My Genealogy Hound

GENERAL THOMAS J. STEWART, adjutant general of the state of Pennsylvania, is a native of Ireland, born near the city of Belfast, September 11, 1848. When he was about one year old his parents came to America, settling in Norristown, and his rearing was thus entirely in America and after the American manner.

He received his education in the public schools and then attended the Quaker City Business College in Philadelphia. At the age of sixteen he entered the Union army as a private in the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and until the close of the war performed the full measure of a soldier’s duty. From 1870 to 1882 he was engaged as a manufacturer of and dealer in window glass.

General Stewart has long been prominent in the public affairs of the commonwealth, and has made a most enviable record in connection with its military establishment. In 1885 he was elected to the house of representatives of the state of Pennsylvania, and served in the session of that and the following year. He had enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1868, and in 1877 was appointed adjutant of the Sixth Regiment. September 20, 1889, he was assigned to duty as assistant adjutant general of the First Brigade, and was reappointed in 1894. He had developed splendid qualifications for this, the most important of staff positions, and on January 15, 1895, he was appointed adjutant-general of the state by Governor Hastings; was reappointed by Governor Stone, January 17, 1899; and again by Governor Pennypacker, January 21, 1904, and is yet serving in that position. To him is due in greater degree than to any other officer the superb condition of the National Guard of Pennsylvania and the splendid esprit de corps which characterizes both rank and file. He has been identified with the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home from the inauguration of the institution, and has rendered useful service in bringing it to its present condition of efficiency. He was appointed on the part of the house of representatives of Pennsylvania, a member of the commission to locate and establish the institution. He was afterward made a member of its board of trustees on the part of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was also elected secretary of that body and also of the commission. In 1890 he was chosen a member of the board of commissioners in charge of the Soldiers’ Orphans’ School, and November 4, 1890, he was elected secretary of its internal affairs.

General Stewart has for many years been very active in connection with the Grand Army of the Republic, and has long held positions of great importance and influence in that imcomparable organization. From 1882 to 1888 he was assistant adjutant general of the Department of Pennsylvania, and in 1890 served as department commander. In 1883 he was appointed assistant adjutant general of the Grand Army of the Republic for the United States. In 1897 he was appointed adjutant general by Commander-in-Chief J. P. S. Gobin; was reappointed in 1898 by Commander-in-Chief James A. Sexton; and was again reappointed in 1899 by Commander-in-Chief Albert D. Shaw. In October, 1902, he was called to the supreme position of commander-in-chief.