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James MORGAN
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Text: Date of Import: Mar 11, 2002
Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 3rd ed., 1885,
Hardin Co.JOHN H. STEWART. The subject of this sketch descends from a family whose
name, in Kentucky, is contemporary with that of Boone, Harrod and Kenton.
By reference to page 111 of this volume it will be seen that in 1769 a
small company of adventurers and hunters, under the leadership of Finley,
came from North Carolina to Kentucky. Conspicuous among these were Daniel
Boone and John Stewart, the latter of whom, as is stated, was killed by
Indians the following year in the vicinity of Mercer County. He had
married Hannah Boone, a sister of Daniel, and had but one child, viz.:
William B. Stewart, who, with his widowed mother, was doubtless of the
company who came to Kentucky in 1773. William B. Stewart was married, in
Bourbon County, to Tabitha Braine, and had a family consisting of Mary,
Nancy, Anna, Rebecca, Margaret, Hannah, John, Solomon, James B., David,
Moses and Samuel Stewart. James B., the third son, is the father of John
H., the subject of these lines. He was born in 1803, and came to Hardin
County in 1820. He married Miss Sarah Smallwood, daughter of Hezekiah
Smallwood, of Elizabethtown, had a family of nine children, with one of
whom he now lives in Hardin County. John H. is the eldest of the family of
James B. and Sarah Stewart, and was born near Elizabethtown, Hardin County,
on August 5, 1828. The resources of his parents were limited, and in his
boyhood days his opportunities of acquiring an education were quite meager,
being confined to a few months in a common school. By assiduous personal
application, however, he fitted himself for the duties of teaching, which
profession engaged much of his early life. While on this subject we will
state as a fact that no man in Hardin County can dispute with him the honor
of having done most for the cause of education, both with his money and
personal influence, believing that the cause of popular education is the
bulwark of free institutions and good government, and that the essence of
benevolence is the helping of others to help themselves, which is achieved
through the agency of free schools. In May, 1863, he was appointed to the
office of assistant assessor of internal revenue, serving until the office
was abolished in 1872. He then became deputy collector of revenue,
storekeeper-gauger and gauger, these several positions covering a period of
twenty-two years. Without fear or favor, through times fraught with
outlawry, and when the Government officials were peculiarly unpopular, Mr.
Stewart was unflinching in the discharge of his duties, and is said to have
done more than any officer of his district to compel obedience to the
revenue laws. In matters involving the public finances, he is known to be
a safe conservator of the public trust. For the past six years he has been
treasurer of the sinking fund committee of Hardin County, and the saving of
many thousands of dollars to the county is due to his ability as a
financier. He was the leading spirit in the organization of the
Elizabethtown National Bank, and is one of the directors and principal
stockholders. In fact, he has been intimately connected with the business
interests of his county, and it may be safely said of him that he has never
betrayed a trust or deviated from what his judgment dictated was right and
for the public good, and is characterized for his total disregard of public
opinion when opposed to his ideas of right. In short, as a citizen, as a
public officer, and as an advocate of free schools, he has been true to
himself and his fellow-man. On December 24, 1869, Mr. Stewart married Miss
Jennie, daughter of Rankin and Margaret Mason, of Madison County, Ky. She
died in 1873, leaving one daughter, Ida Stewart. His present wife, to whom
he was married in 1875, was Miss Nannie Mason, a younger sister of his
former wife. Their children are Maggie, Mason, John Walker and Mary Birdie
Stewart. Subject is a member of the Presbyterian Church and an advocate of
the principles of the Republican Party.Stewart Finley Boone Braine Smallwood Mason
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NC Mercer-KY Bourbon-KY Madison-KY