Stewartsville

The location of the present community of Stewartsville is on Kentucky 36 about eight miles from the county seat of Williamstown. The road intersects at Four Corners with Kentucky 22, the Taft Highway, where the proprietor of the country store recently retired after many years. On the south between Stewartsville and Four Corners are the Burgess, Mitts, and Smoky Roads. Kentucky 36 goes on through the former metropolis of Downingsville and to Jonesville on the Owen County line. It is in the watershed of Clark's Creek, which empties into Eagle Creek.

There are no stores in Stewartsville now. Former store keepers were Dan Stewart, Ott Mitts (whose store burned), Brown, Snell, and Scott. One of the black smiths was Newt McGuire.The Stewartsville Baptist Church still anchors the community, but some residents go into Williamstown or other churches.

Many of these families have lived in Grant County for many generations, Barnes, Blaine, Burgess, Brown, Calender, Chipman, Childers, Evans, Flege, Franks, Gaugh, Gouge, Harrison, Mitts, Northcutt, Ransdell, Redman, Sheriff, Simpson, Stewart, and Woodyard are examples.

In Elliston's History of Grant County written as a Centennial speech in 1876, he listed justices of the peace in Stewartsville as B. P. Clark and E. K. Loomis. The constable was G. W. Evans.

Biographies in 1901 show that John Morgan Flege was a teacher for fifteen years, taught at Cartersville, Bracht Station, Dry Ridge, Sheriff School, and Stewartsville. Erastus B. clark, son of Bryan P. and Mary Webb Clark, was a native of Stewartsville.

J. W. and Elizabeth Gaugh were early settlers in Stewartsville. The 1901 Williamstown Courier reported their son, Leslie,  as a bank cashier and assistant superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School in Wilmore.

A. C. Franks, son of J. C. Franks, was born in Stewartsville and lived overlooking Clark's Creek east of Stewartsville. He was a farmer and cattle trader. His brother, Newton Franks, who lived with Ace, was well known in Stewartsville.

Stewartsville was named after the Dan Stewart family. There was a Daniel Stewart in Grant County busying himself with roads in the Stewartsville area as early as 1825. Roads led from Thornhill's Mill on Clark's Creek and from Wither's Mill to Fredericksburgh (Warsaw) Road. The Stewart family had members active in the county from 1820 as justice of the peace and road commissioner. An early Stewart grave, Nathaniel, son of B. and S. Stewart, born 1844, is located in the old William Arnold Cemetery behind Williamstown Baptist Church. James Stewart was a tanner in Ohio. There was a marriage bond posted in Grant County between Daniel Stewart and Mary T. Sallee February 27, 1854.

A later Daniel Stewart, born November 11, 1864, died March 30, 1920 and was buried in the Williamstown Cemetery, behind the old brick vault. Nannie, wife of Daniel, was born 1887 and died in 1902. His surviving daughter, Mary Jessie Stewart Hedger, said her father ran a general store on Main Street next to the Newton Franks house. Mary Jessie and her sister, Lorena (Mrs. Wilber Stith) were raised by Mr. and Mrs. Newton Franks in Stewartsville after their father died. Mrs. Franks was Daniel Stewart's sister. They were faithful members of the Salem Methodist Church located about three miles west of Stewartsville.  Dan's Stewart's son, Raymond Stewart, married a Coates and lived in Williamstown.

Before the Stewartsville Post Office was discontinued in 1906 in favor of free rural delivery, Daniel Stewart was postmaster in the village. The Stewartsville Post Office was established February 20, 1867 and the first postmaster was William R. Wolfe. He was followed by Jacob Chipman in 1884, Stephen Beverly in 1890, B. Boles in 1893, James Franks in 1894, Magerhans in 1895, M. Smith in 1897, and Asa Franks in 1899. After 1906, farm homes were served by rural free delivery. Such rural mail carriers as Bryan Barnes in the Stewartsville area for many years, knew the meaning of the adage "the mail must go through". Sometimes if the Baton Rouge Road was flooded by Clark's Creek, Mr. Barnes drove as far as he could, then traveled side roads to deliver mail to his other patrons from the opposite end of the road.

Schools and churches were as important to these communities as the stores and blacksmith shops. Stewartsville's two room white frame school buildings still stands on the west end of the village. In 1891, Miss Kate A. Blaine from Hustonville taught at Stewartsville.

School records from the Grant County Board of Education in Stewartsville for the school year ending June 30, 1896 listed a total of 66 children from 6 to 20 years of age, 34 male, 32 female.

School District #3 August 10, 1909 met in Williamstown and elected Daniel Stewart Stewartsville trustee for two years. District #3 met at Lawrenceville November 26, 1909 to elect Miss Emma J. Morgan teacher for Sub-District #5, replacing Miss Julia Marshall at Stewartsville. August 18, 1910 District #3 was convened at Williamstown by chairman Daniel Stewart. W. P. McGlasson was elected secretary and J. W. Odor was elected Education Chairman.

District 35 Stewartsville Book 6, District #3, 1911-1912 listed as follows sixty-four children.

J. M. Fledge was the teacher at Stewartsville when this census was taken. Later teachers were Sallie Flege, Stella Roedeger, Ida Sothard, Elizabeth Flege, Ruby Cooper, and Anna Catherine Flege.

History of Grant County, John B. Conrad, Editor
Published by The Grant County Historical Society,
Williamstown, Kentucky

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