WILLIAM STEWART
wife: Nancy Marston [daughter of Capt. James and Mary [Grant] Marston
born: 1808 in Maine

Parents:
John Stewart
Isabella Vance

TIME OF DEATH,

According to the book HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY, published 1879, William Stewart, died in 1857 (see excerpts).

According to the Book QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY HISTORY AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN, Vol. I, published 1919, p. 621, William Stewart died in December 1857.

According to the book QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY HISTORY AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN, Vol. II, published 1919, p. 1037, under the profile of his newphew, Gilbert Vance Stewart, 'William Stewart died of typhoid when about fifty-five years of age, December 13, 1857.'

According to the profile of his son, Joseph Howard Stewart, written in PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF WESTERN OREGON, published 1904, page 479, William Stewart died in 1859.
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Excerpt taken from profile of son Cyrus Stewart, from the book HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY, 1919, page 837.

"WILLIAM STEWART was born near Belfast, Ireland, Oct. 29, 1802. He enjoyed superior educational advantages up to his fifteenth year, though he had to walk four miles to school.

HE evinced a love for mathematics and navigation; was apprenticed on board a merchantman which sailed between Europe and the United States. He became second mate, soon after which, the vessel was captured by pirates. He narrowly escaped with his life and abandoned the sea.

HE married Nancy Marston, in Maine, in May 1823. In 1836 they came to Payson township. When back on a business trip, he brought a pint of apple seed from New York, which he planted, and started the first nursery in that part of the county.

HE took great pains to cultivate choice varieties of fruit tress and ornamental shrubbery, and many of the beautiful door yards of Adams county are living monuments of his enterprise and good taste.

THEY had fourteen children; thirteen still living. He died Dec. 13, 1857. He and his wife were zealous members of the Baptist church. She owns the homestead of 295 acres, worth $70 an acre."
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Parents of Nancy Marston were James and Mary Marston.
In the Payson, Adams County News, Illinois, for February 30, 1883, was the following obituary of Mrs. Nancy Stewart: Born in Cutler, Washington Co., ME, February 29, 1808, died in Payson, IL, Feb 13, 1883. She was a daughter of James and Mary Marston.
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Excerpt taken from Adams County Atlas, 1872, from profile of John Stewart, William and Nancy's son.

"John Stewart was born in Washington county, Maine, February 21, 1828. His father was a native of Ireland, born in the county of Down, in 1802, and when twenty-one years of age he settled in Maine, and was soon after married to Nancy Marston, daughter of Capt. James Marston. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart had a family of fourteen children, tens sons and four daughters, thirteen of whom are yet living. In 1836, Mr. Stewart removed with his family to Adams county, Illinois, locating in Payson, where he engaged in the nursery business, and was one of the first and most extensive nurserymen in Adams county. Mr. Stewart and his wife both early joined the Baptist church.
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The book PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF WESTERN OREGON contains a profile Joseph Howard Stewart,page 479, which references the history of his father, William Stewart. Excerpt below:

"WILLIAM STEWART, was born of Scotch parents in the north of Ireland, and upon coming to America about 1821 located on the coast of Maine, in Washington County. He had made a former visit there while sailing before the mast and studying navigation, to which he did not take kindly, having a genius for mechanical invention.

IN Maine he married Nancy Marston, a native daughter of the state, and who, at the time of her death in Quincy, Ill., left seventy-five descendants.

FOURTEEN children were born to William Stewart and his wife, ten sons and four daughters, Joseph Howard, born in Washington county, Me., November 22, 1833, being the fourth son.

AFTER bringing his family to Quincy., Ill., in 1836, William Stewart inaugurated a career which did him credit from many standpoints. Settling on land in Adams county he started a nursery and farming business, and the first fruit-trees brought to Oregon in an ox-train came from this farm.

HE was one of the original Free Soilers, and took an active part in political matters. He was president and one of the foremost promoters of the first agricultural society in the state of Illinois, organized in 1854, supporting the same by his hearty zeal and co-operation the remainder of his life. Mr. Stewart died in 1859, at the age of fifty-six years, leaving his family and friends a legacy of an honored name and to those dependent upon him a comfortable inheritance."
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The profile and entire book may be read online or downloaded free in PDF file from:

http://www.archive.org/details/quincyadamscount01wilc

A profile of William Stewart, Sr., taken from book QUINCY AND ADAMS COUNTY HISTORY AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN, published 1919, page 621.

CHAPTER XIX
Payson and Plaineville

PIONEER HORTICULTURALISTS

IN the earlier years of the Town of Payson had a high horticultural reputation, certainly taking the lead in Adams County and measuring u to the highest standard of any other section in the state. The first apple orchard worthy of the name was planted by Deacon A. Scarborough in the spring of 1838. ……

WILLIAM STEWART, [Sr.] was probably the most widely known of the early horticulturists who gave that part of the county such a good standing. In 1836, he came with his wife and large family of children to Payson Township, his home for many years having been in the State of Maine.

NOT LONG after the family settled in Payson Township, Mr. Stewart returned to the East on a business trip and purchased a pint of apple seed in New York. With that stock he started the first orchard, or nursery, in Adams County. He not only specialized in the cultivation of choice varieties of fruit trees, but commenced to raised ornamental shrubbery, and many of the old homesteads in the Payson neighbor hood, and quite a distance beyond, owe their artificial landscape attractions to William Stewart's taste and enterprise. His death occurred in December 1857, and his descendants in Adams County are numerous.
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The book HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY, ILLINOIS (1879) contains much information on the life and work of William Stewart, Sr. and his sons, in particular Rev. William Stewart, Jr. and Joseph Howard Stewart. The entire book can be read online or downloaded free in PDF form from:

http://www.archive.org/details/historyofadamsco00murr

Page 447, 448

WILLIAM STEWART, SR., of Payson, was the first nurseryman in the county to keep evergreens for sale. He obtained his supply by making annual trips to the Northern pineries, where he had the young seedlings dug from the forests, carefully packed under his personal supervision, and shipped home by steamboat. They were planted in the nursery rows, and grown for two or three years before they were sold to customers.

A LARGER percentage of them died from the effects of the first transplanting, but after growing a year or two in the nursery they could be transplanted with perfect safety. The people, however, were at first afraid to risk their growing and Mr. Stewart used to set them out on the grounds of his customers and warrant them to grow.

HE MADE landscape gardening a study, and used to lay out the walks and arrange the grounds of his neighbor, and in this way a number of places assumed such an attractive appearance that the demand for evergreens and ornamental shrubbery became general. To meet this demand he enlarged his stock.

FAILING in one of his trips to the upper Mississippi to find all the varieties he desired, he sent one of his sons, who was with him, across the country to the lakes, part of the way by stage and part of the way on foot, through the forest, with instructions to return with his tress by way of the lake to Chicago and thence home by way of the canal and the Illinois river to Naples, whence his own wagons would haul them forty miles to the nursery.

THE NEXT season another son was sent south to ransack the Southern forests for everything beautiful which might promise of becoming acclimated here. A large assortment was brought, most of which proved to be too tender for our winters, and among these, to his deep regret, were the grand evergreens magnolia and the holly. The pitch pine of the South proved to be nearly hardy but not ornamental. Specimens of it are still standing on "Fawley Place," near Quincy, and on the old Stewart homestead at Payson.

THE DECIDUOUS or swamp-cypress was the only truly valuable acquisition from this source. It grows vigorously on our soil, is perfectly hardy, and makes a unique and beautiful tree. A number of specimens still standing on the site of the old Payson nursery are assuming stately proportions, and already show rising from the ground around them, the famous "cypress knees" of the Southern swamps. One or two very fine specimens are also standing in the grounds of "Fawley Place."

THE ERA of home adornment was now fairly inaugurated, and nurserymen all over the county kept from that time forth a liberal supply of evergreens and other ornamental trees and shrubbery, which found ready sale at remunerative prices.


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Excerpts below from:
TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 1857
ILLINOIS STATE FAIR 1856

The pages may be viewed online or the book downloaded free in PDF form at:

http://books.google.com/books?id=aKoSAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Page 136
CLASS II
NO. 36 – FRUIT

THE BEST display of fruit and ornamental trees - first premium – diploma and tin – William Stewart and Sons, Quincy, Adams County, Illinois.

THE BEST mid greatest variety of apples - second premium – medal – William Stewart and Sons, Quincy, Illinois.

THE BEST twenty-five varieties of apples, for all purposes, first premium – diploma – William Stewart and Sons, Quincy, Illinois.

THE BEST and most perfect system of naming and classifying fruit trees in nursery and orchard, first premium – diploma – William Stewart and Sons, Quincy, Illinois.
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Below Excerpt from book PAST AND PRESENT OF ADAM'S COUNTY, IL, AGRICULTURE, p. 267 - 270

The chapter below can be viewed or downloaded free in PDF form from the internet at:

http://www.co.adams.il.us/history/Forms/agriculture.pdf

CHAPTER XLIX
AGRICULTURE-THE DISTRICTS OF ILLINOIS-DEVELOPMENT OF LANDS FARMERS' INSTITUTES - SOILS - CROPS - CATTLE, HOGS, HORSES, POULTRY - ROADS - HORTICULTURE

Page 267
QUINCY'S outward beauty is the outward and visible sign of a deep and inward sense for things beautiful that is universal, and touches not some, but all.

BUT if horticulture is in its deepest and truest sense the outward result of the inward craving for the beautiful, and therefore first to be mentioned, it is not less true that it has a practical sense, and that an honorable one. For if such men as I have mentioned deserve well of the city, not less to be remembered and revered are the pioneers in practical horticulture— such men as WILLIAM STEWART, SR., of Payson; Deacon Scarborough, of the same town; Clark Chatten and Robert Rankin, of Fall Creek; Henry Kent and Edward Sinnock, of Ellington; D. C. Benton, and Harges & Sommers, of Quincy.

PAGE 268
IN I839 WM. STEWART, of Payson, planted some peach seeds which he had secured from a small quantity of fruit purchased in Pike county for the purpose, and in the spring of 1840 he transplanted the young trees to a new farm he had purchased adjoining the village.

AT THE SAME TIME he purchased one hundred grafted apple trees from a nursery in Pike County, probably at Atlas, and planted them in alternate rows with the peach trees. During the summer he went East and in the autumn brought from New York a choice collection of various lands of fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, flower seeds, etc., such as his then limited means enabled him to purchase.

THE NEXT SPRING he planted these, and grafted some young apple trees grown from seeds planted the previous spring, and this commenced "Stewart's Nursery," which for twenty-five years was the leading one in the county.

IN 1852, MR. STEWART started a branch nursery in Quincy under the direction of WM. STEWART JR., whom he had admitted to partnership. Henry Kent, of Ellington, sent in 1839 to Prince's nursery, Long Island, for a supply of apples, peaches and nectarines, and with these as a beginning started a nursery in 1841. He was the introducer of the nectarine, which was for many years after profitably grown ithis section.

HE WAS to the north half or the county what Stewart was to the southern half, and a man of splendid character and judgment. A later very valuable nursery was that of Deacon A. Scarborough, of Payson.

BUR THE NURSERIES, valuable as they were as adjuncts to our early horticulture, would have been incomplete as stimuli had it not been for the remarkable work at the county's first Horticultural Society, of which Robert Rankin, for many years was the president and moving spirit. Under the active guidance of this society much valuable experimental work was undertaken, and successful exhibits were made at the State Fair and meetings of the American Pomological Society.

THE FIRST EXHIBITION of Adams county fruit at the State Fair was at Springfield in 1853, when WM. STEWART and SON took a number of premiums, among them that for the largest and best collection of apples named and true to the name.

THE FIRST PUBLIC exhibition east of the Alleghanies was in 1860, by G. H. STEWART, who took a choice collection to the meeting of the American Pomological Society in Philadelphia. This fruit attracted much attention and received high commendation."

PAGE 269
THE ADAMS COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY was organized in December, 1867, by the election of Robert Rankin as president and Wm. Stewart [Jr.], as secretary. This soon included all the leading horticulturists of the county.

THIS SOCIETY did effective work for many years; it made out lists of the various kinds of fruits, based on long practical experience of the members, and recommended these lists to planters; it held outdoor meetings in the summer months, on the grounds of the different members, for the purpose of observing the practical workings of the different systems of culture. It also made exhibits, as a society, at various fairs, with the most flattering results.

HOWEVER, it languished; but with a later revival of general interest in horticulture there was established the Mississippi Apple Growers' Association in Quincy, in 1900.
Its founder and first president was Henry Clay Cupp, of Fall Creek the largest orchardist in the county. James Handly, of Quincy, was its secretary, a position he still holds. Mr. Cupp was later succeeded by the Hon. S. N. Black, of Clayton, as president. Mr. Black was a charter member of the Illinois Horticultural Society, and one of the most eminent and widely known horticulturists in the State. On his retiring from the presidency in the present year, 1905, he was succeeded by C. H.. Williamson, of Quincy.

THE SOCIETY, while local in its origin, was comprehensive in its aims, and while, unlike the early Horticultural Society, it confined its interest to the apple, it was because in the series of years the apple had come to be the only fruit of importance in Adams county raised for the distant market.

IN FACT, in the intervening years even the apple had diminished in importance in the volume of product and in its essential vale in the market, and strawberries and peaches; which had in the later sixties and early seventies been shipped in remarkable volume from the various shipping points of the county, had dwindled to insignificance during the eighties and early nineties as far as their production on a commercial scale was concerned.

THE CAUSES of this remarkable change are not far to seek. In the first place, the culture of strawberries, this had its beginning in 1852 by J. H. STEWART and D. C.Benton, of Quincy, and in 1865 had attained to considerable volume, was greatly affected during the eighties by the throwing open by the railroads of new and cheap lands in the Southwest to berry culture, causing a great decline in the market values of strawberries in the markets where our berries were sent, as well at the same time new and better methods of shipping, particularly the use of refrigerator cars, made it possible to ship from more distant points in other directions, so that there was a greatly lessened demand for our berries.

THIS same cause operated against our other small fruits, as well as against peaches. But an even more potent cause came into operation by the industrial expansion of Quincy itself, which withdrew hundreds of those on whom the berry growers depended for picking their fruits, to more lucrative occupations.

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Below extracted from: The Genealogies of Virginia Families from Tyler's Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. I, No. 1, page 525.

"THE MARRIAGE of William Stewart [Jr.]and Elizabeth Kay transfers our interests across seas, and we give record of William's father and grandfather.

FROM THE STEWART FAMILY BIBLE

JOHN STEWART married ISABELLA VANCE, Newtownards County Down, Ireland.

Children of Isabella Vance and John Stewart

Joseph born April 1800 (Newtownards, Ireland)
WILLIAM October 29, 1802 (Newtownards, Ireland)
John March 11, 1804 (Newtownards, Ireland)
James January 20, 1806 (Newtownards, Ireland)
Alexander July 12, 1808 (Newtownards, Ireland)
Gilbert April 20, 1815 (Newtownards, Ireland)
Isabella, Jr. July 2, 1826 (Newtownards, Ireland) Possibly in Cutler, Maine where the family moved in 1825.

William Stewart married Nancy Marston, May 6, 1823, in Cutler, Me. (William came over 2 years before the rest.)

Children of William Stewart and Nancy Marston:

Maria 24 Mar 1824
Mary Isabella 8 Feb 1826
John 21 Feb 1828
William 18 Jun 1830 [d. 26 June 1926]
Adamson 9 Feb 1832*
Joseph Howard 22 Nov 1833
George Edwin 5 Jul 1835
(The family moved from Cutler, ME, to Adams County, Illinois in 1836.)
Isaac Newton 19 Jul 1837
Florinda Terry 12 Feb 1840 m. James Wise
Henry W. 23 May 1842
Francis Marian 9 Sep 1844
Emma 16 May 1847 m. William Steinhoff
Cyrus 6 Jul 1849
Vinet Vance 14 Dec 1853

* The name written in the above book for the 3rd son of William Stewart, Sr. and wife Nancy Marston is Adamson. Other references indicate the name is Adoniran J. (Judson.) See Land Grants for Jackson County, Oregon, at website:

http://www.rvgslibrary.org/index.html

Also, see Find a Grave site for Adoniram J. Stewart.
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Legal notice was given in THE QUINCY DAILY HERALD, dated Sept. 2, 1858; Page 3. William died in 1857. His wife Nancy and family are documented in the newspaper notice below:

"STATE OF ILLINOIS --- COUNTY OF Adams, Sct., In the Adams Circuit Court, Illinois; to the October term, A. D. 1858.
Joseph Bennet…………………..complainant.
vs.
Nancy Stewart, William A. Thompson, Maria [Stewart] Thompson, Joseph Totten, Isabella [Stewart] Totten, John Stewart, Adaniram J. Stewart, Joseph H. Stewart, George E. Stewart, Isaac N. Stewart, Florinda T. Stewart, Henry W. Stewart, Francis M. Stewart, Emma Stewart, Cyrus Stewart, Vinet V. Stewart, Giles S. Lewis and William Stewart, Jr………………………….defendants.

It appearing by affidavit on file, in the office of the clerk of the circuit court in and for said county, that said defendant, Adaniram J. Stewart and George E. Stewart reside out of this state:

Notice is therefore hereby given, on the Chancery side thereof, and that a summons has been issued against the said defendant first above named, returnable on the first day of the next term of the said circuit court, to be holden at the court house, in Quincy, on the fourth Monday in the month of October next, and that unless said defendant be and appear before said circuit court, on the return day of said summons, and answer the said complainant's bill of complaint, the allegations thereof will be taken as confessed against them and a decree entered according to the prayer of said bill.

Dated at Quincy, this 23d day of August A. D. 1858.
THOS. W MACFALL, Clerk.
Isaac Shinn, complainants solicitor. an24d30d"
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Information for sources given can be found at archive.com in the following books which may viewed online and downloaded in PDF form:

(1) Past and Present of the city of Quincy and Adams County, Illinois (1905)

http://www.archive.org/details/pastpresentofcit00coll

(2) Portrait and Biographical Record of Illinois, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens (1892)

http://www.archive.org/details/portraitbiograph00chica

(3) The History of Adams County, 1879

http://www.archive.org/details/historyofadamsco00murr
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* Linked on Find A Grave

1 Maria Stewart Thompson (1824 - 1903)*
2 Mary Isabella Stewart Totten (1826 - 1858)*
3 John Stewart (1828 - 1907)*
4 William Stewart (1830 - 1926)*
5 Adoniram Judson Stewart (1832 - 1912)*
6 JOSEPH HOWARD Stewart (1833 - 1905)*
7 George Edwin Stewart (1835 - 1919)
8 Isaac Newton Stewart (1837 - 1913)*
9 Florinda Terry Stewart (1840 -
10 Henry Willard Stewart (1842 - 1909)*
11 Francis Marion Stewart (1844 - 1920)*
12 Emma Stewart (1847 - 1936)
13 Cyrus Stewart (1849 - 1910)*
14 Vincent Vance Stewart (1853 - 1929)*

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George Edwin Stewart b. July 5, 1835 died Sept 21, 1919 in Rohnerville, CA, married Jeanette Wright Duncan.
California Death Index

1900 Census
Name George E Stewart
Age 64
Birth Date Jul 1835
Birthplace Maine
Home in 1900 Rohnerville, Humboldt, California
Race White
Gender Male
Relation to Head of House Head
Marital Status Married
Spouse's Name Jennette W Stewart
Marriage Year 1858
Years Married 42
Father's Birthplace Ireland
Mother's Birthplace Maine
Household Members
Name Age
George E Stewart 64
Jennette W Stewart 63
Fredrick W Stewart 33
Clara Stewart 17

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Name: Florinda T Stewart
Gender: Female
Spouse Name: James Wise
Marriage Date: 28 Feb 1864
Marriage County: Adams
Comments: This record can be found at the County Court Records, Film # 1845384 -1845385.

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1870 Census
Name Flora T Wise
Age in 1870 30
Birth Year abt 1840
Birthplace Illinois
Home in 1870 Wakenda, Carroll, Missouri
Race White
Gender Female
Post Office Carrollton
Household Members
Name Age
James Wise 32
Flora T Wise 30
Frank Wise 2
Berta Wise 3/12

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1880 Census Florinda T. Wise
Name Flora T. Wise
Age 40
Birth Year abt 1840
Birthplace Illinois
Home in 1880 Spring Creek, Saline, Kansas
Race White
Gender Female
Relation to Head of House Wife
Marital Status Married
Spouse's Name James Wise
Father's Birthplace Maine
Mother's Birthplace Maine
Occupation House Keeper
Household Members
Name Age
James Wise 42
Flora T. Wise 40
Frank Wise 12
Bertha Wise 10
Ellen J. Wise 4

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Emma Stinehoff
California Death Index
Name Emma Stinehoff
Birth Year abt 1847
Death Date 29 Dec 1936
Age at Death 89
Death Place Humboldt, California, USA

1870 Census
Name Wm Steinhoff
Age in 1870 28
Birth Year abt 1842
Birthplace Hannover / Hanover
Home in 1870 Center, Vernon, Missouri
Race White
Gender Male
Post Office Nevada
Household Members
Name Age
Wm Steinhoff 28 born Hanover
Emma Steinhoff 21 born Illinois
Edward Steinhoff 3 born Missouri
August Steinhoff 18 born Hanover
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Photos submitted by me are encouraged to be shared and submitted to any genealogical website. For more views, contact William Stewart descendant, Patricia.
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