912
HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
hood he worked at farm labor. From 1889 until the time of his death he was Highway Commissioner and greatly improved the roads in his district; from 1890 he was Supervisor. He died Feb. 2, 1898.
CHARLES C. STEVENS (deceased), former druggist, Batavia, Ill., was born at Beatyestown, N. J., Nov. 18, 1828, the son of Robert and Clarissa (Carter) Stevens, was reared and educated in his native State, and in 1855 came west locating at Geneva, Ill., where he was engaged in the hardware trade up to the date of the Civil War. In September, 1861, he enlisted in the Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which was organized at Camp Hammond near Aurora, but later was transferred to the Fifty-second Illinois, also a Kane County regiment, in which he served during its period of enlistment up to 1864, when he entered the Commissary Department, remaining until the close of the war. He then engaged in the drug business at Batavia, in which he continued until his death, which occurred Feb. 4, 1903. Mr. Stevens was united in marriage in 1858 to Miss Mary S. Wells, daughter of Capt. C. B. Wells, of Geneva.
THOMAS STEWART, miller, St. Charles, Ill., is a native of Montreal, Canada, where he was born April 8, 1838, and where he received his early education. In 1862 he came to Rock-ford, Ill., and was engaged there as a miller for some six years. In 1868 he assisted in the establishment of the firm of Stewart Brothers, millers, at Elgin, Ill., and remained in that city until 1884; then removed to St. Charles, where he had bought the old Fredenhagens Mill, and carried it on until its destruction by fire in 1895. The mill was rebuilt, and is now leased to the Crown Electrical Company. For a number of years Mr. Stewart has leased and operated the old Hains Mills, one of St. Charles' oldest landmarks. In Elgin he served as Alderman four years. He was reared a Presbyterian, but is now a member of the Methodist Church. He was married Jan. 22, 1867, to Miss Martha McClenathan, of Montreal.
HON. JOHN STEWART, farmer, lumber dealer and legislator, Elburn, Ill., was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Aug. 10, 1825, son of Thomas and Jane Stewart. The father, Thomas Stewart, was a native of Inverkip, Renfrewshire, Scotland, born Dec. 22, 1797, and coming to Illinois in 1851, located on a farm in Kane County, where he passed the remainder of his life. John Stewart, the subject of this sketch, remained under the parental roof until twenty-two years of age, meanwhile enjoying such educational advantages as the schools of those early days afforded. In 1848 he located at St. Charles, Ill., but shortly afterwards removed to Wausau, Marathon County, Wis., where he engaged in the lumber trade with his brother, Alexander Stewart, and where he is still largely interested in the same business, as well as in California, though making his home in Illinois. Some years ago Mr. Stewart purchased land near Elburn, in Campton Township, where he has since resided, and his estate at the present time embraces a farm of 1,000 acres of excellent land. He is also a stockholder in the Bank of John Stewart & Co., at St. Charles, Ill., and the owner of banking interests at Wausau, Wis., and Gering, Neb. In 1884 Mr. Stewart was elected Representative in the Illinois Legislature, was re-elected in 1886, and again in 1898, serving three terms. During his term of service, he was Chairman of the Committee on Claims; also a member of the Committee of Appropriations to Public Char-
