Enoch Stewart was born 1817 in New York (presumably in Romulus Township, Seneca County) to John and Mary (Wyckoff) Stewart. Enoch's maternal grandparents Joseph and Keziah (Foree) Wyckoff were Revolutionary War Patriots. His paternal grandparents James and Mary (Taylor) Stewart were loyalists. During the Revolutionary war, with the exception of John and his brother Joseph (who took over the family farm in NJ), John's family moved to the Niagara area of Ontario Canada where they were given land grants.
Enoch's father was married three times and had 21 children. Enoch was born to his father's second wife, Mary. John, Enoch and many of his immediate and extended family were early settlers of Calhoun County Michigan. The family members built log cabins and settled in the area that eventually became divided into Calhoun and Kalamazoo Counties.
On October 3, 1839, Enoch married Nancy Orser who was described by an old-time fiddler as someone whose dancing he greatly admired and that the fiddler "...would occasionally play some tune for her to dance alone." Sadly, Nancy died within 10 years of their marriage, leaving Enoch with three, young children to raise; Oscar, Emma Jean and Nancy Stewart.
In time, the Enoch and his children worked their way towards California. As his children married, Enoch can be found in census records sometimes on his own and often with or near his children. At times Enoch is listed as living with Emma Jean and her husband Thomas Stewart, or Oscar Stewart and his family.
Enoch passed away on February 1, 1896 in Camarillo, California. He was buried in the nearby Pleasant Valley Baptist Church Cemetery. About 9 years later, Enoch's great-grandson (Oscar's grandson), Melvin Clyde Stewart, about 8 months old, was buried with him. By 1943, the Pleasant Valley Cemetery had fallen into disrepair. In October, 1943 Enoch, along with his great-grandson Melvin, were relocated together to the Ivy Lawn Cemetery, Grave C-93-1.
Burial information from the book, "They Lived and Died in Pleasant Valley" written by local historians and authors, Val Rains and Sherwood Milleman.