My Genealogy Hound

John I. Stewart, one of Lauderdale’s substantial farmers, was born in North Carolina January 21, 1827, and came with his parents to Tennessee in 1834, and settled in McNairy County. He is the second of a family of seven sons and two daughters born to Spencer and Elizabeth (Hurley) Stewart. The father was born in North Carolina and came to Tennessee when about thirty-five years of age, and died in McNairy County September 5, 1845. The mother was born in the same State, and died in Arkansas. Our subject has always been a farmer. He married in McNairy County August 19, 1847, Miss Elizabeth Dillon, a daughter of Andrew Dillon, a farmer. Of the nine children born to this marriage seven are living: Andrew N., Rebecca A., John A., Rachel O., Iverson L., Byron C. and Joseph H. The mother of this family was born in North Carolina and died in Lauderdale County July 7, 1885. Mr. Stewart was again married, in this county, July 21, 1886, to Mrs. Ella Jordan, who was born in Lauderdale County July 28, 1856. He is a Democrat and adheres strictly to the old Jeffersonian principles, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He enlisted in the Confederate Army, belonging to the Sixteenth Tennessee Cavalry, under Col. Wilson; was in several battles in Mississippi and in Hood’s campaign in Tennessee, but owing to a wound received in Giles County, at Campbellsville, was left on the way. He was wounded prior to this at Okolona, Miss., and at the battle of Harrisburg, Miss., from a piece of exploded shell. The wound received at Campbellsville disabled him from active service. Mr. Stewart owns 262 acres of land, on which he raises cotton and stock, but makes grain his chief market product. The farm is only one and a half miles north of Ripley, and is a valuable place. Mr. Stewart is widely known and greatly esteemed.