Jasper Stewart was Knott County's first doctor and had been practicing in the area many years before the county was formed in 1884.  He is remembered especially for his work during the terrible typhoid epidemic.

Jasper Stewart was particularly gifted:  he had an exceptional memory and a perceptive and inquiring mind.  for his time and especially considering where he lived then, he was an unusually well-informed doctor. He has been described as "a self-made man and medical doctor." He knew and used both herbal remedies and the prepared medicines known then.  He went to wherever he was needed without thought of payment and remained to nurse he sick as long as needed, and he once told Lucy Furman that he never sent  in a bill in his life.

Furman used him as one of the models for the character of Old Doc Ross in her novel "The Lonesome Road."

Once a young doctor in the county tried to have him barred from practice because he had no license or medical degree. The state legislature passed a resolution to permit Doc Stewart to practice medicine as long as he wanted to.  In his old age, Stewart was elected county assessor. Two of his sons studied medicine.
         
Dr. Alexander Hamilton Stewart practiced in Floyd County, was elected twice as state senator, was physician for the state penitentiaries, but eventually moved to Oklahoma. William attended medical school but never completed training, but did practice some under the tutelage of his father. Albert Stewart and Mavis ? are his grandchildren

Corbett Mullins
May 21, 2003