E. L. Stewart

Edmond Lee "E. L." Stewart
Louisiana State Representative for Webster Parish
In office
1904–1908
Preceded by W. W. Hicks
Succeeded by Robert Roberts, Jr.
Personal details
Born March 22, 1872
Minden, Webster Parish
Louisiana, USA
Died January 11, 1956 (aged 83)
Minden, Louisiana
Resting place Minden Cemetery
Nationality American
Spouse(s) Jim Brown Stewart
Relations William Green Stewart (half-brother)

Daniel Webster Stewart, Sr. (half-brother)
Tam Spiva (great-nephew)

Children No children
Parents Douglad, Jr., and Sarah Frances Culbertson Stewart
Alma mater Tulane University Law School
Occupation Lawyer

Edmond Lee Stewart, known as E. L. Stewart (March 22, 1872 January 11, 1956),[1]was a lawyer from a prominent family in his native Minden in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, USA. From 1904 to 1908 he was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives[2] during the administration of Governor Newton Blanchard.

Background

Stewart was the fifth of seven children of Douglad (correct spelling) Stewart, Jr. (1826-1884), a native of Sampson County in southern North Carolina who was reared in Georgia, and the former Sarah Frances Culbertson (1840-1885), a native of Coosa County in central Alabama. Douglad Stewart farmed in Alabama before relocating to Webster Parish. After the death of his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Culbertson (1830-1860), he wed her sister, E. L. Stewart's mother. E. L.'s half-siblings from the father's first marriage included William Green Stewart (1854-1925),[3] the namesake of the former William G. Stewart Elementary School in Minden, and Daniel Webster Stewart, Sr. (1857-1935), the oldest living member of the Webster Parish Bar Association at the time of his death.[4]

Legal career

On May 17, 1897, E. L. Stewart graduated from Tulane University Law School in New Orleans. One of his classmates was the later U.S. Senator John H. Overton and the future state Attorney General Bolivar Edwards Kemp, Jr.[5] After his single term in the state House, Stewart was succeeded in the position by Robert Roberts, Jr., a former short-term mayor of Minden and a later a state court judge and the maternal grandfather of later Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr.

In 1917, E. L. and Dan Stewart, Sr., and Alberta Glass (1834-1937), a former soldier of the Confederate States Army,[6] were sued by the Town of Minden for non-payment of the expense for the mandatory construction of sidewalks abutting their properties, based on a 1902 state law, which the plaintiffs challenged unsuccessfully on double appeal to the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit in Shreveport and the Louisiana Supreme Court in New Orleans. They did not request the sidewalks and sought to shield themselves from the associated costs.[7] The Minden City Council had undertaken a sidewalk program pushed by subsequent Mayor Connell Fort.[8]

Stewart's wife was Jim Brown Stewart (1873-1963), the sister of F. Dell Brown (1887-1973) of Minden.[9][10]In a 1955 will, Stewart left his estate, the amount not specified, to a trust fund under the supervision to the former Minden Bank and Trust Company (since Regions Bank) and a nephew, attorney Daniel Webster Stewart, Jr. (1897-1982), with the intent of providing later payments to his nieces and nephews, including great-nephew Dan Stewart, III (1931-1987), once Stewart, III, reached the age of sixty-five; however, he died at the age of fifty-five. The trust fund was not questioned until 1968. Dell Brown sought part of the inheritance through her late sister, but Dell Brown died while proceedings were under court review. The trust fund was ultimately upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court; the funds were to have been disbursed to the heirs at the time of the death of Dan Stewart, III, ten years earlier than anticipated by E. L. Stewart.[11]Jim Brown Stewart's will gave to the Webster Parish Library in 1963 the property and money for a new library facility. The "Old Ferguson Home", as it was known, was added in 1980 to the National Register of Historic Places. The Ferguson Home remains a part of the since expanded library plant which opened in 1996.[12]

E. L. and Jim Stewart are interred at the historic Minden Cemetery.[1] Numerous other Stewart relatives are instead buried at Pine Grove Methodist Cemetery north of Minden.[3]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Edmond Lee Stewart". findagrave.com. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  2. "Membership of the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812 - Current: Webster Parish" (PDF). house.louisiana.gov. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Douglad Stewart, Jr.". findagrave.com. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  4. "Services for D. W. Stewart Held April 26: Oldest Memberr of Webster Parish Bar Succumbs to Pneumonia". Minden, Louisiana: The Signal-Tribune & The Springhill Journal. April 30, 1935. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  5. May 17, 1897. The Register of Tulane University. p. 28. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  6. "Alberta Glass". findagrave.com. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  7. Town of Minden v. Stewart et al. Southern Reporter, Vol. 77. November 26, 1917. p. 118-121. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  8. "Connell Fort Dies Saturday Night at His Residence Here: Was Great Civic Worker and Builder of This City," The Webster Signal-Tribune, March 5, 1937, pp. 1, 6
  9. "F. Dell Brown". findagrave.com. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  10. "Rites for Mrs. Stewart Held This Morning". The Minden Press. January 21, 1963. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  11. "Succession of Edmond L. Stewart". casetext.com. October 11, 1974. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  12. "Webster Parish Library: History". Webster Parish Library. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
Preceded by
W. W. Hicks
Louisiana State Representative for Webster Parish

Edmond Lee "E. L." Stewart
19041908

Succeeded by
Robert Roberts, Jr.