The Stewart Families of Buchanan County, Missouri

ROBERT M. STEWART, Missouri's eccentric governor, was born in Truxton, N. Y., on March 12. 1815. He taught school when he was seventeen and until he was twenty years oT age. He then went to Kentucky, studied law and was admitted to the bar at Louisville. In 1839 he came to Buchanan County and located in Blooniington township, practicing law at Sparta and at Blacksnake Hills, wherever the court happened to sit. In 1845 he was elected to the state constitutional convention and soon gained well deserved reputation as a debater. From 1846 to 1857 he was a member of the state senate. In 1857, when Governor Polk resigned, he was elected as a Democrat. He was a delegate from Buchanan County to the convention of 1861. He was not in favor of abolition, but he was against secession, and ardently supported the Union. In fact his decided stand against secession, when so much.seemed to depend upon the action of Missouri, helped to save the state to the Union, and made his action one of national consideration. He was one of the projectors of the Hannibal & St. Joseph R. R. and helped to surrey the line and by his eloquence and tonic. to secure the right of way. He was a bachelor and a man of many eccentricities. He died September 21, 1871 and there was general suspension of business in St. Joseph upon the day of his funeral. His remains were buried at Mount Mora. The following, which recently appeared in the Jefferson City Tribune, as a contribution from Col. Jacob T. Child, illustrates the character of Governor Stewart:

"When Missouri was in the turmoil Cjf the gigantic struggle between the two.great sections of the Republic, Bob Stewart of St. Joseph defeated Gen. James S. Rollins of Boone, one of the greatest men of the then West, for governor. Then Jefferson City was comparatively a small village, the gubernatorial mansion'n,a frail old frame building, occupying the same site where the present mansion stands. It was a time of vast changes. Everything was in an embryotic state. Stewart was a Bourbon in the full sense of the word. A New Yorker, he took the Union side of the cause, but the tide of secession was so strong that he could not stem the current, and he* passed down and out with but regrets. His administration was novel in the extreme for many of his actions. As soon as he was inaugurated he had his private secretary, Dr. Peabody, fill out a pardon for Williaiiy Langstoil, a prisoner from St. Joseph, charged with aiding in the whipping of a man of worthless character, to death. As soon as he could get/away from the Capitol he went to the penitentiary and called for Langston. The old man was employed in digging a well. Stewart went to the brink and calkd him up. As he stepped out of the bucket, the Governor slapped him on the back, exclaiming, Billy, old man, let me great you as a "free man for all time,' and handed him his pardon. Langston had befriended Stewart when he was an invalid and had no friends.

"Another time the Governor had been 'social with a number of friends and in the 'we sma ' hours called for his horse, rode rapidly up the stairs into the reception room, ordered his servant to open the piano and pour in on the key board a peck of oats, remarking, with an oath, that his horse had just as much right to food and refreshments as the balance of mankind. The hoof marks of the horse could be seen on the stairway until the old mansion had been demolished. Feeling the influence of stimulations to excess, he imagined that he had snakes in his boots, and, sending for a pint of camphor, he poured it into his shoes; he pulled them on, and by night the snakes were gone, as well as all of the skin off of his feet. His pardoning of the female convicts is known to all, and the employment of them in the mansion, where they stole things ad libitum. Notwithstanding these eccentricities he made a good governor. While he was drinking he would never sign a state paper. He was an urgent advocate of internal improvements, and as president of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, never ceased his labors in favor of that great highway till the gleaming steel connected the Mississippi and the Missouri, which aided materially in the war of the sections. His reception of the Prince of Wales in St. Louis was so courteous that Albert Edward pronounced him the most Dolished man he had met in the states. But the worm of the still was working in his vitals; he was his worst enemy. Prior to his death I was his major. He was appointed colonel of volunteers under Fremont, but excessive drinking caused General Halleck to relieve him of his command. After that he lived a life of Bohemianism in St. Joseph, till the dark wings of Azrael overshadowed him, passing away comparatively friendless, and if I mistake not, the grassy hillock that covers his remains has no memorial to mark the spot.

"Thus one of missouri's most famous governors passed away, and he is mostly known for deeds that should be forgotten, rather for those that should halo his memory. Visiting the state capitol and mingling with its progressive people I could not help thinking when Bob Stewart was the brave fellow well-met, with all, and whose name was a household word from the Ozarks to the Iowa. I offer this laurel leaf in the columns of the Tribune to. the memory of a man that might have been worthy of much to imperial Missouri, but he fell by the wayside and passed away as an arrow shot through the air."

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ROBERT M. STEWART.

The name of Robert M. Stewart has been familiar not only to the people of Buchanan County, but of the State of Missouri, for over forty years. In fact it has been completely identified with the history of the state. He was born in Truxton, Courtland County, New York, on the 12th day of March, 1815. His parents being in limited circumstances, he was compelled to depend upon his own exertions for an education, a task faithfully performed. From the time he was seventeen until twenty-one years of age, he taught school part of each year, devoting the remainder of his time to preparing himself for the practice of the law. At the age of twenty-one he graduated in the legal profession and was admitted to the bar. In the spring of 1837, removed to Louisville, Kentucky, and engaged in the practice of his profession, but suffering from sickness most of the summer, he removed to his old home in New York and remained during the winter, returning to Louisville again in the spring of 1838- During that summer, in addition to the practice of the law, he was aNT 245 engaged in the newspaper business with James Birney Marshall. In the fall of that year he removed to St. Charles, Missouri, where he remained some two years.

In 1839, Governor Stewart came to Buchanan County, and located at what was then known as Bloomington, but is now DeKalb, where he entered a claim. Here he continued the practice of his profession, at the same time taking an active part in every movement to advance the prosperity of the country, until 1845. He then removed to St. Joseph, and was shortly thereafter elected a delegate from the Senatorial District to the Convention to amend the State Constitution, over Jesse B. Thompson, one of the best men in the county. In the proceedings of that body his fine talents and excellent judgment gave him a prominent position. In 1846, he was elected to the State Senate, again beating Mr. Thompson, and continued to hold the office until 1857, when he was elected Governor of Missouri, to fill a vacancy, occasioned by the selection of Governor Trusten Polk to the United States Senate. The duties of the latter office he discharged with ability for three years. In 1847, Governor Stewart raised a company for the "Oregon Battalion," for service in the Mexican war, and was elected as its Captain over the late Colonel Samuel Hall. He went with the battalion as far as Fort Kearney, but was compelled to return on account of ill-health. For some two years thereafter he suffered from severe illness, but managed to discharge hi's duties as State Senator. In 1848 he was appointed Register of the Land Office at Savannah, but resigned the position in a few weeks, for the purpose of engaging in the preliminary survey of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, a task which he completed at his own expense.

In 1861, he was elected member of the convention called to consider the question of secession, in which body he took strong grounds in favor of retaining the state in the Union. His last appearance in political life was in 1862, when he announced his name as a candidate for Congress in this district, but withdrew from the race shortly after the announcement.

Almost immediately after his election to the Senate, Governor Stewart was appointed chairman of the committee on internal improvements, a position he continued to occupy as long as he remained a member of that body. He was the first to inaugurate the grand system of public improvements which has contributed so much to the prosperity of our state, and devoted himself particularly to the railroad interests. It is principally owing to his exertions that the construction of the Hannibal & St. Joseph road is due, and he was also the author of the "Omnibus bill," under which the railroad system of the state was projected and built up. Every measure looking to improvement and the development of the resources of Missouri received his hearty support, both while in the Senate and in the executive chair.

Governor Stewart was a man of a high order of intellect. His prospects at one time were by no means limited to this state. It was within his grasp to have not only made his influence more powerful in Missouri, but felt throughout the Union. In a national point of view his unrelenting hostility to Colonel Thos. H. Benton, effecting his defeat for the Senate, and his decided stand against secession when the great contest seemed to hinge upon the action of Missouri, were the most important passages in his history.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected.

WILLIAM STEWART, foreman for J. W. Ambrose & Co., was born in Salisbury, Connecticut, June 21, 18 14, and, upon becoming of age, he went to Wilbraham, Massachusetts, where he received the benefits of a good education. After this, he went to Pittsford, Vermont, and learned the moulder's trade, and then went to Plymouth, Vermont, and worked at his trade seven years. Thence to Providence, Rhode Island, remaining about two years, having the management of the shops. He next returned to Vermont, and for eight years had charge of the shops at Windsor. For six years he was foreman in the foundry of Hartshorn & Ames, at Nashua, New Hampshire, after which, in company with two other gentlemen, he engaged in the foundry business at South Reading, Massachusetts. It was finally converted into a joint stock company, and Mr. Stewart continued in the capacity as foreman for six years. He next went to Connecticut, staying for a time, after which he entered the foundry of Morrison & Colwell, at Troy, New York, as foreman, remaining three years. He filled the same position with Wager & Pales for several years; that company eventually dissolved, and he continued to hold the same situation with Mr. Pales for five years. Subsequently he came to Rock Island, Illinois, and for one year was foreman in the stove works, in that city. Returned to Troy, and, in 1878, came to St. Joseph, and entered the employ of J. W. Ambrose & Co. as foreman. Mr. S. has been a foreman for thirty-five years, and is thoroughly conversant with the general details of foundry work. He has been twice married: Pirst, to Miss Clara Pollard, of Vermont; she died June 11, 1879, leaving two sons, W. J. and George P. In the autumn of 1880, Mrs. Mary J. Reed became his wife. He is a Master Mason.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ROBERT STEWART, a pioneer cigar dealer, and father of the Stewart brothers, leading wholesale cigar merchants, was born in Pennsylvania Jan. l8, 1817, and came to St. Joseph in 1868, founding the business made famous by his sons. He was married at Miamiburg, O., in 1844, to Miss Mary A. Stevens, born in Ohio in 1827. They had three boys — Charles O., Robert S., and Thomas J., all of whom patronage, and he is among the leading plumbers in the city. He was married May 15, 1895, to Miss Mary Connaughton, of which union there are two boys.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOHN M. STEWART, attorney at law, was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, and came to St. Joseph in 1874, where he engaged in the practice of his profession, meeting with good success. Judge Stewart is a Democrat, and in 1886 he was elected by his party to the office of probate judge, which position he held till 1894. He is authority on probate matters and is very often consulted by parties interested in that court.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.