Charles V. Stuart
Charles V. Stuart (May 9, 1819-August 13, 1880) was a California pioneer and delegate to the California Constitutional Convention of 1878-79, where he distinguished himself as the only delegate to speak out in defense of the rights of Chinese immigrants.
Stuart was born in Nippenose Township, Pennsylvania, and worked on his father's farm until the age of 14, when he was enrolled at Owego Academy in what is now Tioga, New York, where he studied under the educational reformer Charles Rittenhouse Coburn. After graduating, Stuart moved to Ithaca, New York, where he began work as a merchant. In 1839, Stuart took a grand tour of the United States and in 1842, married Ellen Mary Tourtellot. The Stuarts had three children while living in the east: Robert H. Stuart (d. 1878), Mary (Stuart) Pickett, and Emily (Stuart) Stangroom.
Inspired by the California Gold Rush, Stuart led the first mule train—called the "Ithaca Company"--to California, beginning from Independence, Missouri and traveling along the Arkansas River to the Rocky Mountains, and then to Salt Lake City, where after a brief recuperation, the expedition traveled to the Cajon Pass, near what is now Rancho Cucamonga, California. From there, the travelers headed to Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, and San Joaquin, California, where the members separated to find their own way. Stuart headed to San Francisco, where he arrived on November 20, 1849.
In San Francisco, Stuart and partners I.N. Thorne and John Center began farming 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land in the vicinity of the Mission Dolores. They constructed a house and dug a canal several hundred feet long to accommodate boats on the nearby creek. Shortly afterwards, Stuart and business partner Robert T. Ridley established a tavern on the site, called the "Mansion House." The tavern (located on the site now occupied by the basilica) was successful, and Stuart continued operating it after Ridley's death in 1851. Stuart was able to afford to build San Francisco's first brick house on the corner of 16th and Capp Streets. By the mid-1850s, Stuart was living there with his wife, son Charles Duff Stuart (b. 1854), and daughters Antoinette (Stuart) Vermehr (b. 1856), Ida (Stuart) Sessions (b. 1859) and Isabel (Stuart) Dennis (b. 1863).
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