ALLEN THOMAS STEWART is one of the younger business men of
Doniphan County and has established himself firmly in business and civic esteem at Denton,
where he is proprietor of the only drug store and is now serving his second successive
term as mayor. Most of his life has been spent in Kansas. He was born at Salem,
Kentucky, in Livingston County, March 11, 1881, and came to this state with his parents
when he was five years old. He attended public schools, graduated from the high school at
Seneca Kansas, in 1901, and following that had two years in the School of Pharmacy in the
University of Kansas at Lawrence. The following year he took special work in the Kansas
City College of Pharmacy, where he was graduated Ph. C. in 1905. After two years'
employment under his father Mr Stewart bought his present drug store at Denton in 1907. He
has conducted that as a high class pharmacy and general drug store, and it is one of the
best business establishments of the town. Mr. Stewart also owns his home a block south and
a half block east of the store.
Prior to his election as mayor in 1914 he served three terms on the City Council. He
was re-elected mayor in 1916. During his term in the council and as mayor Mr. Stewart has
been instrumental in securing electric lights for Denton and the town now enjoys a twenty
year contract with the Hiawatha Light, Power and Ice Company for that service.
Mr. Stewart is of old Scotch ancestry. One branch of his family came from Scotland and
located in Kentucky about the time of the Revolution. Mr. Stewart's grandfather,
Washington Stewart, was born in Scotland about 1830, and on coming to America located in
Kentucky, living for a number of years at Salem and afterwards in Marion County. He was
very successful, and acquired a competence enabling him to pass his last years free from
care He died in a hospital at St. Joseph, Missouri, while visiting his relatives.
The father of Allen T. Stewart is Dr. R. Stewart, who was born in Kentucky in 1856 and
was reared and married in his native state. He is a graduate of the College of Physicians
and Surgeons of Louisville, Kentucky, practiced in Salem and Carsville in Livingston
County, and in 1886 came to Kansas. For two years he practiced at Mineola in Clark County,
and in 1888 established his home in Denton, where he was the pioneer physician and where
he continued his professional labors ten years. After that he practiced two years in
Seneca, one year at Berne, eight years at Powhattan, eight years at Formosa, and has
recently located at Lebanon, Kansas. Doctor Stewart is a republican and a member of the
Masonic fraternity. His wife's maiden name was Alice Lowery. She was born in Livingston
County, Kentucky, in 1864. They have four-children, Washington, who conducts a restaurant
at Dubois, Nebraska; Allen T.; Rawley, who is a railroad employee and lives with his
parents at Lebanon; and Callie, wife of Leo Bradrick, a farmer 3 1/2 miles from Formosa,
Kansas.
Mr. Allen T. Stewart is a republican in politics, is a member of Severance Lodge of
Masons, and Caswell Consistory No. 5 of the thirty-second degree Scottish Rite at Kansas
City. He married in 1906, at Hiawatha, Kansas, Miss Meda E. Bartley, a daughter of John
and Sarah (Martin) Bartley. Her mother now resides at Fairview, Kansas. Her father
deceased, was a farmer and removed to Brown County Kansas, in 1892. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart
have one son, Norman Allen, born in June, 1912.
This zealous Scottish family came west after the Civil War. It is ironic the town
of Powhattan where Dr. Stewart practiced and raised his family is an Indian
reservation. In the past few years, the Kansas Indians have realized they are now in
charge of their tribal lands and Powhattan is the scene of a thriving casino named Sac and
Fox. Through the gaming efforts, the tribes have regained a portion of their lost
status from the Trail of Tears.
The modern day reservations are seeing new changes due to the Gaming Commission ruling
of open gambling. The revenue generated has given new schools, hospitals and housing
to the less fortunate. Dr. Stewart and his family played an integral role in
settling of the prairies..