Henry Carter Stuart (January 18, 1855July 24, 1933) was an American businessman and politician from Virginia. Between 1914 and 1918, he served as the
47th Governor of Virginia
The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022.
Oath of office
On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...
, a period which encompassed
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Early and family life
The eldest of seven sons born to William Alexander Stuart (1826–1892) and his wife Mary Taylor Carter Stuart (1831–1862), Henry Carter Stuart was born in
Wytheville, Virginia
Wytheville is a town in, and the county seat of, Wythe County, in southwestern Virginia, United States. It is named after George Wythe, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and mentor to Thomas Jefferson. Wytheville's populat ...
. He also had an elder sister, Eliza, who died in 1862. The family owned thousands of acres of ranch land in southwest Virginia, built over generations, including through marriage alliances. Henry Carter Stuart ultimately lived at East Rosedale, a mansion which a maternal ancestor had purchased from
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first an ...
in 1774, and which had been a fort guarding the
Clinch River
The Clinch River is a river that flows southwest for more than through the Great Appalachian Valley in the U.S. states of Virginia and Tennessee, gathering various tributaries, including the Powell River, before joining the Tennessee River in Ki ...
valley during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. His paternal grandfather,
Archibald Stuart, a lawyer and U.S. Congressman, had several sons, one of whom (Henry's uncle) became Confederate Civil War Cavalry Commander
Jeb Stuart
James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart (February 6, 1833May 12, 1864) was a United States Army officer from Virginia who became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb,” from the initials of ...
.
A graduate of
Emory and Henry College
Emory & Henry College (E&H or Emory) is a private liberal arts college in Emory, Virginia. The campus comprises of Washington County, which is part of the Appalachian highlands of Southwest Virginia. Founded in 1836, Emory & Henry College is ...
(1874), Henry married his cousin, Margaret Bruce Carter in 1896, but they had no children. His nephew of the same name, but nicknamed
Harry Carter Stuart
Harry Carter Stuart (July 4, 1893 – September 20, 1963) (born Henry Carter Stuart) was a Virginia cattle breeder and trader, who also served as the Democratic State Senator from the 18th District. A lifelong Democrat, Carter helped lead the ...
(1893-1963), son of this Stuart's brother and business partner Dale Carter Stuart, later became a Virginia State Senator and was active in the
Massive Resistance
Massive resistance was a strategy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. of Virginia and his brother-in-law James M. Thomson, who represented Alexandria in the Virginia General Assembly, to get the state's white politicians to pass laws and p ...
movement.
Career
Stuart was born to wealth, and became wealthier. Upon their father's death in 1893, he and his brothers Alexander ("Zan") and Dale Carter Stuart took over their father's salt company (which by then had become a cattle company). They built Stuart Land & Cattle into the largest cattle company east of the Mississippi River, with 50,000 agricultural acres in four counties. Generations of fathers and sons worked for the company, and many lived in its semi-feudal company towns which attempted to control their access to liquor. The cattle company and other Stuart enterprises also controlled extensive coal and timber reserves. Ironically, Henry Stuart's only child, Mary Fulton, rebelled against her father's country lifestyle and values.
Stuart started his political activity in 1893, after their father's death. He organizing a statewide referendum for popular election of senators because his favorite candidate,
Fitzhugh Lee
Fitzhugh Lee (November 19, 1835 – April 28, 1905) was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, the 40th Governor of Virginia, diplomat, and United States Army general in the Spanish–American War. He was the son of Sydney Smi ...
(former governor and a grandson of
Robert E. Lee) had not been selected for U.S. Senate from Virginia by the
Virginia General Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...
, which instead elevated an obscure railroad attorney,
Thomas Staples Martin
Thomas Staples Martin (July 29, 1847November 12, 1919) was an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Albemarle County, Virginia, who founded a political organization that held power in Virginia for decades (later becoming known as t ...
. Over the years, Stuart became more aligned with the Democratic political machine run by Martin, but favored farmers more than railroads. Thus, Stuart at the State Corporation Commission regulated railroads and increased what had been extremely low corporate taxes, all of which were popular statewide.
As Russell County's delegate to the
Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901-1902, Stuart helped reform the
Reconstruction Era
The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...
Underwood Underwood may refer to:
People
*Underwood (surname), people with the surname
Places
United States
* Underwood, Shelby County, Alabama
* Underwood, Indiana
* Underwood, Iowa
* Underwood, Minnesota
* Underwood, New York
* Underwood, North Dakota
* ...
constitution in many ways. However the new 1902 Constitution also instituted
poll tax
A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources.
Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
es and other requirements which disenfranchised many African Americans and poor whites, but facilitated the growth of the Martin political machine, which later became the
Byrd Organization
The Byrd machine, or Byrd organization, was a political machine of the Democratic Party led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd (1887–1966) that dominated Virginia politics for much of the 20th century. From the 1890s until the l ...
. Stuart also served in the
State Corporation Commission from 1902 to 1908. Although Stuart wanted to run for Governor in 1909, he acceded to Martin's advice and instead ran for U.S. Congress, but lost to six-term Republican
Campbell Bascom Slemp.
In return for that party loyalty, Martin allowed Stuart to run for governor unopposed. Governor Stuart promoted a statewide referendum that prohibited alcohol sales. He also appointed a commission that in 1919 revised the Virginia Code (for the first time in 1887), as well as enacted legislation which rationalized taxation, so local counties could tax real estate and the state other forms of property. This raised state revenues by almost $750,000. in 1915, Stuart endorsed the state senatorial bid of
Harry F. Byrd
Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia for four decades as head of a political faction that became known as the Byrd Organization. ...
, who a decade later would control what had been the Martin organization.
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
became the major event in Stuart's administration, and he encouraged Virginians to grow food in home gardens to support the national war effort. Stuart also declared martial law in
Hopewell, Virginia
Hopewell is an independent city surrounded by Prince George County and the Appomattox River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 23,033. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Hopewell with Prin ...
, a boom town that grew around a munitions plant.
After Stuart's gubernatorial term ended, he served on the federal War Industries Board, then in 1921 formed the "Pay as You Go Roads Association" which fought issuance of road construction bonds to build better highways. The bond-financed highway construction of the Virginia Turnpike System in the area before the Civil War had been disastrous, and led to many bankruptcies.
Election
1913
Events January
* January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...
; Stuart was elected Governor of Virginia with 91.87% of the vote, defeating Socialist C. Campbell and Socialist Labor B.D. Downey.
Death and legacy
After Henry Carter Stuart's death, the mansion he built in the valley of the Elk Garden River and lived in remained in the Stuart family until 1945. However, "East Rosedale" burned to the ground after a lightning storm in 2002.
[Lawrence J. Fleenor, Jr. & Edgar A. Howard, Elk Garden (2013 online book available at http://www.bigstonegappublishing.com/elkgarden.htm]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, Henry Carter
1855 births
1933 deaths
Delegates to Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901
Democratic Party governors of Virginia
Emory and Henry College alumni
People from Wytheville, Virginia
Businesspeople from Virginia
20th-century American politicians