Person:Charles Stewart (29)

Submitted by Stan Browning

CHARLES STEWART (OF WYOMING COUNTY)

Charles Stewart, Sr. was born May 8, 1808 in Giles County , Virginia, (Wyoming County, West Virginia). He was the son of Capt. Ralph and Mary (Clay) Stewart and thus one of the first permanent residents of what is now Wyoming County , West Virginia. He married Nancy Cooke, daughter of John Cooke, Jr. and Jenny Albert, and grandaughter of John Cooke, the first settler of Wyoming County. Charles and Nancy had two sons, George W. and Charles Ferguson. Charles and Nancy settled on the Beaver Dam tract of land at the mouth of Coon Branch, site of present-day Matheny. Land Books of Logan and Wyoming County show, in 1843, George and Charles Stewart taking possession of 136 acres on Laurel Fork of Guyandotte River. This acquisition was the beginning of vast land holdings amassed by Charles in the vicinity of Coon Branch and Turkey Creek near present day Matheny, West Virginia. Following is a list of other land grants obtained by Charles from the state of Virginia and individuals:

1 November 1855, 348 acres on Coon Branch of Laurel Fork of Guyandotte River. Grants 111, p. 832

1 September 1856, 140 acres on Chestnut Flat Branch of Coon Branch of Laurel Fork of Guyandotte River. Grants 112, p. 844

1 August 1851, 93 acres on Laurel Fork of Clear Fork of Guyandotte. Grants No. 105, p. 703

30 September 1843, 26 acres on Coon Branch of the Little Laurel Fork. Grants No. 94, p. 695

August 9, 1853, 75 acres on Coon Branch, from George P. Stewart. Book A, p. 127

9 August 1853, Land on Laurel Fork, from William Cooke, Sr . Book A, p. 121

January 7, 1854, Lot 23, Oceana, from William Hendrix. Book A, p. 139

3 March 1884, 75 acres on Turkey Creek, from W. B. McClure . Book G, p. 320

On 20 January1878, Charles & Nancy Stewart sold 200 acres on Coon Branch to John C. Stewart and 75 acres to Andrew Stewart. This land was subsequently repurchased by Charles F , Stewart, son of Charles, Sr. Other transfers from Charles and Nancy were to Charles P. Stewart, land on Laurel For k (7/15/1875); Gorden M. Cook, 75 acres on Turkey Creek; Bd. of Education, land on Laurel Fork (12/4/1875); L. B. Chambers, 670 acres plus in Wyoming County (3/27/1877); Charles F Stewart, approximately 300 acres plus on Coon Branch (8/10/1882) and 3 acres on Turkey Creek and Coon Branch ( 6/22/1891); William Stewart, land on Coon Branch.

Charles owned and operated a grist mill on Laural Fork and he owned a distillery where he was authorized to make pea ch brandy. Peaches were grown on the mountain tops on Coon Branch. He would have lost the distillery but for the actions of his son C. F. Stewart in securing a loan from the Logan Bank. (Information provided by Ira Cook, Jr.)

In 1850, as the government for the newly formed county of Wyoming, Virginia was being organized, Charles Stewart was selected to serve on the first grand jury. The first legislature of West Virginia, in 1863, named Charles Stewart as one of the commissioners to divide Wyoming County into townships. He was a Justice Commissioner 1860/61-1865 and was Commissioner of Revenue in 1850 and 1853 - 1854.

Charles Stewart was a commander of Union Home Guards during the Civil War. Early in 1861, men from Company I, 7th Regiment West Virginia Cavalry were instructed by Stewart to deliver a Confederate prisoner, John Allen, to Union forces in Kanawha. Instead, Allen was wantonly murdered.

Charles was shot from ambush as he stood in front of his home on Laurel Fork in the spring of 1862. Accounts of the incident and Stewart's recovery from the wounds which are given by Mary K. Bowman make very interesting reading.

On September 7, 1865, Charles Stewart and Robert Stewart were members of a grand jury appointed by the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court at Oceana, West Virginia. (Bowman)

Rev. G, P. Goode relates the following story concerning Charles Stewart, Sr.: "It is said that he once had a pet bear, and that a large sour mash barrell inverted and propped on the rolling ground of his yard served this bear as a home. Uncle Charlie was in the habit of crawling into the barrell to wrestle with the bear and teach it tricks. One day while thus engaged, the barrell broke its moorings and rolled with Uncle Charlie and the bear into the middle of Laurel Fork several yards below. Both Uncle Charley and the bear soon crawled out of the barrell and waded to the bank looking sober but well drenched." (He went in a Methodist and came out a full-fledged Baptist.)

Charles Stewart, Sr. died February 9, 1898, and was buried alongside his wife, Nancy, in the Stewart cemetery at Matheny overlooking much of his large land holdings.

Since there was another Charles Stewart who lived next to sons of Capt. Ralph Stewart in Kentucky and was evidently Capt. Ralph’s son also, the question quite naturally arises as to whether this Charles Stewart (of Wyoming County) was the son of Capt. Ralph Stewart. The main argument for Charles of Wyoming County being a son of Capt. Ralph Stewart is that our knowledge of him has been passed down from his contemporaries. We know that Rev. G. P. Goode used the notes of Dan Gunnoe and Otway Stewart in preparation of his sketches and surely had conversations with Otway’s father Robert Stewart, who reportedly was a historian in his own right . Goode specifically made reference to the rememberances by Uncle Robert Stewart, of his grandmother, Mary (Clay) Stewart. One would assume that Rev. Goode, and certainly Robert Stewart, had conversations with Charles Stewart and knew his parentage.

Joel Hager's Southern West Virginia Research Mar 2007