Stewart, Jonas, M. D.

The following data is extracted from History of Madison County, Indiana.

JONAS STEWART, M. D. Now one of the oldest members of the medical profession in Madison County, and prominently known to the medical fraternity throughout the state, having served some years ago as the first president of the Indiana State Medical Association, after it was reorganized and changed from the old title of Medical Society, Dr. Stewart has been identified by residence and by business and professional activities in Anderson since 1870.

Jonas Stewart is a native of Indiana, having been born in Delaware County, January 26, 1843, a son of Lewis and Mary (Crampton) Stewart. The father, who was a son of William Stewart, a native of Kentucky, was born in Highland County, Ohio. The grandfather had first moved his home from Kentucky to Ohio, where he was numbered among the earlier settlers of Highland County. Lewis Stewart attained his education in an old log school house, peculiar to his time, and with such equipment as he could obtain from this primitive school he secured a teacher's certificate or license, and was engaged in teaching for some years during the early part of his career. He married Mary Crampton, who was born in Maryland, and became a resident of Ohio during childhood, her parents also being among the early settlers of Ohio, in Miami County. She died in 1888 in the sixty-eighth year of her life.

Dr. Stewart spent his boyhood on a farm, and attended the public schools in Delaware County, Indiana. He later attended school at Troy, Ohio, and in 1862 he entered the Northwestern Christian University at Indianapolis. He enlisted as a private in the Union army, going into the service on August 28, 1862, in Company E of the Forty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the regiment being commanded by Col. Samuel A. Gilbert. The regiment was sent into Kentucky, and later to Tennessee, and he saw a good deal of service in the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee, after which he was transferred with his regiment to Virginia. After nearly three years of soldiering he received his honorable discharge on May 30, 1865, and then returned to college at Indianapolis. He spent one year in study there, then taught school for a while and in this way gradually prepared himself for a professional life. He finally matriculated in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he pursued his studies for some time, and later went to the Long Island Hospital Medical College at Brooklyn, New York, where he was graduated with the degree of M. D. on June 30, 1870. Dr. Stewart at once came to Anderson and opened his office, beginning general practice in August of the same year. He has enjoyed success and distinction in his profession, and during the last two years has given up any attempt to extend his practice and now confines his attention to attendance in professional capacities upon his old patrons, many of whom he has cared for more than a generation.

In business and financial circles at Anderson, Dr. Stewart is recognized as one of the very successful men. He has for a number of years held the position of vice-president of the Anderson Loan Association, and he is also a stockholder in the National Exchange Bank at Anderson and of the Anderson Trust Company. The doctor owns an excellent farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Madison County.

Dr. Stewart is a member of the Madison County Medical Society, the Indiana State Medical Association, of which he was the f 6 president after its reorganization, serving in his official capacity h. the year 1904, and he was vice-president of the State Medical Society, in 1897, prior to its reorganization under its present name, the Indiana State Medical Association.

Dr. Stewart has contributed data concerning the physicians of Madison County to the Medical History of Indiana, edited by Dr. G. W. H. Kemper, and he is also associate editor on the subject of the medical profession for this present history of Madison County. He retains his association with old army comrades through his membership in Major May Post No. 244, G. A. R.

Dr. Stewart was married on September 4, 1870, to Miss Mahala Brandon of Middletown, Henry County, Indiana, a daughter of Greenup Brandon, one of the first settlers of Delaware County, Indiana. He and his wife have been members of the Central Christian Church in Anderson for forty-three years, and are among the staunchest and most reliable members of that body. The handsome family residence is located at 1015 Delaware street.

Source: History of Madison County, Indiana

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