Ezra Stewart

Ezra Stewart was born in 1836, the son of Joseph and Johanna (Beach).

In 1860 there was a 35-year-old carpenter & joiner named Ezra Stewart, born in New York, living with his wife New York native Mary (b. 1820) and their three children Myron (b. 1846), Martin (b. 1852) and Leroy (b. 1858) in Algoma, kent County,Michigan.

In any case, Ezra was 25 years old and possibly living in Montcalm County, Michigan, when he enlisted in Company D on May 13, 1861. He was reported serving with the ambulance corps from October of 1862 through July of 1863, and in October of 1863 was absent wounded, probably from a gunshot to the foot, and possibly received at Gettysburg. In any case, he was in the hospital in Washington, DC, from October 16, 1863, through May of 1864, and was mustered out on June 20, 1864, at Detroit.

After he left the army Ezra returned to Michigan and may have settled for a time in Solon, Kent County. He married Mary Chase in 1866, and may have been the same Ezra Stewart who married Lucinda Thomas, also in Montcalm County, on April 29, 1868. He was possibly living in Algoma in 1870.

Ezra a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association, and living in Crystal, Montcalm County in 1883 when he was drawing $1.00 per month for a wounded left foot (pension no. 192,635, dated July of 1881), increased to $2.00 and then to $12.00 per month. (His older brother Ira was living in Crystal in 1880.)

In 1888 he was living in Muskegon County in 1888, and for some years worked as a sailor and as a laborer.

He was a single man when he was admitted to the Michigan Soldiers’ Home (no. 1264) on March 11, 1890 and he listed his nearest relative as his brother Ira (1826-1901) who was living in Montcalm County (and is buried in Crystal cemetery).

Ezra was discharged at his own request on June 25, 1890, readmitted on August 2, 1890, and discharged July 7, 1891; readmitted on December 18, 1891 and discharged January 30, 1892; admitted on September 16, 1892 and discharged on November 21, 1892; admitted on July 20, 1893 and discharged on September 13, 1893; admitted on December 15, 1894 and discharged on February 16, 1895; admitted on October 1, 1895 and discharged December 16, 1895; admitted on March 4, 1896 and discharged on June 15, 1896; admitted on September 22, 1896 and discharged on December 15, 1896; admitted on March 27, 1897 and discharged on June 15, 1897; admitted September 11, 1897 and discharged December 10, 1897; admitted on August 20, 1898 and discharged May 21, 1899; admitted on July 7, 1899 and discharged December 11, 1899; admitted July 11, 1900 and discharged on January 2, 1901.

He was admitted for the final time on February 2, 1901, and he died of neuritis at the Home hospital at 3:15 a.m. on February 10, 1907. The funeral was held in the Home chapel and he was buried in the Home cemetery: section 4 row 21 grave 33.