William Morris Stewart (August 9, 1827April 23, 1909) was an American lawyer and politician. In 1964, he was inducted into the

Hall of Great Westerners The Hall of Great Westerners was established by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1958. Located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., the Hall was created to celebrate the contributions of more than 200 men and women of the American ...

of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Personal

Stewart was born in

Wayne County, New York Wayne County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 91,283. The county seat is Lyons. The name honors General Anthony Wayne, an American Revolutionary War hero and American statesman. Wayne Coun ...

, on August 9, 1825. As a child he moved with his parents to Trumbull County, Ohio. As a young man he was a mathematics teacher in Ohio. In 1849 he began attending

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

but left in 1850 to move to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He came to California because of the

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...

. He arrived in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and soon left to begin mining near

Nevada City, California Nevada City (originally, ''Ustumah'', a Nisenan village; later, Nevada, Deer Creek Dry Diggins, and Caldwell's Upper Store) is the county seat of Nevada County, California, United States, northeast of Sacramento, southwest of Reno and northea ...

.''Servant of Power,'' University of Nevada Press, Reno, 1983 In 1903 he was reputed to be one of the richest men in the Senate (with a fortune of some $25 million and ownership of silver mines) and the oldest member of that body.

Marriages

Stewart was married to Annie Elizabeth Foote, daughter of his law partner,

Henry S. Foote Henry Stuart Foote (February 28, 1804May 19, 1880) was a United States Senator from Mississippi and the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1847 to 1852. He was a Unionist Governor of Mississippi from 1852 to ...

, on May 31, 1855. His second wife was May Agnes Cone, widow of Theodore C. Cone. They were wed on October 26, 1903, in the

Piedmont Hotel The Piedmont Hotel was a hotel in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Construction on the building, which was designed by architect Willis F. Denny, began in 1901, and the building was opened to the public in January 1903. Considered one ...

, Atlanta, Georgia. Judge Thomas M. Norwood, who had served with Stewart in the U.S. Senate was the

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be ...

."Senator Stewart, Patriarch of the United States Senate, Leads to Altar Mrs. May Agnes Cone, of Madison, Ga.," ''Atlanta Constitution,'' October 27, 1903, page 1
/ref> According to the book ''Reminiscences of William M. Stewart'' (1908) in May 1905 he moved with his new wife and her daughter to the Bullfrog Mining District (Nevada), where he started a law firm and law library.

Political career

California

In 1851 Stewart ran for sheriff of

Nevada County, California Nevada County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 102,241. The county seat is Nevada City. Nevada County comprises the Truckee- Grass Valley, CA Micropolit ...

, and the next year, in February, he was at the Whig State Convention in Sacramento, where he was named a delegate to the party's national convention. In 1852 he studied law in the office of Nevada County District Attorney John R. McConnell, becoming a Democrat in the process. He was appointed to succeed McConnell as district attorney in November 1852. At that time he became a "motivating force" in beginning a Democratic newspaper, ''Young America'' (later called ''The Nevada Democrat.)'' Stewart continued as district attorney after an election in November 1853. He was acting attorney general of California from June 7, 1853, until December. Stewart moved to San Francisco and became a law partner with

Louis Aldrick Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ...

, and

Benjamin Watkins Lee Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

Nevada

State

In 1860 Stewart moved to

Virginia City, Nevada Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boom ...

where he participated in mining litigation and helped the development of the

Comstock Lode The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the Unit ...

. As Nevada was becoming a state in 1864, he helped the state develop its constitution. Stewart's role as a lawyer and politician in Nevada has always been controversial. He was the territory's leading lawyer in mining litigation, but his opponents accused him of bribing judges and juries. Stewart accused the three Nevada territorial judges of being corrupt, and he barely escaped disbarment.

United States Senate

In 1864, Stewart was named by the

Nevada State Legislature The Nevada Legislature is a bicameral body, consisting of the lower house, the Assembly, with 42 members, and the upper house, the Senate, with 21. With a total of 63 seats, the Legislature is the third-smallest bicameral state legislatur ...

to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. He served in the Senate from 1865 until 1875 when he retired and practiced law again in Nevada and California. In 1873, Stewart's palatial residence, nicknamed Stewart's Castle, was built in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and became a center of the city's social scene. He was elected to the Senate again in 1887 and reelected in 1893 and 1899. During the 1890s he left the Republican Party to join the

Silver Party The Silver Party was a political party in the United States active from 1892 until 1911 and most successful in Nevada which supported a platform of bimetallism and free silver. In 1892, several Silver Party candidates were elected to Nevada p ...

, which supported the Free Silver movement. He caucused with the Silver Republicans During his many years in the Senate, Stewart drafted or co-authored important legislation, including several mining acts and laws urging land reclamation by irrigation. Most famously, Stewart is given credit for authoring in 1868 the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution protecting voting rights regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. During his time as senator, Stewart received 50,000 acres of land for his service on the Committee on Pacific Railroads. In 1871, President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

offered Stewart a seat on the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. Stewart declined. Stewart was also involved in an international scandal where he promoted the sale of a worthless worked out Emma Silver Mine at

Alta, Utah Alta is a town in eastern Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 383 at the 2010 census, a slight increase from the 2000 figure of 370. Alta is centered in t ...

for millions of pounds to unsuspecting English citizens. In 1902, he was in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

in connection with the Mexican-American arbitration case, when his wife, the daughter of Confederate Senator Henry S. Foote, was killed in a motor-car accident in California.

Post political career

Stewart retired from the Senate in 1905. He was a co-founder of the city of Chevy Chase, Maryland, along with Francis G. Newlands, a fellow Senator from Nevada. Stewart remained in Washington, D.C. and died there four years later. He was cremated and the ashes were originally kept in Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco before being moved to

Cypress Lawn Memorial Park Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, established by Hamden Holmes Noble in 1892, is a rural cemetery located in Colma, California, a place known as the "City of the Silent". History Cypress Lawn Memorial Park is the final resting site for several memb ...

Colma, California Colma (Ohlone for "Springs") is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,507 at the 2020 census. The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924. ...

In popular culture

The

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Howard Negley (1898-1983) played Stewart in the 1953 episode, "The Bandits of Panamint", of the

syndicated television Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

, ''

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program ...

'', hosted by

Stanley Andrews Stanley Andrews (born Stanley Martin Andrzejewski; August 28, 1891 – June 23, 1969) was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program ''Little Orphan Annie'' and later as "The Old Ranger", the first ...

. In the story line, Stewart enters into an agreement to gain pardons for two bandits, played

Rick Vallin Rick Vallin (born Eric Efron; September 24, 1919 – August 31, 1977) was an actor who appeared in more than 150 films between 1938 and 1966. Early years Born in Feodosia, in the Crimea, Russia, Vallin came to the United States at age there ...

and Glase Lohman, who accidentally stumble upon a rich silver strike. Stewart, however gains ownership of the mine.

Sheila Ryan Sheila Ryan (born Katherine Elizabeth McLaughlin, June 8, 1921 – November 4, 1975) was an American actress who appeared in more than 60 movies. Career Born in Topeka, Kansas, Ryan went to Hollywood in 1939 at the age of 18. Her acting career b ...

and

Gloria Winters Gloria Winters (November 28, 1931 – August 14, 2010) was an actress most remembered for having portrayed the well-mannered niece, Penny King, in the 1950s – 1960s American television series ''Sky King''.U.S. Senator Henry S. Foote of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, who had relocated to the West. In a 1954 episode of ''Death Valley Days,'' entitled "The Light on the Mountain," the role of Stewart was played by Michael Colgan (1921-2006). In the story line, Stewart and Richard Corey (Glase Lohman) attempt to clean up the justice system in Nevada in preparation for statehood in 1864.

Phyllis Coates Phyllis Coates (born Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell; January 15, 1927) is an American former actress, with a career spanning over fifty years. She is best known for her portrayal of reporter Lois Lane in the 1951 film ''Superman and the Mole Men'' and ...

played Stewart's wife, Annie.

Angie Dickinson Angeline Dickinson (née Brown; born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) wit ...

was cast as Sabina Harris, a young woman with an interest in Corey.

References

External links

William M. Stewart, The Online Books Page, University of Pennsylvania
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, William Morris 1827 births 1909 deaths People from Wayne County, New York American people of Scotch-Irish descent Nevada Republicans Republican Party United States senators from Nevada Silver Party United States senators from Nevada California Attorneys General Stanford University trustees People of Nevada in the American Civil War Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park 19th-century American politicians Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (San Francisco)