Stewart, Mary W., 1857-1946.

Mary Washington Matilda Stewart, who was postmistress in Oxford, Maryland, from 1877 until 1940, was born on November 19, 1857, in Oxford, Talbot County, Maryland.

Her parents were Matilda and James Stewart. Known locally as "Mollie," she was appointed postmistress of Oxford in the spring of 1877 after the death of her father, who previously held the position of postmaster. Sometime after her confirmation, Mary Stewart built an addition on her home that served as the Oxford post office. At the completion of her term in 1930, the Republican County Committee of Talbot County recommended that a Republican be appointed to the position of postmaster instead of Mary Stewart, resulting in a political controversy that lasted until President Hoover confirmed her reappointment in 1931. Senators Millard E. Tydings and Phillips Lee Goldsborough of Maryland were strong supporters of Stewart and spoke on her behalf to the U.S. Senate, helping to ensure her reappointment. When Mary Stewart retired in 1940, she was the oldest postmistress in America and had the second longest continuous service record in the nation. Mary W. Stewart never married; she died in 1946 at age 88.

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