Nathaniel Thomas Stuart was born around 1817 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He married Jane Caroline Robinson in Lincoln County, North Carolina, on September 4, 1837, and they had at least seven children: Franklin, born around 1840; Adolphus born around 1843; Susan, born around 1845; Sarah, born around 1847; Michael, born around 1849; Colin, born around 1851; and Martha, born around 1857. Stuart worked as a farmer in Lincolnton, North Carolina. He owned $300 of real estate in 1850, and a decade later, he reported $212 in personal property. They moved to Cleveland County, North Carolina, sometime before 1880, and he died there on March 1, 1897.