Bio: J. Jackson Stewart, Webster Par., Louisiana
Source:  Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890
Submitted by: Gwen Moran-Hernandez
Date: April 2000



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===J. Jackson Stewart was born in Florida on October 27, 1831, his 
father, Dr. C. F. Stewart, being a South Carolinian.  When the 
latter was a young man he went to Florida, having been previously 
married in the State of Georgia, to Miss Elisia C. Brown.  After 
a residence of a few years in Florida, he went to Wilcox County, 
Ala., and there practiced medicine for a number of years, also 
conducting a farm, being quite an extensive slave owner.  In 1852 
he removed to Louisiana, and bought a large body of land where the 
subject of this sketch now resides, and on this farm made his home 
until he passed from life in 1859, his widow surviving him until 
February 12, 1884, when she too, passed away.  J. Jackson Stewart 
grew to manhood in Wilcox County, Ala., receiving a fair English 
education, then came to Louisiana with his parents in 1852, remaining 
nder the shelter of the parental roof until the death of his father.  
In the spring of 1859 he was married to Miss Theodocia Starr, a 
native of Texas and after his marriage he followed the occupation 
of farming, continuing up to 1862 when he entered the army, becoming 
a member of Capt. Webb's Company, of Minden Rangers, with which he 
served up to the fall of 1862, when he joined the Sixth Louisiana 
Cavalry, with which he served until the war terminated, doing courier 
duty the most of the time.  After hostilities were over he returned 
to his home in this ward, and after farming until 1872 he went to 
Texas, where he was engaged in land surveying for about one and one 
half years, then returned to Louisiana.  After the death of his father 
he fell heir to the homestead, and has since been actively engaged in 
farming it.  He is one of the most enterprising and progressive of 
farmers and raises more cotton and other produce off a given number 
of acres than any other farmer in this part of the State.  He raises 
four-fifths of a bale of cotton to the acre, and that on land that has 
been tilled for the past fifty years, and sandy upland at that.  He 
devotes considerable attention to the raising of good stock, and has 
a herd of about 250 Merino sheep, some good high grade Jersey cows, 
and a thoroughbred registered Jersey bull.  He is a member of the 
Farmers' Union; has been one of its most active members and is now 
vice president of the parish union and president of his local union.  
On September 13, 1868, he lost his first wife, she leaving him with 
two children: Emma (wife of R. H. Coombs), and Mary B. (wife of O. H. 
Cooper, ex-superintendent of public instruction in Texas, and now 
superintendent of the Galveston High Schools).  Mr. Stewart lost 
two children: Harriet J. (who died at the age of three years), and 
C. F. (who died February 9, 1889, a man of mature years).  Mr. Stewart 
married his present wife, Miss Mary Susan Coombs, a native of Georgia, 
but reared in Louisiana, a daughter of R. K. Coombs.  Mrs. Stewart 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a kindly, 
charitable and true Christian lady.  Mr. Stewart is pleasant and 
agreeable in his intercourse with his fellowmen, and is a firm 
believer in the resources of Louisiana.