D. Grant Stewart, born November 2, 1845, in York Center, Livingston County, New York, was a pioneering settler in South Dakota. After beginning his career in merchandising in Minnesota, he moved to Brown County, South Dakota, in 1879, where he established a successful farm from government land claims in Rondell Township. Stewart married twice, first to Emma F. Doten in 1881, who passed away the following year, and later to Celia Hanson in 1885. A prominent local figure, Stewart was known for his independent political views and active involvement in community affairs. He and his wife had six children.
D. Grant Stewart is a native of the state of New York, having been born in York Center, Livingston County, on the 2nd of November 1845, and being a son of David and Mary Ann Stewart, both of whom died in that state, the father having been a plow manufacturer by vocation. Our subject received an education in the schools of his native town and Brockport Collegiate Institute and remained in the old Empire state until he had attained the age of nineteen years, when he set forth to seek his fortunes in the west. He located in Hamilton, Fillmore County, Minnesota, and was there engaged in merchandising for the ensuing decade, at the expiration of which, in 1879, he came as a pioneer to what is now the state of South Dakota. He took up a homestead and tree claim ten miles south of the present village of Bath, in Rondell township, and also secured a pre-emption claim. In the following year he began the improvement of his property, all three claims now being under cultivation and well improved with substantial buildings, good fences, etc., while the timber on the tree claim is now well grown. He remained on the farm for ten years and since that time has resided in Bath, while he still owns the fine property which he secured in its wild state from the government nearly a quarter of a century ago. He was married in Minnesota to Miss Emma F. Doten, in 1881, and she survived her marriage by only one year. Prior to her marriage she also had filed on a tree and homestead claim in Brown County and in the same township as the property secured by her husband. His sister, Mrs. Catherine J. Anderson, also came to Brown County and took up a claim, in 1880, and she died a few months later. On the 19th of March, 1885, Mr. Stewart consummated a second marriage, being united to Miss Celia Hanson, who was born in Denmark, but reared and educated in Minnesota and Iowa, whence she came to Brown County and took up a claim prior to her marriage, having also perfected her title to the property. This was the same claim on which Mr. Stewart’s sister had previously filed entry, and the claim is now included in the full section of land which constitutes the fine landed estate of our subject and his estimable wife, who has been a true helpmeet to him. He also owns an eighty-acre tract separate from the main farm. In connection with the growing of the various agricultural products best suited to the soil and climate, Mr. Stewart also raised cattle upon a quite extensive scale. The subject has taken an active interest in public affairs of a local nature and is well informed upon current topics and upon the vital questions of the day. In politics he maintains an independent attitude, and he was prominent in the reform movement which was so strongly in evidence in the west a few years since. He is a student of sociological matters and is a firm believer in many of the teachings of those who classify themselves as socialists. Fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Bankers’ Union, while both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. They have six children, all of whom remain at the parental home, namely: Emma, Anna, Fay, Florence, Frances, and Carlisle.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.