1836 – 1852: Stewart, Rev. William Kirkpatrick

“as good a man as ever stood behind a pulpit” — J. T. Laughlin

North Carolina and Tennessee (1790-1830)
1790 – born in Rowan County, North Carolina
1816 – ordained in Tennessee; studied under Dr. Blackburn
graduated from Hampden-Sidney College of Virginia
1817 – married to Lucretia Moore in Todd Co, KY
1818 – son James Harvey Stewart born in Elkton, KY
1819 – occasionally preached at Clarksville, TN, Mt Zion at Greenville, KY
1819 – named his second son William Wilberforce Stewart
1822 — Organized church at Little River, Christian Co, KY; at Hopkinsville Church in Christian Co, KY
1826 – Stated Supply of Concord and Union churches, Elkton KY (34 communicants); (GA 1826) (Muhlenburg Presbytery)
1826 – Attended American Colonization Society meeting
1827 – May. Attended General Assembly in Philadelphia representing Muhlenburg (KY) Presbytery (GA minutes)
1827 – head of flourishing academy at Elkton, KY (Subscription school taught by William Moore, who came here as early as 1823. He taught for some years and was succeeded by his son, William H. Moore. Rev. William K . Stewart, a son-in-law of Moore, also taught school in this village, as well as at the Rock Bridge Church north of town)
1830 – G. A. Minutes — Stated Supply of Union, Salem & Concord Churches, Elkton, KY; Stated Supply
1830 –Census of Todd Co, KY (Rev. W. K. Stuart) with 10 in family: William (WM 30-39); Lucretia (WF40-49); James & William (2xWM 10-14); Mary M. (WF 5-9); John C. & Nancy H. (WM & WF <5); 1 free colored male 10-23; 1 male slave 36-54; 1 female slave 10-23

Vandalia, Illinois (1830-1831)

1830 – Appointed by Board of Missions of General Assembly to one year of service in Shelby Co., IL & vicinity.  (The Christian Advocate, Vol. 8 (1830) p. 608.)
1830 – 1831 moved to Shelbyville, Shelby county, Illinois, where they passed the winter
1831 – Multiple letters recorded as received from him by Board in March – May (The Christian Advocate, Vol. 9 (1831)
1831 – spring moved to Vandalia (per son’s bio)
1831 – wife died during summer, buried at Vandalia
1831 – Sept 10 received from Presbytery of Muhlenberg
1831 – reappointed by GA Board of Missions for one year as Missionary Agent of the State of Illinois (The Christian Advocate, Vol. 9 (1831) p. 623.)
1831 – Pastor at Vandalia, IL (31 communicants)
1832 – Apr 6 meeting of Kaskaskia Presbytery; call from Vandalia church for Wm K Stewart to be pastor was sanctioned
1832 – 1836 – installed Vandalia May 1832, dismissed Apr 3, 1836
1833 – 11 April, Palestine, Kaskaskia Presbytery met
1834 – 18 April, Shawneetown, Kaskaskia Presbytery met
1835 – 10 April, Presbytery of Kaskaskia held at Greenville; Wm K Stewart appointed stated clerk; Oct. Signed objection to Synod action about St Louis newspaper.

Greenville, Bond County, Illinois (1835-1836)
1835. May 5. “At, or near Greenville, I found the only society of old School Gen. As. [General Assembly] Presbyterians which I have discovered yet in the far West. They are under the pastoral care of the Rev.  Mr. Stewart [Rev. W. K. Stewart]who labors between there and Vandalia 18 miles distant. (Blaikie, 1835)
1835-1836 – serving Greenville Church (including Shoal Creek) in Bond County, IL

Macomb, Illinois (1836-1852)
1836 – spring, came to Macomb, IL (per son’s biography)
1836 – minutes of GA: Pastor at Vandalia, Kaskaskia Presbytery, with 40 communicants but with Macomb, IL PO
1836 – Sept 20 — the first marriage officiated by Stewart in McDonough County, Illinois
1836 – Oct 20 — Synod of Illinois at Alton. Notice of complaint (in Wm J Fraser case) to the Assembly was given by ….. William K. Stewart…..
1837 – Mar 17, presbytery of Kaskaskia. Dismissed to Schuyler Presbytery.
1837 – May 18, Philadelphia General Assembly: Rev. Wm K Stewart & WW Bailey represented Schuyler Presbytery; voted in favor of abrogation of Plan of Union & removal of Synod of Western Reserve (in favor of Old School)
1837 – stated supply at Macomb w/100 communicants (1837 GA Minutes) listed in both Kaskaskia Presbytery (with PO Macomb) and in Schuyler as S.S. at Macomb; also listed as Board of Publications at G.A.
1838 – Elected moderator of Schuyler Presbytery;  supplied Warren County (renamed Fall Creek) sometime after organization of church in 1836 until pastor called Sept 1839
1838 – 1852: Installed by Schuyler Presbytery pastor of Macomb church in 1838
From GA Minutes: 1838: 93 communicants, 1839: 91, 1840: 68 (Shiloh rec’d 23 on certificate in 1838, Camp Creek: 29 communicants), 1841: 78.
1839 – Feb 16. The State Colonization Society was re-organized last week at Vandalia, with Gov. Carlin, President.  The assemblage on the occasion was addressed by Rev. W. K. Stewart of McDonough County, and Hon. John Hogan of Alton.
1840 — Nov 27. Organized church at Fountain Green; preached occasionally for several years following. (The Republican, Carthage, Illinois, May 11, 1921)
1843 – Mar – son John C. drowned in Crooked Creek
1843 – appointed by Schuyler Presbytery, along w/James M. Chase & Elder Briscoe to organize church in Doddsville
1844 – received $10 from Masonic Lodge in compensation for serving the town of Macomb as “Preacher”
1844 – Sept dau. Nancy H. marries Nelson Montgomery, son-in-law of Cyrus Walker – officiated by J. M. Chase
1848 –  Feb 27. Performed marriage of Charles L. Armsby to Effie P. Grant in Warren County, Illinois (probably the dau of Robert Grant, an elder in the Monmouth Presby Church and formerly an elder in Macomb church) (from Monmouth Atlas)
1848 – Aug 25. Thompson Chandler, Adm. of the estate of Nelson Montgomery, deceased, of McDonough Co. petitions to sell real estate (from news article in Monmouth Illinois Atlas)
1851 — Wm K Stewart & Charles Hayes attended GA; 117 communicants at Macomb First
1852 – April 27. Died at age 61 years, as pastor of Macomb church of 110 communicants.

Early marriages officiated by Stewart in McDonough County, Illinois
1836 Sep 6 – William H. Kyle to Zilla Ann Van Dyke d/of Isaac Van Dyke at Wolf Grove
1836 Nov 24 – George W. Provine to Mary McAlary
1836 Dec 15 – Charles Chandler to Sarah K. Cheatham
1836 Dec 28 – Samuel B. Kyle to Elizabeth Hays
1837 Jan 26 – William H. Randolph to Matilda Jane Brooking
1837 Apr 10 – Patrick Lynch (Warren Co) to Margaret Harris
1837 Nov 15 – James H. Blackman (Cass Co) to Mary Riggs, sister of Samuel T. Riggs
1837 Dec 26 – William Maxell to Lucy Ann Craig
1838 Jan 25 – Obadiah Cannon to Sarah Noel
1838 Jan 25– Robert A. Brazleton to Martha A. Wilson, dau of Cynthia Ann Wilson
1838 Mar 8 – George W. Eyre to Mrs. Elizabeth A. Gordon
1838 Jun 19 – Caleb H. Booth to Henrietta Eyre
1838 Sep 20 – Nathaniel Tinsley to Telitha C. Walker
[continues]

References:

• http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/ILMCDONO/2005-11/1132719764
• Counties Of Todd And Christian, Kentucky by Battle and Perrin

Miss Lucretia Moore was another, and taught as early as 1815.

James Gore King McClure (1920). “Some Pastors and Pastorates during the Century of Presbyterianism in Illinois.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. Vol. 13, No. 1 , pp. 1-15. Online at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40194395

One single word must here be introduced concerning the Rev. William Kirkpatrick Stewart who was pastor at Vandalia while it was still the Capital of Illinois. He it was that introduced the first Protestant church bell in the whole Mississippi Valley, it is claimed. This Bell was presented to the Presbyterian congregation, Vandalia, Illinois, by Romulus Riggs, Esq., a merchant of .Philadelphia, in the name of his infant daughter, Miss Illinois Riggs, and bore the inscription: “ILLINOIS RIGGS. TO THE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION. VANDALIA. 1830”. (See, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. Vol. 2, no. 4, Jan. 1910. P. 79.) There was the Roman Catholic house of worship at Kaskaskia with its bell, but the first Protestant bell in the Mississippi valley was that of Mr. Stewart.

From: Rugh, Susan S. (1990). “Creating A Farm community: Fountain Green township: 1825-1840”. Western Illinois Regional Studies, Vol XIII No. 2, p. 5

James McConnell and Thomas Geddes were founding elders under direction of Mr. Stewart from Macomb, where McDonough College had just been founded by Old School Presbyterians…. Reverend Stewart preached to the church the last Friday of each month, and stayed the night before at the McConnell home. … Martha thought Revered Stewart was “a most excellent preacher”… and “more like Mr. McGinley I don’t think we could have found.” She instructed her aunt to tell Reverend McGinley that “our preacher is a very strict old school man which pleases father very much and has a good affect on some of our friends here.”