Henry Carter Stuart was born on 18 January 1855 in Wytheville, Virginia, to William Alexander Stuart and Mary Taylor Carter Stuart. The nephew of renowned Civil War Cavalry commander, Jeb Stuart, Henry attended Emory and Henry College and the University of Virginia where he studied law in 1874-1875. Stuart worked with his father on his successful cattle farms in Southwestern Virginia which became incorporated as the Stuart Land and Cattle Company in 1884. Stuart represented Russell County in the Constitutional Convention of 1902. He also was appointed by Governor Andrew Montague as a commissioner in the newly created State Corporation Commission in 1903. He served as a member of the Board of Visitors for the University of Virginia between 1902 and 1905. Elected unopposed on the Democratic ticket as governor in 1913, Stuart took office on 1 February 1914. During his administration, Stuart helped establish the Prohibition Commission, revise the tax code, quell the disorder in the city of Hopewell, and prepare Virginians for World War I. Significant events during his governorship included his attendance at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, Ca., in 1915, the involvement in Virginia troops on the Mexican Border, and the dedication of the Virginia Monument at Gettysburg, Pa., in 1917. After his four-year term in office, Stuart returned to his cattle business. He died at his estate of Elk Garden on 24 July 1933. Stuart married his cousin Margaret Bruce Carter on 26 February 1896 and had a daughter named Mary Fulton who was born in 1898.
From the guide to the Executive Papers of Governor Henry Carter Stuart, 1857-1918 (bulk 1914-1917), (The Library of Virginia)
