William Morris Stewart (1827-1909)

He was born in Galen, Wayne County, New York, and while still a boy moved with his parents to Mesopotamia Township in Trumbull County, Ohio. He attended Yale University (1849-50), but moved to San Francisco with the Gold Rush in 1850, becoming involved with gold mining in Nevada County. He became a millionaire by the age of 27 mining gold in California and through significant investments in silver mines. He was admitted to the Bar of California in 1852 and began a practice in Nevada City, becoming Attorney-General of California in 1854. He moved to Virginia City, Nevada, in 1860 where he became involved in early mining litigation and in the development of the Comstock Lode. When Nevada became a state, he was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1864 and was re-elected in 1869, serving until 1875, during which time he built Stewart's Castle and served as Chairman of the Committee on Pacific Railroads and then Chairman of the Committee on Railroads. After stepping down from the Senate, he returned to his law practice in Nevada and California but was elected to the U.S. Senate again in 1887. Re-elected in 1893 and 1899 as a Silver Republican, he served until 1905. During his second stretch in Washington D.C., he was Chairman of the Committee on Mines & Mining, and of the Committee on Indian Affairs. He died in Washington, D.C.