Pioneers of Ellis County William Thomas Stewart   Source: Memorial and Biographical History of Ellis County, Texas. Lewis Pub. Co. Chicago. 1892 William T. Stewart/Stuart was born in 1839  in White County, Tennessee, son of Larkin Wisdom Stewart and Velara McDonald Irving Stewart.  The family settled near Long Branch nine miles north of Waxahachie in 1851.  [William Irving came  to Texas in 1845].   Larkin Stewart, an early cattleman of Texas, was a man of keen foresight and excellent business ability and accumulated a gratifying competence. His wife, [daughter of William Irving of White County, Tenn.] was a niece of President Zachary Taylor. William T. Stewart was reared in a good Christian home, and the sterling lessons which were impressed upon his mind in his early life have borne rich fruit in honorable conduct and upright character. He has been a pioneer, soldier, cattleman and miner. He responded to the call of the Confederacy and enlisted in the Army in 1861 as a member of Company E., Twelfth Texas Cavalry, under the command of Captain Brown and Colonel W. H. Parsons. This was one of the famous cavalry regiments of the Trans-Mississippi department which won distinction on many important occasions, one being their pursuit of Banks down the Red River. Stewart was wounded at McCreary's Landing and was with General Green when he was killed. After thirteen days, Stewart returned to his regiment and in thirty-two days of fighting they participated in thirty-seven pitched battles. On the last day of fighting at Yellow Bayou, he was severely wounded and disabled for service for several months.   His strong constitution, however, enabled him to recover from the disabilities. The forages of war completely destroyed all that Mr. Stewart had gained in his previous business career, including the loss of a large herd of fine cattle which had been taken for the use by the Army. He was compelled to begin life anew without capital save his earnest purpose and unremitting diligence. After several years' residence in Dallas, Texas, he made his way westward to Taylor County. At that time he worked in the teaming business, hauling buffalo hides for the buffalo hunters who were then engaged in hunting those animals for the value of the skins. During this time , Stewart learned of some valuable deposits of lead ore in the State of Texas where the buffalo hunters had been in the habit of securing lead for their bullets. After several years in the western country with his mining operations and the cattle business, he returned to Dallas where he was in business for seven years before moving to El Paso in 1892. Stewart married Miss Mary J. Berry, a daughter of Rev. Charles William Berry, a native of Missouri and a pioneer of this state. Her father was for many years active in the ministry of the Presbyterian Church and was at one time pastor of the church at Shiloh in Ellis County. Mr. And Mrs. Stewart had three sons and three daughters: Newton, Thomas L., Charles, Ida, Effie and Ola (Mrs. Will) Moore of Waxahachie. Confederate Veteran Dies at Home of Daughter [Waxahachie Daily Light, Nov. 24, 1923] William Thomas Stewart, 84, Confederate veteran, and one of the oldest citizens of Waxahachie,  died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Will Moore, 1122 W. Main St.  [Waxahachie] Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. Born in White County, Tenn, Dec. 23, 1837, Stewart came with his parents to Texas when a small child. They settled near Long Branch, Ellis County, during the Civil War. He fought with the Confederate troops and was a member of the Winnie Davis Camp, U.C.V. Twenty-one of the last thirty years Mr. Stewart spent in the far western part of Texas and in the western states where he engaged in mine prospecting. While living in West Texas in the early days before the country was settled, he had many thrilling experiences in hunting the wild buffalo. For the last nine years Mr. Stewart and his wife have lived with their daughter, Mrs. Will Moore. Mr. Stewart is survived by his wife and five children, Mrs. Will Moore, Waxahachie; Mrs. Ida Held, El Paso; Mrs. C. T. Tysen, Los Angeles, Calif.; Tom L. Stewart, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Chas. W. Stewart, Panama Canal Zone. Rev. E. W. Potter officiated with burial in  the City Cemetery. Pallbearers were Eugene Kidd, Homer Poovey, W. T. Jackson, J. W. Tucker, Oscar Stevens and Dixon Boozer.   Copyright © 2004-2016, Ellis County TXGenWeb. All Rights Reserved. This page was last modified: Thursday, 01-Jul-2021 13:30:13 MDT