Biography

11/04/1839 - 11/26/1920

Adjutant, 1st Lieutenant John Stewart (R33) Franklin and Huntingdon Counties 1881-1884 

Early Life: 

Adjutant, 1st Lieutenant John Stewart, born November 4, 1839, Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania; son of Doctor Alexander and Elizabeth Hammil Stewart; College of New Jersey, Princeton, 1857, attorney, Cumberland County bar, 1860; Franklin County bar,1861; married, Jane Holmes Larmour Stewart, 1862, children, Alexander Stewart, Anna W. Stewart, Elizabeth Keith Stewart Farber, Janet Holmes Stewart, Helen M. Stewart; Adjutant, 1st Lieutenant, Civil War, 1862-1863; delegate, Republican National Convention, 1864, 1876, 1884; delegate, Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1872-1873; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1881-1884; unsuccessful, third party candidate, Governor, 1882; Board of Directors, Vice President, Cumberland Valley Railroad, 1883-1889; elected, President Judge, Franklin County, 1888-1905, reelected 1898, elected, associate justice, State Supreme Court, 1905-1920; died, November 25,1920, (aged 81) hit by trolley, Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania; interment, Falling Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. 

Early Career:

Enlisted, nine-month duty, 1st Lieutenant, Company A, 126th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; August 11, 1862, Camp Curtin, Harrisburg; promoted, regimental staff adjutant, saw action, 2nd Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, mustered out with his regiment, May 30, 1863. 

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships.

Member, Falling Spring Presbyterian Church, Chambersburg; member, Grand Army of the Republic, Housum Post 309, Chambersburg; trustee, Wilson College, Chambersburg; member, Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish Society. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Delegate, Republican National Convention, Front Street Theatre, Baltimore, Maryland June 7-8, 1864, nomination of: Abraham Lincoln, Illinois, President and Andrew Johnson, Tennessee, Vice-President. 

Served, acting Mayor of Chambersburg, as Confederate General McCausland burned the city, July 30, 1864.

Served, Elector, President U.S. Grant, 1869. 

Delegate, Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1872-1873. 

Delegate, Republican National Convention, Exposition Hall, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, June 14-16, 1876; nomination of: Rutherford B. Hayes, Ohio, President and William A. Wheeler New York, Vice-President.

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 33rd district, Franklin and Huntingdon Counties, 1881-1884, committee assignments, Finance, Judicial Apportionment, Judiciary General, Library. 

Unsuccessful, third party (Independent Republican) candidate for Governor, 1882. 

Board of Directors, Vice President, Cumberland Valley Railroad, 1883-1889.

Delegate, Republican National Convention; Exposition Building, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, June 3-6, 1884; nomination of: James G. Blaine, Maine, President and John A. Logan, Illinois, Vice-President. 

Elected, President Judge, 39th Judicial District, Franklin County 1889-1905.

Appointed, associate justice, State Supreme Court, Governor Samuel Pennypacker, June 1905, vacancy John Dean.

Elected, associate justice, State Supreme Court, 1905-1920; would have become Chief Justice, first Monday in January 1921. 

Legacy: 

Brother, Lieutenant, Pennsylvania State Senator Alexander Stewart (R33) Franklin and Huntingdon Counties, 1901-1908.

Alexander Stewart  - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov)

Law Partner, Pennsylvania State Senator Alexander Kelly McClure, Adams, Franklin, Fulton Counties 1861-1862. 

Alexander Kelly McClure  - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov)

Late afternoon, November 25, 1920, Judge Stewart stepped out from a parked automobile in front of his home (755 Philadelphia Avenue, Chambersburg- now an American Legion) into the path of an approaching trolley car, when, struck, impacted thrown into the curb, head first, killing him instantly

Cited: 

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members S". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1883). Smull, W.P., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 765, 770-772, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 736.

The Evening News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) Friday November 26, 1920, Page 1.

Thomas Kennedy and John Stewart: 'Power players' of Cumberland Valley (publicopiniononline.com)

John Stewart (1839-1920) - Find a Grave Memorial