Alaxis Steward - From Maine to Minnesota

My 4th Great-Grandfather, Alaxis Steward (aka Alexis Stewart), was born in Canaan, Maine on 4 Dec 1812, per town vital records. From 1850 to 1870, he and wife Charlotte (Harnden/Harding) are seen with their children in the Skowhegan, Maine censuses. After this latter date, and prior to 1880, they moved out west to Otter Tail County, Minnesota. It is currently not clear if the parents, with sons Phineas and Lucius, all packed up and left at the same time, but they were all together in the township of Compton by the 1880 census. The 1895 MN State Census lists both Phineas and Lucius as being residents here for 17 yrs, so they arrived ca 1878.

1880 Compton, Otter Tail, MN census

He was officially granted 40 acres of land as his homestead on 28 Nov 1883, in the "SW quarter of the SW quarter of Section 12 of Township 134 North of Range 36 West of Fifth Principal Meridian".

At right is an 1884 map of the Compton Township, showing Section 12, and the location of Alexis Steward's home. The Phineas "Stewart" to the south and east of Alexis should be his son. To make things confusing, there were other Stewart names in the same town (immigrants from Scotland), who had land just west of the 12th Section.

The 1885 State Census seems to indicate that Alexis, Charlotte and disabled son Lucius were living with Phineas and his family, as he was the head person listed first in the record.

Alexis Steward died on 15 July 1885, according to his gravestone, which lies in Wadena Cemetery, only a short distance from their home in the neighboring county. Wife Charlotte died in 1892.

As seen in current satellite photos of his former land below (marked in red), the home of Alaxis/Alexis no longer stands. The building seen is a new construction.  

1884 Compton Township

Satellite view of Section 12 (its southern boundary is 320th Street) of Compton, using Bing Maps

The Find a Grave Memorial for Alexis can be found here:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=99435624

On the above map, the Wadena Cemetery is located in the upper right corner.