Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Stewart, Clark M. 1854 - living in 1917
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 21, 2005, 5:08 am

Author: B. F. Bowen

CLARK M. STEWART.

    Clark M. Stewart, a well-known architect and builder, of Marysville,
Marshall county, was born in Steuben county, New York, on March 21, 1854, being
the son of Samuel and Sarah Ann (Leach) Stewart, who were natives of the state
of New York, the father having been born in that state on March 7, 1811, and the
mother on September 17, 1815. They received their education in the public
schools of their native state and there grew up and were married on February 6,
1836. The father was born at Troy and there he learned the trade of a carpenter.
He worked at his trade in the state until 1854, when he located at
Millidgeville, Illinois, where he established himself as a contractor and
builder and continued in the business until the outbreak of the Civil War when
he enlisted in the Fifty-fifth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry and saw
much active service in the campaigns about Vicksburg, Shilo and Pittsburg
Landing. His eldest son also served in another regiment. After a service of one
and one-half years, Samuel Stewart received his honorable discharge and returned
to his home at Millidgeville and again engaged in his work of contractor and
builder until 1875, when he went to Iowa, where he died on November 29, 1889.
Mr. Stewart was of a family whose history dates back to over two hundred years
in the state of New York. Mrs. Stewart died on February 24, 1873, after a useful
and active life. She was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church and
took a prominent part in all the services of that denomination. Her paternal
grandparents were natives of Holland and established themselves in New York and
became identified with the life of that state.

    Samuel and Sarah Ann Stewart were the parents of nine children as follow:
Hezekiah, Calvin, Julia, Rena, Sarah, Helen, Melvin, Clark M. and James W.
Hezekiah resides at Madrid, Iowa, where he lives a retired life. He is a veteran
of the Civil War and was during his younger days an accomplished musician;
Calvin lives in Grundy county, Iowa, where he is a successful farmer and
stockman; Julia Bowen is a resident of Illinois, where she and her husband live
retired after active service spent on the farm; Rena Mead is a widow and lives
in Illinois; Sarah Heath is now deceased; Helen Smith and husband reside in
Minneapolis; Melvin lives at Conrad, Iowa, and is a retired farmer, and James W.
lives at Waterville, Kansas, and is a well-known farmer.

    Clark M. Stewart was reared in Illinois and there received his education in
the public schools and as a young man learned the carpenter trade. In June,
1878, he and his brother, James W., came to Marshall county, having driven a
team of horses from Grundy county. They each purchased eighty acres of railroad
land, for which they paid five dollars and fifty cents per acre, and had to
borrow the money to make the first payment. Mr. Stewart at once engaged in
breaking the wild prairie land and the next year he built a small house and
devoted his time to farming until 1881, when he went to Herkimer, where he
worked at his trade until 1887, when he went to western Kansas and purchased a
tract of land in Thomas county, and again engaged in farming for a short time.
He later lived in Colby and Kansas City, Missouri, and in 1888 returned to
Marshall county and located at Marysville, where he established himself as a
contractor and builder. He has built some of the finest residences as well as
the Pusch cigar factory and the city hall. He has substantial property in the
city. He sold his farm of eighty acres in the county in 1915, but owns the other
farms that he purchased.

    Politically, Mr. Stewart is identified with the Democratic party and has
served on the city council for a number of years. He is a member of the Knights
of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a man of much influence in
his home community.

    In 1879 Clark M. Stewart was united in marriage to Mary E. Purcell, who was
born in Berkeley county, Virginia, on September 18, 1855, and is the daughter of
Thomas V. and Nancy N. (Walters) Purcell. Thomas and Nancy Purcell were natives
of Loudoun county, Virginia, the former having been born on June 7, 1818, and
the latter in 1820. They received their education in the schools of their native
states and there grew up. They first met in the state of Virginia and were there
married. They continued to reside in Virginia after their marriage until 1860,
when they moved to Illinois. Mr. Purcell being a Quaker, was not compelled to
serve in the Civil War, the religious belief of that denomination being
recognized by the government. On their arrival in Illinois, Mr. and Mrs. Purcell
established their home on a farm, where Mr. Purcell was actively engaged as a
general farmer and stockman until seven years before he died when he moved to
Millidgeville, Illinois, where he died on February 19, 1887, and his widow died
on November 2, 1893. They were the parents of the following children: Joseph,
Mahlon, Anna, John, Thomas, Mary E. and Elias H. Joseph is now deceased; Mahlon
is a retired farmer of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Anna married Jasper Shoemaker,
and after some years of married life, Mr. Shoemaker died and the widow is now
living at Pasadena, California; John is a resident of Billings, Montana: Thomas
is a resident of Polo, Illinois; Mary E. is the wife of Clark M. Stewart; and
Elias H. is professor of music in Chicago, Illinois.

    Clark M. and Mary B. Stewart are the parents of one child, Edith S., who was
born on October 9, 1883. She is a graduate of the Marysville high school and the
University of Kansas. She was married in 1903 to Clarence T. Rice, who is
prominently connected with the high schools of Kansas City, Kansas, where he is
principal. To Mr. and Mrs. Rice has been born one child, Mary, whose birth
occurred on August 7, 1914. Mr. Rice is the son of Charles and Inez (Crane)
Rice. Charles W. Rice was born in England on October 16, 1856, and was the son
of William and Ellen (Watson) Rice, who came to Canada in 1864. The parents were
ribbon-makers in England, and when they located in Canada they were employed as
laborers. In 1867 they came to Indiana and located near Bluffton, where they
engaged in general farming, and there William Rice died in 1869. It was there
that Charles W. Rice lived until 1877, when he left his mother, two sisters and
a brother and on a horse started on the long trip to Marshall county. Here he
located in Winifred and for two years worked as a farm hand, at which time he
was married in a log cabin, in 1879, to Inez Crane, after which he rented a farm
and there established his home. After three years he purchased a farm two miles
south and one mile east of Home City, where he and his family lived until 1889
when he engaged in the grocery business at Home City, which business he
conducted until 1891, when he engaged in the carpenter work. In 1896 he moved to
Marysville, where he worked in the general store of Frank Powell until October,
1899, when he purchased the furniture store of H. B. Walker, which he conducted
until the time of his death on December 20, 1911. The mother of Clarence T. Rice
was born on November 15, 1862, in Milford, Illinois, and died on August 6, 1890.
Her father was born in Pennsylvania in 1830 and was one of the early
homesteaders in Marshall county. His wife, Sarah Anna (Deeds) Crane, was born in
1834 in Pennsylvania and is now living in Marysville, Kansas. Clarence T. Rice
received his education in the local schools and at the University of Kansas and
later engaged in teaching, in which profession he has met with much success, and
is now the principal of the high school of Argentine, Kansas City, Kansas. He
and his wife are held in the highest regard and esteem by all who know them, and
they are among the cultured and refined people of the community in which they
live, and where they have an extended influence on the moral and educational
development.

    Clark M. Stewart is a man who has always taken a prominent part in the
activities of his home community, and on the occasions of celebrations he has
been selected as marshal of the day, and on his large black horse he has
presented a commanding appearance. He has ever taken much interest in hunting
and is recognized as one of the genial sportsmen of the district. He has hunted
ducks from the lakes of Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, and his ability in this
line is known to all. In his home life he is an ideal husband and father, and
his highest ambition has been to make his home one of pleasure and comfort. His
home on North Broadway is one of the beautiful places in Marysville.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/marshall/bios/stewart12bs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ksfiles/

File size: 9.4 Kb