Santa Clara County
Biographies
GEORGE WASHINGTON STEWART
GEORGE WASHINGTON STEWART. Nearly half a century of
general farming and fruit raising on the same property in Santa Clara county entitle George Washington Stewart to a place among
the deans of agriculture in California. Born in Fayette county,
Tenn., September 8, 1834, he learned his first lessons in industry on
a farm settled at a very early day by his father, John Nun Stewart, who came
from Virginia, and who was a carpenter and builder as well as farmer. The
family moved from Fayette county to Mississippi, and
after a short time to Bowie county, Tex., where the father died in 1844, his
wife, formerly Isabella Jane Haskins, of Virginia, dying within a few years.
George Washington Stewart had the advantages of the
schools of Tennessee and Texas, and during his early youth was obliged to work
hard on the home farms, for besides himself there were two other sons and two
daughters in his father’s family. He became interested in the reports of gold
on the coast which upset the peace of the whole continent in 1849, and in 1854
the opportunity to join the fortune seekers came his
way unexpectedly. At the age of nineteen, in the spring of 1854, he set out
with fifteen men to drive cattle across the plains, starting from Bowie county, Tex., and proceeding by way of Salt Lake City, Utah,
where he spent the first winter. The following spring he renewed his journey to
the coast, and for a couple of years rented what was known as the Sorosis farm, belonging to a friend, and thus located in
Santa Clara county. Success came his way as a renter, and in 1859 he purchased
his present farm, which then consisted of one hundred and seventeen acres.
Forty-two acres was set out in vineyard, thirty-five acres in prunes, and the
balance in hay and general produce. In the meantime some of this land has been
disposed of, and he now owns ninety-four acres of as valuable and desirable
ranch land as is to be found in Santa Clara county.
His residence is modern, and equipped with the conveniences which go far toward
making country life ideal and progressive, and which rob it of the monotony
which once characterized it.
In the town of San Jose Mr. Stewart renounced his
bachelor state and married Julia Ann McCoy, born in the state of Missouri, and
who came to California with her mother, locating in San Jose. Six children have
been born of this union, four sons and two daughters, of whom William Lee
is a carpenter and builder of San Jose; Rufus Franklin is a Pullman car
conductor on the Southern Pacific Railroad; Robert Edmond is a farmer of
the vicinity of Westside; Eda May is the wife of
O. D. Benjamin of Santa Clara city; Nellie Irene is living at
home; and Marvin McCoy is at home. Mr. Stewart is a Democrat in politics, and for many years has been a member of the school
board, using his influence to establish a high grade of instruction in the
schools. He is essentially an upright and religious man, and a constant
attendant at the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which he has been a
steward for many years. He is esteemed as a practical and progressive farmer
and fruit raiser, and from the standpoint of character and business ability has
proved himself an important factor in the upbuilding
of his neighborhood.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 03 July 2016.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages
1246-1247. The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Marie Hassard.