WILLIAM H. STEWART

WILLIAM H. STEWART (1801-1883) served the Church long and well in the office of Deacon. He was married first to Sarah A. S. Malin (b.c. 1801-d. 1872), on September 17, 1822, in Ohio County, Kentucky. Both of them were natives of Virginia. In the 1850 Ohio County Census they are both listed as being 49 years of age, with the following children: John Stewart (b.c. 1830), Mary Stewart (b.c. 1832), William Stewart (b.c. 1834), Basil Stewart (b.c. 1837), Margaret Stewart (b.c. 1839), Sarah Stewart (b.c. 1841), and Jacob Stewart (b.c. 1843). About 1848, both of them united with the Church by letter. 

He was chosen to be a Deacon by the Church on July 9, 1853, together with Sanford Preston. They were duly ordained on July 11th following by Baptist Ministers Alfred Taylor and James F. Austin; but, within less than two years Brother Stewart requested that his name be removed from the Church's membership roll. This was done in April, 1855. The probable reason was that a relative (probably a brother), W. D. Stewart, was excluded on March 10, 1855, from the Church's fellowship for "keeping a store and retailing ardient [sic] spirits". On January 25, 1864, Brother Stewart, at his request, was restored to the Church's fellowship. On September 11, 1864, he was reelected as an active Deacon. This action was repeated in 1866. He continued in the office until his death, in 1883. 

His beloved first wife died in April, 1872; and, on July 14, 1873, he became the third husband to a widow, Mrs. Louisa Cook, on an Ohio County license. In two terms he served the Church over twenty years as a Deacon. He died in 1883. 

A Sesquicentennial History of the Green River Missionary Baptist Church 1836 - 1986, Written and Compiled by Wendell Holmes Rone, Sr., For the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Church, 1987.