Biography - A Stewart
A. M. STEWART. Among the representative and esteemed citizens of Montgomery County, Ill., there is probably no one more deserving of mention than Mr. Stewart, whose residence within its borders has extended over a period of more than twenty-eight years. Mr. Stewart was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, July 1, 1834, being the sixth of ten children born to James S. and Olive (Martin) Stewart. Neoma, their eldest child, died after reaching womanhood; David died in 1852, on his way to Oregon; George W. was for some thirty years a prosperous merchant, and was following that calling at New Cumberland, W. Va., when he died in 1885, leaving his family in comfortable circumstances; James E. died when a child; Catherine also died in childhood; J. W. is residing on the old homestead in Jefferson County, Ohio, where his father first settled, and where he died in 1870, the mother's death also occurring there about 1884; Nancy A. is the wife of John Mclntosh, a prominent farmer of Jefferson County, Ohio; Elizabeth E. is the wife of David S. Day, who is a Hank President in the State of Missouri; Rebecca N. is the widow of Benjamin Pritchard, of Cleveland, Ohio, who died some years ago, leaving an ample fortune.
James S. Stewart, the father of these children, was born in County Deny, Ireland, about the year 1785, the eldest of a family of four children, and as early as 1800 he emigrated to the United States with his father, James, and settled in Pennsylvania, not far from the City of Brotherly Love. The elder Mr. Stewart was a man of some means and gave his son, James S., the advantages of a good education. The latter was married in Pennsylvania to Miss Olive, the eldest daughter of George Martin, who was a native of that State, and a prominent citizen of English extraction. With her, James removed to Jefferson County, Ohio, some time before the birth of A. M. Stewart, probably about 1830.
In the county of his birth, the boyhood days of our subject were spent, and as his father was in moderate circumstances, he gave his son the advantages of a very liberal education, completing a common-school education in the academy of Wellsville, Ohio, after which, for many years, he was engaged in teaching in the public schools of his native county. This occupation continued to receive his attention until his health broke down, and in March, 1864, we find him in Montgomery County, Ill., at which time he purchased the farm on which he is now residing, and where his home has since been.
In the month of April, 1871, he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Jane Lease, a daughter of the late lamented and wealthy citizen of Nokomis, Leonard Lease, who was also a native of Jefferson County, Ohio, and upon whose death Mrs. Stewart inherited a small fortune. She is a lady of great nobility of character, intelligent and refined, and is an earnest Christian. She has borne her husband six children, as follows: Mary Olive, who was educated at Almira College, at Greenville, Ill.; Amy Belle, who attended the Methodist Female College, of Jacksonville, Ill., for some time, but, on account of ill-health, was compelled to leave that institution; George L., James Samuel, Charles Wesley and Grover Cleveland, the two last named still attending the public schools. Mr. Stewart, like his father before him, is a strong Democrat, and was at one time a member of the County Board of Supervisors, and at the present time is a member of the County Democratic Central Committee. He is an exemplary member of the Christian Church, and is recognized as a citizen of worth and standing. By hard work and good management, together with upright and honest dealing, he has amassed a goodly fortune, and in his pleasant home, surrounded by his family, he is enjoying the fruits of a well- spent life.
Extracted 10 Jan 2017 by Norma Hass from 1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Montgomery and Bond Counties, Illinois, pages 413-414.
