married in 1917.

Adoption was not legally formalised in Scotland until the 1930 Adoption of Children Act. Before that it would have been an informal arrangement.

What was the exact date of birth for the child, as seen on the Scottish birth certificate?

The only John McCallum born in Glasgow from 1911 to 1913 with a mother's maiden name of McCallum that I found was

John Laird, born 14 September 1912, parents Charles Laird, farmer, and Mary McCallum, domestic servant.

In 1966 the surname of the child was changed to Fleming per a declaration of J. Fleming on 7 July 1966.

I tried phonetic and fuzzy matching also.

[Suzy W]

Thank you all for your wonderful efforts.
I will sign off on this one as unknown.