Oliver W. Stewart, member Forty-third Illinois General Assembly

              Member Forty-third Illinois General Assembly
Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois
Exclusive Management
The Coit Lyceum Bureau
Cleveland, Ohio
Oliver   Wayne   Stewart
BIOGRAPHICAL

OLIVER WAYNE STEWART was born in Mercer County, Illinois, a few miles from Rio, on May 22, 1867. His early boyhood days were spent in the state of Iowa, the city of Muscatine being his home for part of the time. Later he lived in Illinois. In the fall of 1880 he went back to Iowa, and during the summers of 1881 and 1882 he worked on a farm in Musca¬tine County. In the fall of 1882 he went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he attended high school until May of 1883. He then moved to Woodhull, Henry County, Illinois, where he worked on a near-by farm, living with L. W. Slawson and attending school in Woodhull. This continued until 1885, when he was graduated from the Woodhull high school.
Mr. Stewart taught school at Oxford, Henry County, Illinois, during the following winter, and the next winter he taught in Knox County. The spring of 1887 he was elected secretary of the District Lodge of Good Templars and appointed an organizer for the district. He took the field during the spring and summer in his first public work in the interests of temperance and prohibition. In the fall of 1887 he entered Eureka College. He was compelled to work his way through school and was grad¬uated with the class of 1890. On August 20th of that year he and the only lady of his class, Miss Ella J. Seass, of Arthur, Illinois, were married.
The next three years of his life were given to evangelistic work, part of the time under the direction of the State Missionary Board of the Church of Christ, of which Mr. Stewart is a mem¬ber.   In 1893 Mr. Stewart was elected
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
The speaker was Oliver W. Stewart of Chicago. His sketch of the character of the great emanci¬pator and martyr was one which held the interest of his hearers throughout. Mr. Stewart has a good voice and a ready wit, and he touched upon the salient points in the character of the great man whose life he was discussing in a way which showed a thorough understanding and apprecia¬tion of his many wonderful qualities. The true greatness of the martyr president is depicted in masterful and entertaining manner.
— The ^XCinneapolis Tribune.
Oliver  Wayne   Stewart
secretary of the Illinois Christian Endeavor Union; in 1894 he was re-elected, and in 1895 and 1896 he was elected president of the same organization. While Mr. Stewart was doing Christian Endeavor work he was also pastor of the church at Mackinaw, Illinois, and giving considerable time to prohibition party work. He attended his first state convention in Illinois at Springfield, in May of 1888, and has attended every state convention since that time. He was a delegate to the national prohibition convention at Cincinnati in 1892 and also at Pittsburg in 1896 and Chicago in 1900. He presided over the state pro¬hibition convention in Springfield in 1896 and over the national convention at Pittsburg in the same year.
He became a member of the Illinois state committee in 1894, and a mem¬ber of the national committee in 1896. He began serving the prohibitionists of Illinois in the latter year as chairman of the state committee, continuing until he was elected to succeed Samuel Dickie as chairman of the national committee, which position he took on the first of January, 1900.
Mr. and Mrs. Stewart lived for five years in Eureka and then removed to Mackinaw, Illinois, where they made their home for two years, after which they removed to Chicago, and have lived there since. Mr. Stewart was re-elected chairman of the national committee at the national convention in Chicago in 1900. In 1902 Mr. Stewart was the prohibition candidate for the Illinois legis¬lature from the fifth district, more commonly known as the Hyde Park district, in Chicago. In his campaign he declared in a personal platform where he stood on the questions that were of particular interest to Chicago people, and, though the district is republican by an overwhelming vote, he was elected, defeating
a republican by eight hundred majority. In the Illinois House of Representa¬tives he was given good committee as-signments and though he was the only representative of his party in that body he was able to be helpful in the passage of many bills in which people of the city and the state were greatly interested. He made a speech nominating his can¬didate for the United States Senate, which was received most cordially by the members and was given more than passing notice by the public press.
LECTURE SUBJECTS
Christian Citizenship
Presidents and the Presidency
jlbraham Lincoln
The Greatest Governmental Problem
The Old f^Can Eloquent
Oliver  W ayn e   Stewart
Tyler County (W. Va.) Journal Certainly no more entertaining speaker ever appeared on the platform in this section of the state.
Emporia (Kan.) Gazette
He is one of the fairest, sanest speakers ever heard in this town.
Chicago Record-Herald
Carried off all the honors in the oratory tournament.
Springfield (111.) News
In every respect the address was notable. The speaker was conservative; flashes of wit followed each other in close succession, and the house applauded and laughed. He spoke with a rapidity that overtook the stenographers, yet every word he uttered was so distinct that it was heard in the farthest corner of the hall. In construction, in following the rules of oratory and speech, in style, diction and delivery, he was almost perfect. His personal presence was admirable. The stories he told were in graphic and telling language, and the morals they taught were driven home with short, sharp sentences. He never lost the thread of his argument. Every detour brought him back to the place where he had started; he connected his discourse with a master's voice.
Menominee (Mich.)  Herald
A strong and forcible speaker. The subject was well handled, and he interested the entire audience throughout the program.
Chicago Evening Journal He has wonderful command of language, excellent delivery, and the faculty of making his declarations convincing.
Helena (Mont.) Independent He is an eloquent speaker.
Los Angeles (Cal.) Times
Mr. Stewart is a man of fine presence, and is an eloquent speaker.
Chicago Inter Ocean
Oliver W. Stewart's speech was a feature of the House session. He was applauded repeatedly, and at the conclusion of his speech was cheered long and loud. His speech was the oratorical feature of the proceedings.
St. Louis Republic
Mr. Stewart electrified the House in a burst of eloquence that disturbed the equilibrium of that body.
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
It was reserved for Oliver W. Stewart to deliver the most interesting speech of the day, judged by the attention and applause that greeted it.
Chicago Evening Post
Oliver W. Stewart held the House in rapt attention.
Chicago Chronicle
It was a day of speech making in the General Assembly, but the honors not unexpectedly went to Representative Oliver W. Stewart. In the opinion of many of the oldest members of the House, a more eloquent address has not been made in Representatives' Hall in years.