BIO: Samuel STEWART, Dauphin County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JAWB Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/dauphin/ http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/dauphin/runk/runk-bios.htm _______________________________________________________________ Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers. Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Company, 1896, pages 165-166. _______________________________________________________________ STEWART, SAMUEL, son of Samuel Stewart, born in the county Down, Ireland, was brought to Pennsylvania in the emigration of his father's family in 1735, and on coming of age settled as a farmer in Hanover township, Lancaster county, now West Hanover, Dauphin county, Pa., about 1750. His warrant for one hundred acres of land was dated May 17, 1754, and in an "assessment for the King's use, 1759, Samuel Stuart" is taxed five shillings. This township, established in 1737 and named in honor of the reigning family of Great Britain, almost exclusively settled by Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, was on the then frontier and contiguous to the Kittatinny mountains. From the date of his settlement therein, in 1754, until 1764, on account of its proximity to the wilderness, it was subject to Indian raids and depredations from which the inhabitants suffered fearfully in their persons and property, often being compelled to abandon their homes and fly for safety. This state of affairs continued until the massacre in Lancaster of the Conestoga Indians, who were the aiders and abettors of these outrages. A public meeting of the citizens of Hanover township, June 4, 1774, has gone into history, showing the earliest recorded movement toward independence, and, when the Revolutionary war began, the liberty-loving and patriotic Scotch-Irish of Hanover were found faithful and active participants. Samuel Stewart entered as a private, serving in Col. Timothy Green's battalion for the defense of the frontier, and, in June 6, 1776, in Capt. James Rodgers' company of Lancaster county associators, "destined for the camp in the Jerseys." On the erection and organization of the county of Dauphin, in 1785, we find him upon the first grand jury, composed of prominent citizens. A Presbyterian by birth and a supporter of the old Hanover church, founded in 1735, and situated eleven miles east of Harrisburg, the records show that on "November 2, 1788, Samuel Stewart and Nancy Stewart, his wife, were admitted to the Lord's table." Samuel Stewart died September 16, 1803, and was buried in Hanover church graveyard. He was a large man, weighing two hundred and thirty pounds, six feet in height, eyes blue and complexion fair. His surviving wife, Agnes Calhoun, and his son, Samuel Elder Stewart, were the executors named in his will. He married, first, Nancy Templeton, daughter of Robert and Agnes Templeton, of Hanover; died 1788, and buried in old Hanover church graveyard. Samuel Stewart married, secondly, in 1789, Agnes (Nancy) Calhoun, born 1763; died August 29, 1823; buried in the cemetery at Graysville, Huntingdon county, Pa.; daughter of William and Hannah Calhoun, of Paxtang township, Dauphin county, Pa. On the death of her husband in 1803, she purchased a farm in West Hanover township, Dauphin county, Pa., adjoining the farm of Robert Stewart, ten miles east of Harrisburg, on the Jonestown road, where she remained until the spring of 1813, when she removed to Spruce Creek, Centre county, Pa.