Jonathan Clay Stewart (1825 - 1862)

Born 21 Apr 1825 in Waycross, Ware, Georgia, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Eliza (Turner) Stewart — married 11 Sep 1846 in Marion, Florida, United States

Descendants

Died 24 Nov 1862 at age 37 in Winchester, Virginia, United States

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Biography

Jonathan Stewart was a pioneer of Florida..

Jonathan Stewart is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Seminole War

Captain Jonathan Stewart served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: 17 May 1862
Mustered out: 24 Nov 1862
Side: CSA

When Jonathan Clay Stewart was born on April 21, 1825, in Waycross, Ware, Georgia, his father, John L Stewart, was 25 and his mother, Leonora Jane Bryan, was 21.

The Siblings:

• Mathew Albritton 1822-1889
• Jonathan Clay 1825-1862
• James Richard 1828-1898
• Sarah Ann 1831-1862
• Philemon Bryan 1833-1864
• John Joseph 1836-1912
• Miles McKinnon 1838-1852
• Mary Ann 1841-1908

Family Life Pioneering in Florida

He was 35 and was married toEliza (Turner) Stewart) on September 11, 1846, in Marion, Florida.^[1][2]

Their brood:

• Samuel Asa Stewart Sam 1847–1914
• Mary Jane Stewart 1848–1907
• Martha Ann Stewart Mattie or Babe 1850–1915
• John Levi Stewart 1851–1921
• Eliza Caroline Stewart Carrie 1854–1914
• Lenora Olivia Stewart 1855–1909
• Malinda Ellen Stewart 1855–1908
• Lacey Florence Stewart 1859–1924^[3].

In 1850 there was only Jonathan, 25, Eliza, 25, Sam, 3, Mary 2, and Martha, newborn, living in D3, Marion, FL. Jonathan was farming.^[4]

The extended Stewart clan moved to Clay Springs, FL in Christmas Day 1853 with his wife, Eliza, and kids after John Levi, helping settle Orange County under the Armed Occupation Act. The property there is now known as Wekiva Springs.

In 1860, Jonathan C Stewart took his own census on 13 July 1860. He listed himself as a farmer and sheriff. They were in D3, Florida using the Mellonville Post Office, were dwelling 132, family 122. Jonathan 35, Elizer, 34, Samuel Asa, 12, Mary Jane 11, Martha Ann, 10, John Levi, 9, Leononia Olivia, 7, Eliza Carolina, 6, Malinda Ellen, 11/12. There was farm hand Thomas J Sowell, 26, and teacher Wesley Summess, 26, in the home. The real estate in 1860 was worth $1,000 and the personal estate was worth $1,200.^[5]

He and his wife homesteaded 220 acreas and reared their 8 children in what became the Town of Apopka City. The land today is boardered by Mason Street to south, Thompson Road to east, Christiana to the west, and Lake McCoy to the north.

Civil Service

• Sheriff of Orange County 1855 Jul 7-1862. He served until 1861. He was called the 'peacemaker'
• County Tax Collector
• County Tax Assessor
• County Census Taker of Orange in 1860. There were 979 in what is now Orange, Lake, Seminole, part of Osceola. 17 % of the residents were enslaved.

Military Service

Jonathan Clay Stewart served in two wars. The Second Seminole War, right in his home area. And in the War Between the States where he died.

Seminole War

Private Jonathan Clay Stewart served in Jernigan's Independent Company, Florida Mounted Volunteers in the Seminole War.^[6]

War Between the States

He was a Unionist and member of the Whig Party, as were a majority of the residents of Orange County. The county voted for a Unionist candidate in the presidential election of 1860 and recorded two of the seven voted against secession in the state convention of 1861. Despite his political leanings, and not being a slaveholder, JC chose to support his state.^[7]

Orange County in the Civil War was a sparsely populated backwater in a sparsely populated state. It voted for Union but its men agreed to serve the cause of confederacy. Sixty five percent of military aged men served and one quarter of them died, mostly of disease. The true heroes were the women who persevered and raised their families alone on the wild frontier that was Central Florida.Hooper-9686

He died in the War Between the States where he was elected as Captain of the company. He was exempt from joining the War Between the States with his civil service duties.

The 8th Regiment of Infantry was mustered into the Confederate service in May 1862, with Col R. F. Floyd.

In response to the Confederate Conscription Act of 1862, Orange County agreed to supply company to the war effort. On May 17, 1862 Stewart’s Company (later Company G, 8th Florida Regiment) was mustered into service at the courthouse in Orlando. JC was voted Captain of the 92 men. After training in Tallahassee they boarded trains to join Robert E Lee’s army in Virginia. Within two years 35% of them were dead, including JC. Sixty percent died of disease and most spent at least some time in a hospital. Like JC, these men were buried a thousand miles from their homes and family.

He died on November 24, 1862 in the Civil War, in Winchester, Virginia, at the age of 37 due the weather and was buried there. Jonathan Clay Stewart (1825-1862) Brother Philemon Bryan Stewart (1833-1864) died two years later.

Sources

1. ↑ Florida, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1822-1850
2. ↑ State Archive, Tallahassee and Clerk of Courts; Various Counties; County Marriages, 1844-1872
3. ↑ Records at the Museum of the Apopkans by the Apopka Historical Society and 1860 US census
4. ↑ National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: District 3, Marion, Florida; Roll: 59; Page: 134a Pirkle-96
5. ↑ 1860 census National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: District 3, Orange, Florida; Roll: M653_109; Page: 553; Pirkle-96
6. ↑ National Archives, Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780's-1917; Record Group Number: RG 94; Series Title: Indexed to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the Cherokee Removal in Organizations From the State of Alabama; Series Number: M243; Roll: M629_36 Surname Range: St-Sy retrieved 5 19 2024
7. ↑ anscestrial and historical research by descendant Hooper-9686

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 26 March 2021), memorial page for Capt Jonathan C. Stewart (21 Apr 1825–24 Nov 1862), Find A Grave: Memorial #19231477, citing Stonewall Confederate Cemetery, Winchester, Winchester City, Virginia, USA ; Maintained by ProjectMgr (contributor 48671833) .