(Published in History of Idaho: The Gem of the Mountains Vol. 3 by James H. Hawley 1920)

Isaiah J. Stewart is closely connected with public interests of Dubois and Clark county both along the lines of civic and moral development, for he is city marshal of Dubois and is bishop of Beaver Creek ward of the Bingham stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A native son of Utah, he was born at Farmington, Davis county, January 31, 1869, and is a son of James W. and Jane (Grover) Stewart, the former a native of Alabama, while the latter was born in England. The father went to California during the excitement attending the discovery of gold, crossing the plains to that state in 1849. He afterward became a resident of Utah and was numbered among the pioneer Mormons who colonized and developed that state. He purchased land near Farmington, which he cultivated and improved for several years, and then went 10 Morgan county, Utah, where he bought land, carrying on its further development and improvement for a quarter of a century. He then sold the property and became a resident of Fort Bridger, Wyoming, where he took up a homestead, giving his attention to the work of tilling the soil and cultivating his crops upon that place throughout his remaining days. He passed away in 1912, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years, having long survived the mother of Bishop Stewart, whose death occurred in 1873.

Isaiah J. Stewart was largely reared in Morgan county, Utah, and when fifteen years of age began providing for his own support by working as a farm hand and also followed railroading. In 1904 he came to Idaho, settling at Rexburg. He purchased land a mile and a half from the town, in Madison county, and his early experience upon his father's farm enabled him to successfully undertake the task of cultivating and improving this place, of which he remained owner for four years. He then sold the property, removed to Dubois and filed on land five miles east of the town, securing three hundred and twenty acres. Again he took up the arduous task of breaking the sod and rendering the fields productive and through the intervening years he has further carried on the work of development and improvement. He continued to reside upon the ranch until 1917, when he established his home at Dubois, erecting a nice modern residence.

On the 28th of November, 1891, Mr. Stewart was united in marriage to Miss Esther Mellinger and they have become parents of eight children, namely: Verla; Keith; Delsa; Reed; Alda, who passed away in 1903, when seven years of age; and three who died in infancy.

In religious faith Mr. Stewart has always adhered to the belief in which he was reared— that of the Church of Jesus' Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been an earnest and untiring worker in the church and in 1916 was made bishop of Beaver Creek ward of the Bingham stake. Through his efforts the meetinghouse at Dubois was built in the Summer of 1919, when there was a total crop failure in the locality, yet the building was erected and paid for at a cost of forty-five hundred dollars within thirty-one days, Bishop Stewart being untiring in his efforts to accomplish this task. Politically he is a republican and in 1918 he was made city marshal of Dubois, which office he is now acceptably filling. He is ever loyal to any cause which he undertakes or espouses and he is recognized as a man whose word is as good as any bond ever solemnized by signature or seal.