William J. Stewart, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of William J. Stewart
William J. Stewart, M. D. His first years in Kansas Doctor Stewart spent in the role of a practical farmer, but since finishing his medical course has been in successful practice as a physician and surgeon at Summerfield, Marshall County.
Doctor Stewart is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, William Stewart, was born at Strabane, Ireland, in 1808, and married Nancy Wilson, a native of the same place, born in 1806. Both of them were of Scotch-Irish families. They married in the old country and all their children were born in Ireland as follows: Charles, who became a farmer and died in Colorado; Belle, who lives at Leroy, Indiana, widow of James McKnight, a Union soldier and a farmer; Jennie, wife of James Carson, now postmaster at Hebron, Indiana; and John Stewart. William Stewart and wife brought their family to America and became pioneer settlers in Lake County in the extreme northwest corner of Indiana in 1845. William Stewart followed farming and developed a tract of land in that wild section of country and he died at Crown Point, Indiana, in 1883 and his widow survived him and died in that city in 1902.
John Stewart, father of Doctor Stewart, was born in Strabane, Ireland, in 1843, and was two years of age when his parents settled near Crown Point, Indiana. He grew up on the old homestead, and at the age of nineteen, in 1862, enlisted for service in the Union army in the Ninth Indiana Infantry. He saw a great deal of active and strenuous service in the Army of the Cumberland. He was at the battles of Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga, Chickamauga and many other historic engagements in that section of the South. Following the war he returned to Crown Point, Indiana, took up farming and is still living in that community. He is a republican and member of the United Presbyterian Church. He married Melissa Young, who was born in Ohio in 1845 and is still living. Their children are: Dr. William J.; Clayton, a ranchman at Big Springs in Western Texas; Alice, wife of S. A. Vickers, who is in the horse and mule commission business at Sioux City, Iowa; Frank, who holds the degree Ph. G. from Northern Indiana University at Valparaiso, subsequently graduated from the School of Medicine and Surgery at Chicago, and is now a physician and surgeon at Eskridge, Kansas; Nellie, wife of Otto Gibbs, a farmer at Valparaiso, Indiana; Agnes May, who after proper training served three years as a missionary of the United Presbyterian Church in Egypt and is now the wife of Charles Simpson, a farmer at Hebron, Indiana; Ross, a farmer at Hebron, Indiana; Lizzie, wife of Fred Simpson, at Hebron, Indiana, farmer; and Harry, who still lives on the old homestead in Indiana.
Doctor Stewart grew up on his father's farm, attended the local schools and the high school at Hebron, and completed his preparatory education in the Northern Indiana University at Valparaiso. He came to Kansas in 1898, and for seven years was engaged in farming in Wabaunsee County. In 1905 he left the farm and entered the Medical School of Washburn College at Topeka, from which he was graduated M. D. in 1909. He was given his medical degree by the Medical School of the University of Kansas at Lawrence in 1914. Doctor Stewart after graduating began practice at Summerfield and has been enjoying a large and lucrative practice in that city for the past eight years. His offices are in the First National Bank Building, a structure he owns. He also has a residence on Main Street and a farm of 100 acres in Wabaunsee County. Doctor Stewart is a director in the First National Bank of Summer- field. He is a republican in politics and an active member and president of the board of trustees of the United Presbyterian Church. In 1896, at Crown Point, Indiana, he married Miss Mary Baird, daughter of Andrew and Mattie (Knox) Baird. Both her parents are now deceased, her father having been an Indiana farmer. Doctor and Mrs. Stewart have two daughters: Gertrude, born April 10, 1897, was graduated from the Summerfield High School in 1916 and is now attending the United Presbyterian College at Tarkio, Missouri. Martha, born February 6, 1905, is still a student in the public schools of Summerfield.
Source: Connelley, William Elsey. 1918. A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans. Volume III. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 2731 p
Page(s) in Source: 1472-1473
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook