Held large interest in Thomas Iron Co.

Charles Stewart, son of John and Elizabeth (Green) Stewart, was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, March 21, 1830, died there December 16, 1917. He attended the Easton public schools, and pursued college preparatory studies at the renowned academy of Dr. John Vandeerver. His progress in classical studies was so remarkable that, when he was a youth of fourteen years. Dr. Vandeerver made the statement that he was qualified for entrance into the junior year of any college in America. His father placed him in Miami College, Ohio, choosing this institution because it would then be possible for him to make his home with his sister and brother-in-law, Dr. James C. Moffat, and although he was prepared for advanced study the elder Stewart wished him to take the full four years' course. A compromise was effected by which he entered the sophomore year of the class of 1847, and from the first he enjoyed the highest standing in his class, maintaining that place until his graduation, his scholastic average for his entire course being 98.98 per cent, the highest ever attained by a student at the university.

He was honored by election to the chair of Greek in Miami University immediately after graduation, and he was also offered a professorship in an eastern university, declining both on the ground that he was too young to fill a place upon a college faculty. Returning to Easton, he was for two years Dr. Vandeerver's assistant in the teaching of Latin and Greek, at the same time studying medicine with Dr. Traill Green, his uncle. Enrolling in the University of Pennsylvania, he was graduated in medicine in 1853, beginning professional work in Easton. After a few months' practice he relinquished his ambition for a medical career because of infirm health, and he became an employee of the Stewart Wire Works. He began in the capacity of clerk and thoroughly familiarized himself with all the details of the business, so that when his father retired he was competently fitted to assume the direction of the enterprise. His business career covered a period of four decades, and in addition to the management of the concern that bore the family name he held large interests in the Thomas Iron Company, Warren Foundry, and Lehigh Water Company, for many years holding positions upon the directorates of these corporations. He was an able executive, a wise and careful advisor, and throughout a business career of more than usual activity he adhered to those principles of honor and integrity that comprise the great lesson of his life.

Mr. Stewart was a man of deep religious convictions and rich personal religious experience, and his entire life is a record of devotion to the work of the church. For more than sixty-three years he was an elder of the Presbyterian Church, active in its home missionary work, and he was long the revered teacher of a Bible class of young women. One of the greatest relaxations and enjoyments of Mr. Stewart's life was in delving deep into literature and the classics. He read Latin and Greek at sight, a heritage from his brilliant college record, and his familiarity with the ancient and modern poets, historians and authors was intimate and exact. He was at home, he was an honored member, in any assembly of men of letters, and his great accomplishments were recognized in the conferring of the honorary degree of LL.D by his alma mater. He was the author of numerous papers on varied subjects, literary and historical, and he was an authority on the history of his locality.