Allen–Stewart Family Papers, 1840-1997
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Allen – Stewart Family
Title: Papers, 1840-1997 (bulk 1840-1899)
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for this collection, contact the Curator of Special Collections.
Size of Collection: 1.33 cubic feet
Locator Number: Mss./A/A425
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists chiefly of correspondence among members of the Thomas J. Allen family of Ohio and diaries recorded by John Wesley Stewart of Chicago, Ill. The two families are related through the marriage of May Allen, a daughter of Thomas Allen, to John Fletcher Stewart, a son of John W. Stewart. The Allen letters primarily concern two of Thomas J. Allen’s sons, Thomas, a newspaper printer, and Joseph, who served in the 1st Minn. Light Artillery Battery. Several of the letters involve Joseph’s declining health following the Battle of Corinth, his death and retrieval of his body in Lake Providence, La., by his brother for transporting to his hometown, Brecksville, Ohio, and subsequent attempts by his mother to obtain a military pension. Stewart, who held political office in Wisconsin and Chicago, was engaged in housing development in the Southeast and the lumber industry in Michigan. He wrote, with few omissions, daily diary entries from 1861 to1898. Primary topics in the collection include pre-Civil War politics in Kansas, illness and death of Lt. Joseph Allen, Chicago politics and real estate development in the late 19th century. Several photographs have been transferred to The Filson’s Photograph Collection.
Biographical Note
Thomas J. Allen and Marana Morgan Allen had nine children, born between 1831 and 1849. Thomas Allen (b. 1835) was a printer by trade and worked for a number of newspapers in Kansas, Cincinnati and Chicago. His political leanings were anti-slavery, although he did not favor granting full civil rights to blacks. His younger brother, Joseph (b. 1839), enlisted in the 1st Minnesota Light Artillery Battery in 1861. He participated in the Battle of Corinth in late 1862, but died in March 1863 from chronic diarrhea, possibly resulting from wounds he received at Corinth.
John Wesley Stewart, the oldest child of a Methodist minister, was born in 1822. He eventually moved to Wisconsin where he speculated in real estate and was elected to the state legislature in the late 1860s. He moved his family to the Chicago area in 1871 and was instrumental in the early development of Evanston, Ill. He became an influential citizen and later served on the Cook County Board of Supervisors and the Chicago city council. His real estate business thrived and he eventually had major developments in Daytona, Fla., Chattanooga, Tenn., as well as Evanston. He and colleagues also invested in the lumber business and had extensive timber holdings in Michigan. Stewart died ca. 1899.
List of Folders, Volumes
Folder 1: Correspondence: 1855 – 1861, 13 items
Folder 2: Correspondence: 1862, 19 items
Folder 3: Correspondence: January – March 1863, 37 items
Folder 4: Correspondence: April – July 1863, 21 items
Folder 5: Correspondence: 1864 – 1884, 43 items
Folder 6: Military and land papers, 10 items
Folder 7: Photocopies of printed materials, 53 items
Folder 8: Stewart-Allen genealogy, 12 items
Folder 9: Miscellaneous, 42 items
Folder10: Material removed from John W. Stewart diaries, 45 items
Volume 11: John W. Stewart diary, 1840-1841
Volume 12: John W. Stewart diary, journal, 1854-1871
Volume 13: John W. Stewart diary, 1861
Volume 14: John W. Stewart diary, 1862
Volume 15: John W. Stewart diary, 1863
Volume 16: John W. Stewart diary, 1865
Volume 17: John W. Stewart diary, 1866
Volume 18: John W. Stewart diary, 1867
Volume 19: John W. Stewart trip memorandum, 1867
Volume 20: John W. Stewart diary, 1868
Volume 21: John W. Stewart diary, 1869
Volume 22: John W. Stewart trip diary, 1869
Volume 23: John W. Stewart diary, 1870
Volume 24: John W. Stewart diary, 1873
Volume 25: John W. Stewart diary, 1874
Volume 26: John W. Stewart diary, 1875
Volume 27: John W. Stewart diary, 1876
Volume 28, John W. Stewart diary, 1877
Volume 29: John W. Stewart diary, 1878
Volume 30: John W. Stewart diary, 1879
Volume 31: John W. Stewart diary, 1880
Volume 32: John W. Stewart diary, 1882
Volume 33: John W. Stewart diary, 1883
Volume 34: John W. Stewart diary, 1884
Volume 35: John W. Stewart diary, 1885
Volume 36: John W. Stewart diary, 1886
Volume 37: John W. Stewart diary, 1888
Volume 38: John W. Stewart diary, 1890
Volume 39: John W. Stewart diary, 1891
Volume 40: John W. Stewart diary, 1893
Volume 41: John W. Stewart diary, 1894
Volume 42: John W. Stewart diary, 1895
Volume 43: John W. Stewart diary, 1896
Volume 44: John W. Stewart diary, 1897
Volume 45: John W. Stewart diary, 1898
Volume 46: Diary, account book, 1855 (probably John W. Stewart)
Volume 47: Account book, 1849-1850
Volume 48: John W. Stewart, scrapbook, 1850-1879
Volume 49: John W. Stewart, scrapbook, 1859-1860
Volume 50: Rev. John Stewart diary, 1864
Volume 51: John F. Stewart diary, 1867
Volume 52: Thomas J. Allen diary, account book, 1867
Volume 53: Rev. John Stewart diary, 1868
Volume 54: John F. Stewart record book, railroad land prices, Iowa and Nebraska, 1871- 1873
Volume 55: Manual of customs, precedents and forms, Assembly of Wisconsin, 1861
Volume 56: Guidebook to Edinburgh, Scotland, 1866
Folder 57 ovsz: Enlistment and clothing record for Lt. Joseph Allen, 3 items
Subject Headings
Augusta College (Augusta, Ky.)
Beaver Island (Mich.) – Description and travel.
Buchanan, James, 1791-1868.
California – Description and travel.
Chattanooga (Tenn.) – Description and travel.
Chicago (Ill.) – Description and travel.
Chicago (Ill.) – Politics and government – 19th century.
Chickamauga Battlefield (Ga.)
Cholera – United States.
Cincinnati (Ohio) – Description and travel.
Corinth, Battle of, Corinth, Miss., 1862.
Daytona (Fla.) – Description and travel.
Edinburgh (Scotland) – Guidebooks.
Europe – Description and travel.
Evanston (Ill.) – Description and travel.
Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872.
Harrison, William Henry, 1773-1841.
Indians of North America – Relocation.
Kansas – History – 1854-1861.
Kendall, Amos, 1789-1869.
Kentucky – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Veterans.
Lumber trade – Michigan.
Medicine.
Methodist church – Clergy.
Military pensions – United States – Civil War, 1861-1865.
Mines and mineral resources – United States.
Mississippi River Valley – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.
New Orleans (La.) – Description and travel.
Newspapers.
Presidents – United States – Election – 1840.
Presidents – United States – Election – 1856.
Presidents – United States – Election – 1860.
Railroads – United States.
Real estate development – United States.
Rheumatoid arthritis – United States.
Saint Louis (Mo.) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.
San Francisco (Calif.) – Description and travel.
Shiloh, Battle of, Tenn., 1862.
Spanish-American War, 1898.
Tennessee – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.
United Confederate Veterans.
United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Equipment and supplies.
United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Medical care.
United States. Army – Military life.
United States. Army. Minnesota Light Independent Artillery Battery, 1st (1861-1865)
Utah – Description and travel.
Vicksburg (Miss.) – Description and travel.
Wisconsin – Politics and government.
World’s Columbian Exposition (1893: Chicago, Ill.)