Peter G. Stewart

Peter Grant Stewart (September 6, 1809 – August 27, 1900) was a jeweler and pioneer of the Oregon Country in what later became the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. A native of New York state, he traveled the Oregon Trail to the Willamette Valley and settled first in Oregon City and later in what became Washington. He was served on the Second Executive Committee of the Provisional Government of Oregon, and his homesite became part of Fort Canby at the mouth of the Columbia River.

Early life Peter G. Stewart was born in Stamford, New York, on September 6, 1809. Then in 1817, he moved to Jefferson, New York, then to Middleburgh, New York, and then in 1840 to Springfield, Missouri. The Stewart party included his new wife and his in-laws traveled as they traveled over the Oregon Trail. Additionally, along the journey the party encountered Lieutenant John C. Frémont of the United States Army, who was on a surveying mission. After a short time in Oregon, Stewart volunteered to help rescue the Joel Palmer wagon train in 1845. By 1853 he was part owner of the Pacific Steam Saw Mill Company at that site. This committee was then replaced with a single executive and George Abernethy was elected as governor. He was then chosen to be the first judge for the District Court of Clackamas County, Oregon. Then in 1853 he served as surveyor for the community of Pacific City. Lastly, from 1870 to 1879 Stewart served as city recorder for the town of Gervais in the Willamette Valley on French Prairie.

Family Stewart's first wife Rebecca's parents were Fendal Carr Cason, a member of the Oregon Territorial Legislature, and Rebecca Holladay Cason. Oregon's first territorial recorder, John Long, was Stewart's brother-in-law. Peter fathered nine children, all by his first wife: Nellie, Margaret, Frederick, James, Katherine, Charles, Catherine, Mary, and George. Catherine died on the journey over the Oregon Trail and Nellie, born in 1863, was the youngest.