William Lyle Stewart was of sturdy Scottish origin, having been born in that country, but his life from the time he was a boy of seven years was spent in this country. In both education and training, he was thoroughly American

He was born in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, November 19, 1846 and was the son of Archibald Stewart and Esther Lyle. The parents were among the first people of that city to become converted to the Mormon Church. They joined the church in 1841.

The father emigrated to the United States without his family. He left Liverpool, England on 2 September 1849. He sailed on the James Pennell. His goal was to earn sufficient money to bring his family to this country. However, he fell victim to a cholera scourge, which swept the country about that time and died 21 May 1850 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The family still cherished the idea of making their home in America. They scrimped and saved and finally, on March 12, 1854, they sailed from Liverpool on the ship John W. Wood. They eventually made it as far as the outfitting station near Kansas City, Missouri. While they were there, the next youngest son, Archibald, contracted cholera and died.  Shortly there after Esther contracted cholera and also died. 

His twenty-year old sister Mary Stewart Campbell, a young bride, and his eighteen-year old sister Ann, assumed the the care of the now orphaned younger children. They crossed the plains in the Daniel Harris Company, settling in Salt Lake City, Utah. The orphans continued on, arriving in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 3, 1854.  They lived there until the general move south at the time the city was evacuated upon the arrival of Johnson's army. They went to Spanish Fork.

In the spring of 1859, he came to Plain City, Utah in the care of his sister Martha and her husband William Geddes. The city had just been laid out and William Lyle, a lad of twelve years commenced working on the roads and bridges and thus began a life for himself. 

In May 1867 he was sent on a Mission to Dixie, where he helped lay out the town of Panaca, a booming mining town and he helped to survey Washington County. While there the Mountain Meadow Massacre occurred and while he no doubt knew about it he would never talk about it.

He returned to Plain City, Utah and the following year he made a trip to Laramie, Wyoming from which point he piloted the last train of Emigrants to make the journey across the plains by team. The company was in the charge of Captain Chester Loveland.

On the 29th of January 1872, he was married to Sarah Jane Thomas in the Old Salt Lake Endowment House. She was the daughter of Daniel 

Claiborne Thomas and Jane Gaither. The young couple then settled down to married life in a log cabin just south of the town square in Plain City. Ten children were born of this union: Nellie Elizabeth, married Joseph M. Folkman, William Thomas, married Irma Wilson, Daniel Claiborne, married Ethel Wayment, Archibald, married Ada Negus, Nettie, Esther, John Franklin, married Marybell Wayment, Mary, married Lawrence L. Radmall, Effie Jane and Ruth.

For a number of years he engaged in the salt business with his two brothers-in-law, under the name of Stewart, Thomas, and Company, taking from six to ten thousand tons of salt a year, and supplying the Alice mine in Butte Montana and a number of others. This undertaking was a very successful one and in it he made a comfortable fortune.

He was always largely interested in local enterprises, being for years President of the Plain City Irrigation Company; was at one time Justice of the Peace; a stockholder in the Slaterville Creamery and in 1896 when the Utah Power & Light Company ran their canals thru the western part of Plain City, he was the agent for the company. The object of this project was the reclamation and development of a large tract of waste land and at that time the western part of Plain City was cut off and made a ward. This section had always been known as Salt Creek but when the ward was organized the name was changed to Warren, after Lewis Warren Shurtliff, who was then President of the Stake.

He was made Bishop of the Warren Ward, June 9, 1896.

He purchased the John Hodson farm in Warren and the family moved from Plain City to Warren in March, 1898. The Hodson house was surrounded by tall poplar trees and these trees were the deciding factor. He then planted a whole grove of  trees in front of the House and then practically made the house over.

He was called on a Mission to Scotland in 1888. He chose to leave on May 12, 1888 for Scotland. Sarah Jane continued on living in Plain City while William Lyle was gone. Jim Carver rented the land, which was better than having the boys attempt to run it, the boys being rather young to try and run a farm. He departed Liverpool, England on the ship Wyoming on 28 June 1890 and arrived in New York City on 10 July 1890.

He was assigned to the Aberdeen District for almost a year and then presided over the Scottish Mission for fourteen months.

He was never very robust, having always been thin and frail. His health began to fail, so in 1908 he decided to quit farming and move to Ogden, leaving the boys to run the farm. He officiated in the Salt Lake Temple for a couple of years but had to give it up on account of his health. He suffered from Pernicious Anemia, which at that time was incurable and slowly declined and died March 15, 1915. Pernicious Anemia is a disease where the body does not assimilate vitamin B12. It is handled in modern times by simply injecting vitamin B12 into the affected person.

This history was written by Nettie Stewart on November 17, 1966. It was modified to present a more generic appearance by Kent Stewart on August 16, 1999.