Stewart Quiz:
Which descendant of Alexander Stewart, a Texas Confederate
soldier, was 
killed
during one of the last (and one of the most infamous) battles of the Civil War
on the Texas frontier? Click Here for Answer.
Stewart Quiz:
Which descendant of Alexander Stewart was indicted for being a Southern sympathizer? Click Here for Answer.
Stewart Quiz:
Which descendant of Alexander Stewart defended early Texas settlers against Indian attacks and served as a Captain in the 4th Calvary of the Confederate Army? Click Here for Answer.
Stewart Quiz:
Which descendant of Alexander Stewart was the first Stewart to be elected an official of Rowan County? Click Here for Answer.
Stewart Quiz:
Which descendant of Alexander Stewart founded the Lexington, Kentucky Transit System and was the president of last legal marijuana production farm in Kentucky? Click Here for Answer.
Stewart Quiz:
Which descendant of Alexander Stewart lived a life that could provide the plot for a Hollywood mystery thriller? Click Here for Answer.
Stewart Quiz:
Which descendant of Alexander Stewart represented Harlan and Knox Counties in the 1850's in the Kentucky Legislature and was elected County Judge of Harlan County from 1858 to 1870? Click Here for Answer.
Stewart Quiz:
Which descendant of Alexander Stewart fought in the Civil War for the United States as a Lieutenant of the Seventh Kentucky Cavalry and was wounded on the charge on Fort Tyler in Georgia? Click Here for Answer.
Just the Facts Please
Isaac
A. Stewart (born 1854) was a son of William S. Stewart,
grandson of Isaac Stewart, great grandson of Alexander Stewart. Isaac
A. Stewart, an elected county attorney from Rockcastle County, Kentucky, and
a circuit judge from Mount Vernon, Kentucky, moved to DeLand, Florida, Volusia
County, and opened his law office in the late 1880's. The county seat of Volusia
County, Florida, was located in Enterprise, Florida, from 1854-1887. Isaac Stewart
spearheaded the move to have an election to relocate the County Seat. In 1887
the fight for the County Seat was on. DeLand, New Smyrna, Orange City, Daytona,
and Enterprise vied for the coveted prize. DeLand received the majority of all
the votes cast. After two appeals to the courts, DeLand was declared the County
Seat of Volusia County.
Isaac formed a law firm called Stewart and Bly. After his house burned in 1912, he and his family moved onto the second floor. Downstairs at the time was the law office of Stewart and Stewart, consisting of Isaac, his son, Thomas B. Stewart, and daughter, Mary. His daughter, Mary Stewart, was born in DeLand, Florida, in 1886, the daughter of Isaac and Kate Brinley Stewart, was one of the first women in Florida to be licensed to practice law. She had a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and earned her L.L.B. from the John B. Stetson Law School in 1912. She was admitted to practice in Florida in 1908, where she was in private practice for a time, in Pennsylvania in 1914, and in Tennessee in 1934. In 1920, she was President of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in Chester, Pennsylvania, and in 1949 she was President of Robert Howarth Sons, also in Chester. She married Casper Howarth in 1912 and had three daughters.
The
current representative to the Kentucky legislature from Knox County, James
Smith Stewart, III, is a direct descendant of our Alexander
Stewart. (1) James Smith Stewart III> (2) James Smith
Stewart II> (3) James Smith Stewart> (4)William Salem Smith, Jr (5) William
Salem Stewart, Sr. (6).>Isaac Stewart> (7) Alexander Stewart.
John
W. Culton, Alexander Stewart's great grandson (Euphemia
Stewart & John Culton>>James Culton & Miranda Anderson>>JohnW.
Culton) (1838) served with confederate General John Hunt Morgan's troops. Following
the war, he was indicted in Knox County for treason against his country. There
is no record of his trial. It is understood some charged with treason were tried,
by change of venue, in Clay County. However, after the General Amnesty proclamation,
most if not all, of the indictments were not prosecuted, or the charges were
filed away. During the war, Knox County voters voted overwhelmingly to remain
neutral. Decker reports that in 1861, Knox County, according to Judge James
Hays, a native Knox Countian, the county voters examined the record, voted on
the question of whether to remain neutral or take part in the Civil War. There
was only one vote for Secession, cast by John Culton, who lived in what would
now be Bell County. Mr. Culton named his son, Morgan (in honor of General Morgan)
Culton, who moved to Manchester, Clay County, Kentucky.
 |
| Photograph of John W. Culton,
seated center, surrounded by his family, taken around 1898. John Morgan
Culton is standing in the back row, far left. Photograph provided by Charles
L. Culton, grandson of John Morgan Culton.. |
Reflecting
the great division among families during the Civil War, Augustus
B. Culton, John W. Culton's older brother, served as a
First Lieutenant in the 49th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry which had
been organized at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, under Colonel John G. Eve, This Regiment
was originally recruited for the cavalry service but, prior to muster-in, viz:
on December 14, 1863, the various detachments were consolidated into ten companies
and the officers were duly commissioned from the date. All the companies and
detachments were mustered into the United States service on the 19th day of
September 1863, except two, one of which was mentioned in October 7, 1863, and
the other November 3, 1863. The Regiment marched as follows: It left Camp Nelson
for Somerset, Kentucky, October 20, 1863; shortly afterwards two companies went
to Camp Burnside, and one was put on duty at Waynesburg, Kentucky; The Regiment
was moved from Somerset to Camp Burnside on the 3rd and 4th days of January
1864, and on the 1st day of August 1864, it left Camp Burnside for Lexington,
Kentucky, where it arrived on the 6th and on the 17th it was sent to Louisville,
with the view of being marched against Adam Johnson's command; but it was recalled
and returned to Lexington on August 21, 1864; It remained on duty, chiefly in
the central portion of the State, until December 26, 1864, when it was mustered
out at Lexington, Kentucky.
The
first two females elected to public office in Rowan County were members of the
family of the William Charlie and Mary Polly Stewart. They were Cora
Wilson Stewart, who
was married to their grandson, Alexander Thomas Stewart, and who was elected
to be Superintendent of Education of Rowan County in 1901 and 1909, and Lydia
Messer Caudill, their great granddaughter who was elected
to be Superintendent of Education of Rowan County in 1906 and reelected in 1930.
Other
descendants who held public office in the Rowan County were: their son, the
Rev. James Stewart,
who twice was elected county judge during the later part of the 19th century;
their grandson, James Edward Stewart,
who elected county judge in the early 20th century, and Morgan
Thomas Stewart, their grandson, who was elected to County
Board of Education in the early 20th century; and, Alexander
Thomas Stewart, their grandson, who elected Morehead Police
Jude in the early 20th century.
The
first descendant of William Charlie and Mary Polly Crank Stewart to graduate
from the Morehead Normal School was Lottie
Jane Stewart, their great granddaughter. She was the sixth
graduate of the Normal School She also graduated from Berea College and attended
the University of Kentucky. She later was one of the early faculty members at
the Normal School.
Two
grandsons of William Charlie and Mary Polly Stewart were elected to the Kentucky
State Senate. They were: (1) Alexander Hamilton
Stewart (son of Jasper), elected in 1887 and re-elected
in 1892 to represent Floyd, Pike, Martin, Letcher, Perry, Knott, Leslie, Harlan
and Clay Counties; and James Edward Stewart
(son of William G.) elected in 1916 to represent Rowan Bath, Carter
, Fleming and Menifee Counties.
Robert
Lee Stewart, great grandson of William Charlie and Mary
Polly Stewart (Jasper B. Stewart>Alexander Hamilton Stewart) was elected
to the General Assembly in November, 1919, as a representative of the Ninety-ninth
Legislative District comprising Knott and Magoffin counties.
Dr.
Alexander Hamilton Stewart, grandson of William Charlie
and Mary Polly through their son Jasper Bird Stewart, served in the Spanish-American
as a Captain with his son, Rochambeau
Burt Stewart,
who was a first lieutenant.
Albert
Stewart,
son of William Stewart and grandson of Jasper Bird Stewart, was born in 1914
at Yellow Mountain in Kentucky's Knott County, he attended Hindman Settlement
School, earned degrees in English from Berea College and the University of Kentucky.
His life was dedicated to teaching, writing, encouraging and publishing other
writers. As the founder of Appalachian Heritage magazine, published at Berea
College, he was for some 12 years an important voice and vehicle for Appalachian
opinion and expression. Two books of his poetry have been published: The Untoward
Hills in 1962 and The Holy Season: Walking in the Wild. In 1995, he received
the Appalachian Treasure Award form Morehead State University.
World
War I Hero: Milford Littleton
(1894-1942), son of Mary Ann Stewart and A.J. Littleton, Grandson of Alexander
and Martha 
Patton
Stewart and great grandson of William Charlie and Mary Polly Crank Stewart.
Milford, a Sergeant with Company K of the 23rd Infantry of the Army fighting
in France, single handedly cleaned out a German machine gun crew and captured
the gun. The gun and crew were discovered and a captain asked for volunteers
to take the outfit. Milford offered to go and his captain told him to pick some
men to go with him, but his reply was that he could do the job himself and he
did it. He cleaned out the gun crew with dispatch and tied the machine gun to
his body and dragged it into the lines. For this act of bravery, Milford Littleton
was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC).
The DSC was established by order of the President on January 2, 1918, confirmed
by Congress on July 1918. This medal is Awarded to members of the US Army serving
after April 6, 1917, who distinguish themselves by "Extraordinary Heroism
in Connection with Military Operations Against an Opposing Armed Force."
It is second only to the Medal of Honor. After World War I,
Milt moved to Missoula, Montana to recover from poison gas used against him
in the war. He studied forestry at the University of Montana.
Private
Elijah Amburgey was born
in January 31, 1838 in Perry County the son of Robert Amburgey and Elizabeth
Fuller. In 1859 he married Lou Annie Stewart,
daughter of William and Polly Crank Stewart. He enlisted in Company F, 5th Kentucky
Mounted Infantry for the Confederacy along with his brother Jesse. After the
war he settled in Morehead, Rowan County, as a farmer. He died December 31,
1906 Both are buried in the Clearfield, Cemetery.
Judge
Roscoe C. Littleton, son of Mary Ann Stewart Littleton
A.J. Littleton, grandson of Alexander Stewart and Martha Patton Stewart, great-grandson
of William Charlie and Mary Polly Crank Stewart. Judge Roscoe C. Littleton served
as city attorney in Grayson, Kentucky and Carter County Attorney and two terms
as circuit judge of Carter, Morgan and Elliot counties. He also served as a
special judge in Lawrence, Perry and Pike Counties. He was active in the Republican
party, having served as Carter County chairman, and as a member of GOP’s
state central committee. In addition, he served twice as president of Grayson’s
First National Bank and as its board chairman.
Frances
Mills Jones is the great, great, great granddaughter of
Alexander Stewart. (Alexander Stewart>Isaac Stewart>Rebecca Stewart married
Dutton Jones>William H. Jones, Sr.> Dr. William H. Jones, Jr.>Frances
Jones Mills.) For over twenty years, she held 
statewide
political office. In 1962, Ms. Jones-Mills was elected to the Kentucky House
of Representatives from Knox County. She was the first woman and first Democrat
ever to represent that county. In 1972, she was elected Clerk of the Kentucky
Court of Appeals (now Kentucky Supreme Court). She was elected Kentucky State
Treasurer in 1976, and elected to be Kentucky Secretary of State in 1980, re-elected
to be State Treasurer in 1984 and 1992. Mills died of cancer May 24, 1996.
One
of the most interesting descendants of Alexander Stewart was Jacob
E. “Jake” Littleton. Jake
was the son of Mary Jane Stewart and William Littleton, the grandson of William
G. and Cynthia Patton Stewart, and the great grandson of William 
Charlie
and Mary Polly Crank Stewart. Jake. Littleton was 7 feet, 7 inches tall. He
was an entertainer and circus performer. In 1933, he was the "Enchanter
of the Enchanted Island" at the Chicago’s World's Fair "Century
of Progress" According to Alice Littleton: “[Jake] is buried in the
Everman [Cemetery in Carter County] just up from A.J. and Mary Ann Stewart’s
Littleton’s grave. His grave is definitely longer than the others. I have
heard my father-in-law, Gomez Littleton, comment on his casket. He said that
they carried it on the back of a pickup truck and that someone had to sit on
the front of it to keep it from falling off the bed of the truck because it
was so long. He did have a son named Jay who was a few years older than I. He
also died at a young age (around 35). At the time of his death he was working
in Cincinnati at a TV station. I believe he was playing a giant on a child's
program at the time of his death. He was tall but not as tall as his father.”
For a picture of Jake in his Worlds
Fair costume, click here, bottom row, far left.
The
great, great granddaughter of William Charlie and Mary Polly Stewart, Verna
Johnson, married Congressman
Carl D. Perkins, who presented eastern Kentucky (1948-1984)
in Congress for over thirty-six years. (William Charlie & Mary Polly Crank
Stewart > Jasper Bird Stewart & Vicy Thacker > Robert Preston Thacker
Stewart & Sabra Smith > Lurana Thacker Stewart (1891-1968) & Russel
L. Johnson > Verna Johnson (born 1919) & Congressman Carl D. Perkins>
Congressman Chris Perkins)
For more information on Congressman Perkins, click here.
Sallie
Stewart Boggs, a daughter of Jasper Stewart, granddaughter
of William Charlie Stewart, was the longest living descendant. Born on September
15, 1854, she lived to October 16, 1954. Hiram
Stamper, Jasper's grandson through his daughter Margaret
Ann Stewart and her husband, Marion Stamper, lived to be 98 (1893-1991).
Sallie
Stewart Bogg's grandson was Dr.
Eli Boggs who delivered more than ten thousand babies
through the years, died on January 7, 2002 at the age of 92, at his home in
Hazard. He had practiced medicine from the mid-1940s until his retirement in
the 1980s. Eli Boggs, the son of another Hazard doctor, James Preston Boggs
and his wife, Sara Eversole Boggs. He was 
a
grandson of Sallie Stewart and Jessie Boggs. He graduated from medical school
in Boston, Massachusetts. Later Boggs served as chairman of the board of directors
of Citizens Bank and served two terms as Hazard City Commissioner. He married
his high school sweetheart, Margaret Craft in 1941 at the First Presbyterian
Church in Hazard. Years later his wife recalled that often the only time she
and Eli had together was when she would accompany him on house calls or ride
with him to the hospital for a baby delivery. During the 1983 Black Gold Festival
in Hazard, Dr. Boggs was honored with the declaration of Dr. Boggs Day. Citizens
of the area who had been delivered by him filled the streets. A young medical
student in attendance that day later wrote that Dr. Boggs made house calls 24
hours a day, seven days a week, lowered fevers, cured sniffles, delivered babies,
but above all comforted his patients when they needed it most. Boggs was honored
at the 1994 Hazard Appalachian Regional Medical Center's Doctors' Day Dinner
and was named Hazard Man of the Year. He graduated from the University of Kentucky
and Middlesex Medical School in Boston. He was a charter member of the Kentucky
River District Health Department and the Kentucky Chapter of the American Academy
of Family Practitioners.
The
different spellings (Stewart,
Stuart, Steward, etc.) --The original
spelling of the name was derived from gaelic words for the keeper of the household
and certain included accounts (steward) and the royal hereditary position, High
Stewart of Scotland, created by King David I. From its beginning as a name,
it was spelled with a "t" instead of a "d" on the end. The
Stuart spelling resulted from the movement of Scots back and forth to France.
At the time there was no "w" in the French language so the Stuart
spelling is a French version, brought back to Scotland from France. Other spellings
have resulted from the names being changed because they were recorded as some
one heard them or because the correct spelling was simply not known.
Stewart
is the #51 Most Popular Surname in the U.S.
According to the 1990 Census.