unique personality. He built the most opulent dwellings he could for his family. He loved
his wife and daughters as fiercely as he desired personal wealth. He never could match
the residences of his California contemporaries like William Chapman Ralston’s
luxurious mansion Belmont. Stewart married Annie Foote, the daughter of a former
Mississippi governor. She only knew the finer things of life. As a wedding gift Stewart
constructed a home in Nevada City, California. It was the exact replica of her childhood
home in Mississippi. Built in 1856 with columns and clapboard imported from the south,
the house at 416 Zion Street became the only antebellum architecture house in California.
It remains standing.
The plaque in front of the house reads as follows: WILLIAM MORRIS STEWART MANSION BUILT 1855-56. EXACT REPLICA OF WIFE’S ANTE-BELLUM COLONIAL BIRTHPLACE. ONLY EDIFICE OF THIS TYPE IN CALIFORNIA. STEWART, AN EARLY NEVADA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, JOINED 1859 COMSTOCK SILVER RUSH, LED BATTLE FOR STATEHOOD AND BECAME NEVADA’S FIRST U.S. SENATOR, SERVED 29 YEARS. KNOWN AS THE SILVER SENATOR AND FATHER OF AMERICAN MINING LAW. AUTHORED 15TH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. DEDICATED MARCH 7, 1964 WM. BULL MEEK - WM. MORRIS STEWART NO. 10, E CLAMPUS VITUS NEVADA CITY, NEVADA CO. CALIFORNIA-NEVADA CENTENNIAL COMMISSION ON OBSERVANCE OF NEVADA STATE CENTENNIAL 1864 -1964
Stewart built the home on a hill because of the threat of fire. The house had a
verandah and two parlors. Stewart supervised the simple but elegant design complete
with a beautiful staircase and exquisite woodwork. He designed everything with Annie’s
happy childhood in mind. The Nevada City house soon became a mecca for social events.
Annie loved to entertain her relatives and Nevada City society friends. It must have been
tough for Annie to leave the Zion Street home of her dreams after such a brief time
but Stewart had the wanderlust for new challenges. The Stewarts sold their house to
Niles and Mary Searls in August of 1857. They moved to Downieville, California in the
spring of 1858 to a much smaller home than the one in Nevada City. Shortly after moving
to Downieville, the town burned. Once again Stewart built his home and office a
distance from the town. His properties did not burn. The Stewarts remained in
Downieville until 1860. Opportunities in the Comstock area called the young lawyer for
new adventures. Stewart, his wife and daughters Bessie and Anna moved to Carson
City, Nevada. They lived in a tent until Bill constructed a sandstone house. Stewart sold
this one to James W. Nye about 1862. These two eventually became the first U.S.
Senators from Nevada. The Stewarts relocated to Virginia City. The Carson City house
became the governor’s residence for many years. Now it serves as a rectory for a Catholic
Church.
The plaque in front of the house says “This house was built about 1860 of local sandstone for William Morris Stewart who lived here until 1862. He sold it to the territorial governor of Nevada, James W. Nye. The two men served as Nevada’s first United States Senators after the territory achieved statehood. Stewart, serving from 1864 to 1875 and again from 1887 to 1905. Nye served from 1864 to 1873. Both men were originally New Yorkers.”
By 1863 the Stewart family lived in a mansion on the corner of Taylor and Stewart
Streets high up on Mount Davidson in Virginia City, Nevada. It was a grandiose place. It
became a center for socializing in no time. Stewart began his senatorial campaign. In
order to keep his vocal southern wife from ruining his chances, he gave her forty
thousand dollars to shop for furnishings and clothing in San Francisco. This house
became vacant after the Stewarts left for Washington. Various people later owned the
home including A.J. Ralston, brother of the California banker William Chapman Ralston.
It ended up being sold for one hundred dollars in 1885 to a man named Piper. He tore the
house down, but saved the doors to decorate his opera house in Virginia City.
The picture of the house in Virginia City is found on p.194 of Gold and Silver Colossus by Ruth Hermann.
The house on Dupont Circle in the Washington D.C. area stands out as the most
opulent and excessive of the many Stewart residences. Built in 1873, it lasted a mere
twenty-eight years. The structure stretched up to the sky over eighty feet. The Stewarts
owned it except for the last two years before it was razed. Famed architect Adolph Cluss
designed the Second Empire Mansion. The five-story house with a carriage porch
dominated the landscape. People called the area “The Honest Miners’ Camp” because
several western millionaires owned property in the area. Emma scandal victim James
Lyon accused Stewart of building the house with the money owed him from the Emma
fiasco. Annie spent a fortune in Europe purchasing furniture during her six-year trip to
Europe. That was enough to tax any fortune. Upkeep with the servants and lavish
entertainment strained the family finances.
A serious fire occurred on the property December 30, 1879. It severely damaged
the house and numerous treasures inside. The servants rescued six year old Maybelle
from the fire as both parents were away from home that night. Many expensive
shopping trips resulted to replace the ruined furniture. This home never seemed to bring
desired happiness to the couple, although the family celebrated many family occasions
there such as Maybelle’s wedding. Collis P. Huntington, the railroad magnate, gifted
Maybelle with a diamond tiara that she wore on her wedding day on May 16, 1896.
After the wedding the Stewarts leased the Dupont Circle house to the Chinese
Legation from 1886 to 1893. The Chinese left the house in disrepair at the close of their
rental agreement. Supposedly the Chinese smoked opium in the house damaging the
walls and burning some furniture. Stewart said they did thirty thousand dollars of
damage. Eventually, the Chinese paid three thousand dollars to the Stewarts. When the
Stewarts left the home many of their possession ended up on the front lawn for sale.
Senator William A. Clark of Montana purchased the home in 1901 for
$144,000 dollars. One of Clark’s stipulations was that the house could accommodate two
hundred guests. The house passed muster for that, but the story goes that Clark decided
he could not live in the house after a huge mirror fell off the wall while he was inspecting
the property. He eventually tore the house down and moved to New York. A bank
purchased the property finally bringing an end to the gaping hope in the ground that Clark
left.
It took twelve years to earn enough money or manage to get financial backing to
return to a political career. The Stewarts resided in San Francisco during most of this
time. The 1880 Federal Census lists the Stewart family as borders, probably living at the
famous Lick House Hotel. It was not the grandiose Palace, but still a very smart place to
reside. In 1885 Stewart and his wife once again established a residence in Carson City. He
turned an existing house with a stone foundation into a two-story edifice. Stewart bought
the entire block that surrounded the home at 503 West Robinson Street. This home
still stands on the corner of Minnesota and Robinson. To make the place more
special, Stewart fenced in the block and planted a fruit orchard. Annie split her time with
visits to Carson City, Washington D.C. and abroad.
Picture courtesy of Roy Ritter
Stewart generally got along with his family quite well because he loved them so. He
spent fortunes on his wife, his daughters and his grandchildren. No one ever accused
Stewart of having extramarital affairs. One granddaughter, Bessie Hofer, (daughter of
Anna Stewart) believed that the Carson City house was an outright gift to her after the
Stewarts moved to Washington D.C. She also wanted a third of the inheritance from her
deceased mother’s estate after Annie died. Grandfather Stewart became very angry at her
greediness when she hired a lawyer to get what she wanted. Bessie Hofer eventually
apologized for her actions in order to get back into favor with her grandfather.
In 1895 Stewart purchased the Farmwell Plantation in Loudoun County, Virginia. The
1,800 acre property was about twenty-five miles from Washington D.C. In 1896 an ash
tree on the farm burned mysteriously for over a week. Many spectators came to gawk.
Stewart renamed the farm Ashburn.
Drawing courtesy of Eugene Scheel
Annie was not interested in life on a farm. Loudoun County was too far away from
the society of Washington D.C. The Stewarts did have a few parties complete with an
orchestra for dancing, but Annie took the opportunity to travel abroad again. Stewart
developed the farm into a large dairy operation. He encouraged sanitation with the
milk production on the 656-acre farm and employed steam to pasteurize and keep flies off
the cows. The Ashburn Farm shipped milk cooled by ice on the train for the trip to
Washington D.C. Stewart introduced legislation regarding dairy sanitation. Stewart took
pride in giving tours of his dairy farm. Along with the dairy Stewart established a stable
of racehorses. His old friend Leland Stanford helped out with advice on this project.
Several of the horses had successful racing careers, but Stewart did not devote enough
attention to the farm. It lost a great deal of money. By 1897 Stewart sold the racing stock
and put the Ashburn Farm on the market. He sold it in 1899.
Stewart purchased a modest home at 19th and F Street in Washington D.C. They
retired somewhat from the social scene because Annie’s health was not the best. Through
the years Stewart only seemed to care where he lived when his family was
with him. When he was on his own he would stay in a hotel or rooming house – as when
Mark Twain moved in with him. One more similarity between Stewart and Twain
illustrated how they both desired ostentatious wealth. Twain’s home in Hartford,
Connecticut and Stewart’s Dupont Circle home somewhat resembled each other. The
Stewart Castle is long gone, but Twain’s house remains as a museum. Stewart built his last
house and office in Rhyolite, Nevada. These buildings were different from his usual
domiciles, but had as many modern comforts as possible to accommodate his second
family.
The picture of the Rhyolite house is a Nevada Historical Society photo found on p256 in Servant of Power by Russell Elliot
Stewart mined and practiced law, making money but not the fortune he desired. The
law business thrived because of his reputation, and he opened a branch office in
Goldfield. The Bullfrog mining success did not last. In 1908 Stewart left Nevada for the
last time and lived out his days in Washington D.C until his death in 1909.
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