Biographical and genealogical history of Appanoose and Monroe counties, Iowa
New York, Chicago: Lewis publishing Co., S. Thompson Lewis, editor. 1903
Transcribed by Renee Rimmert. A complete copy of this book is available on-line at archive.org.
Sp - Stevenson
R. A. SPENCER - Among the representative business men of Moravia is numbered R. A. Spencer, the proprietor of a livery, sale and feed stable, located one block from the northwest corner of the square. His barn is large, commodious and well arranged for the accommodation of horses and carriages, and he keeps some fine driving stock and good travelers, as well as a nice line of vehicles. He caters to the wants of his customers and makes a specialty of the traveling man's patronage. Genial and affable in manner and strictly fair in his business dealings, he has become very popular and is well known throughout both Appanoose and Monroe counties.
Mr. Spencer was born in Monroe township, Monroe county, about thirty-five years ago, and his early life was spent upon the old homestead there. His father, John Spencer, was born and reared in Kentucky, and from there removed to Indiana, where he married Miss Nancy Alexander, a native of the Hoosier state. In 1855, loading their household goods into a wagon, they came to Iowa and took up their residence in Monroe county, where the father developed a fine farm of six hundred acres, being one of the most successful agriculturists and stock raisers in his community. There he died, honored and respected by all who knew him. In his family were seven children, as follows: James; Wiliam ; Mrs. Lovina B. Wedman, of Nebraska; John; Roland A., of this review; G. B.; and Mollie, who is living with her mother in Albia, Iowa.
On the home farm Roland A. Spencer was early reared to habits of industry, and his literary education was obtained in the public schools of his native county. He followed farming until 1900, when he came to Moravia and embarked in the livery business, which he has since carried on with marked success, his patronage steadily increasing until he now has a good trade. Beside his business property he has a nice home in the southwest part of the town, where he owns a six-acre plat.
Mr. Spencer was married on the 15th of December, 1900, to Miss Alice Andrews, a woman of intelligence and culture, who presides with gracious dignity over his home. Politically he affiliates with the Democratic party, and fraternally he is connected with the Masonic lodge of Moravia.
DAVID THORNTON STARK - A visitor to Moravia, Iowa, who calls at a certain farmhouse on a tract of land adjoining the village on the south will get acquainted with samples of the very best afforded by American rural life, and see a specimen of the agricultural development of the United States which is the wonder of the world. The recent owner of this farm was a man who came to Iowa in the year that saw its admission into the Union as a state, and whose career therefore covered the whole of that period which has seen this great commonwealth develop from raw prairie land to leadership in farm products among all the states of the Union. He and his good wife grew up with this western state, and at every step of its progress were found doing their full share toward accomplishing its manifest destiny. Each commenced life poor, and knew what it was to work and work hard. Each was one of a large family and compelled by circumstances to do drudgery of the most grinding kind when, under happier auspices, they would have been at school or play. Knowing misfortune and hardships, equally inured to privation and care, they joined hands together when those hands were practically their only reliance, and side by side they struggled and hoped and prayed until fortune at length smiled upon them, with the result that they were able to spend the evening of their lives in one of the happiest homes that is to be found in all the region around.
When David and Edith Stark came from their southern home to Indiana there was little in the prospect that was pleasing. It was early in the nineteenth century, when the Hoosier state was still enveloped in its massive forests of walnut, oak and beech, when comparatively little land had been cleared, and when the task before the agricultural pioneer was little less than appalling. But the Starks set resolutely to work like so many others of their courageous compatriots, and somehow or other, by hook or by crook, managed to grub out a living from the reluctant surroundings. In the course of time the first comers were gathered to their fathers, but a son was left to represent them and perpetuate the family name. When Caleb Stark grew up he married Rhoda Burney, and lived some years thereafter in his native state, but after repeated discussions around the family fireside it was decided that they could do better by moving farther west. So, in 1846, the very year in which Iowa was made a state of the Union, this little caravan might have been seen wending their way toward the setting sun to cast their destiny with the new commonwealth just emerging into existence on the banks of the Mississippi. One of this party was David Thornton Stark, who had been born in Scott county, Indiana, in September, 1837, and was consequently at that time only nine years old. With a boy's freshness and watchfulness, however, he well remembered that trip and often loved to tell about its incidents in after years. In due time the emigrants reached Iowa, and shortly thereafter settled on a farm in Appanoose county, in the vicinity of what is now Walnut City. But within one year after their arrival a great and what, under the circumstances, seemed an irreparable calamity fell upon the little family from the Hoosier state. The father fell sick, and after lingering a short while was carried away in the very prime of life, before he had reached his fortieth year. This blow seemed to be irremediable, but the widow and the little ones braced themselves for the inevitable, and by dint of a desperate struggle managed at last to pull through. Foremost among the little workers who strained every nerve to help his mother was David Thornton, and many a time in later life he told of the hardships of those trying times. He worked hard and he worked late, he worked at home and he worked for others. He found out what it was to be a hired boy for exacting neighbors, who hustled him out of bed to eat breakfast by candle light, then to the barn to feed the stock, later to the field for a hard day's work, back to the house to do chores and to bed thoroughly exhausted by the day's labor. This routine, begun at ten or twelve years of age, went on for some years, his compensation being a mere pittance, but that pittance went to help mother, and David was satisfied.
So things ran along until he began to think of marrying, his choice falling upon a neighboring girl of great worth, who also knew what it was to work for a living. Sarah Burrows was the daughter of William and Margaret Burrows, the former of North Carolina, and the latter of Tennessee, who had married early in life and settled in Lee county, Iowa. There were eleven children in this family, nine of whom are yet living, and as they were poor Sarah had to assist from early girlhood in keeping the wolf from the door. She and David Thornton Stark, therefore, were kindred spirits and knew how to sympathize with each other when, after their marriage, March l0, 1858, they "set up housekeeping" on a rented farm. Their only capital was willing hands, good health and ambition to succeed, backed by mutual love and confidence in each other. The struggle was a hard one during the years they lived on rented places, but by the closest kind of economy they managed to save some money for a rainy day. With this Mr. Stark found a chance to buy at a bargain eighty acres of land that was sold at sheriffs sale, paying half in cash and the rest at the end of a year. This tract, which lay near Walnut City, on the west, proved the starter or nest egg, and from that time on affairs went more smoothly with our worthy friends. Prosperity smiled upon them, and a few years later Mr. Stark traded his little place for a larger farm lying between Moravia and Iconium. This he afterward disposed of to advantage and purchased the Putnam farm in the same vicinity, which in turn was traded to his son-in-law for three small tracts near Moravia. Those he rented to different parties and retired to Moravia, where he engaged in the stock business and took things more easily for some years. Being at last in easy circumstances, he bought the fine farm adjoining Moravia on the south, and in 1898 built the handsome house in which he and his faithful wife made their home and enjoyed comparative leisure after their arduous lives of labor and self-sacrifice. The venerable father of Mrs. Stark was affectionately cared for by his daughter and son-in-law until his eyes were closed in death, at the age of eighty-three years. Her mother went to live with a daughter in Missouri, where she was tenderly looked after until her earthly pilgrimage was ended, in the sixty-seventh year of her age.
Mrs. Stark has been an active member of the Christian church for more than twenty years, and she and her husband were regarded as pillars and mainstays in the Sunday-school and other religious work. None contributed more liberally than he toward the building of churches and spreading the gospel throughout Appanoose county, and his exemplary Christian life is an inspiration for the rising generation. In politics, while never an office seeker. Mr. Stark was always loyal to the principles of the Democratic party and cast his first presidential vote for Stephen A. Douglas, when the "Little Giant" was making his race against Lincoln in the memorable campaign of 1860. A few additional words as to the children of Mr. and Mrs. Stark will fitly close this narrative. Rhoda J., their eldest daughter, married happily Harlan Scott, but died at the early age of thirty-five years, after becoming the mother of six children; Mary A., the second daughter, married Noble Main and also has six children; William, the eldest son, has a family consisting of a wife and one child; James has had three children, but lost one by death. This record of Mr. Stark's prominence in his community and his worthy and useful life of sixty-five years will indicate how deep was the loss to his wife, family and friends, when on the 26th of January, 1903, he was called to his final rest, after a life whose influence will be felt in the future generation.
CHARLES STAUBER - The late Joseph Stauber, besides being a very worthy and good man in the ordinary relations of life, was an interesting person to know on account of his patriarchal age. His career lacked only four years of covering the whole nineteenth century, and thus embraced the most interesting period of the world's history. He was born about the time that Jefferson was finishing his first administration, and it is well to recall a few events to show how long ago this was. The war of 1812 did not commence until eight years after Mr. Stauber's birth, and the battle of Waterloo was still eleven years in the future. Queen Victoria, whose reign is regarded as phenomenal for its length, was not even born at that time, and yet she passed to her account several years ago, Abraham Lincoln, who was five years younger than Joseph Stauber, lived his wonderful career and passed away thirty-five years before Mr. Stauber's death. Scores of people of national fame, who remained before the people so long as to seem old men, had their rise, progress and decline far within the period at both ends as measured by the birth and death of Joseph Stauber. He was an eye witness to all the wars of the Union after the Revolution. He was alive at the admission of every state into the Union after Ohio in 1802. Since he came upon the scene the United States has grown from a straggling string of states along the Atlantic seaboard, with a few million inhabitants, to a mighty republic, embracing all the territory between the two great cardinal oceans of the globe. Mighty, tremendous, almost inconceivable have been the changes and revolutions since Joseph Stauber's birth in 1801 and his death in 1900.
The family of this name, though long settled in North Carolina, came originally from the north during the latter half of the eighteenth century. Christian Stauber was still a boy when his parents left their home in Pennsylvania to find a new location in the Old North state, and he continued to live there until his death at the age of seventy-five years. He married Maria Baumgartner, and from this union sprang the Joseph Stauber who became the progenitor of the western branch of this numerous family connection. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Christian and Anna (Stair) Fogel, and lived for some years thereafter in North Carolina, but eventually decided to try his fortunes in the west. It was in the fall of 1849 that he packed his household goods and with his wife and little ones set out on the long and tedious journey to the distant state of Iowa. The point of destination was Fairfield, where they spent the winter of 1849-50, and in the spring of the last mentioned year removed to the county of Appanoose. At that time Iowa was a comparatively wild state, and the farms which now "blossom as the rose" were almost entirely unimproved. The newcomers, who were rushing in by the thousands, were able to secure these rich lands at what would now be regarded as ridiculously low prices, and in this way poor emigrants could by very small investments in cash lay the foundations for magnificent landed estates. Joseph Stauber bought warrants for two hundred and forty acres of prairie land, on which stood a little shanty, and set to work with a will to improve his place. The absence of heavy timber made this a much easier task than confronted most of the pioneers in states farther east, and in course of time Mr. Stauber effected such magical changes that the once raw land is now one of the most highly improved and valuable farms in the county. His wife, who was two years his junior, having been born in 1806, passed away in 1878, but his own death did not occur until March 12, 1900.
Six of their eight children are living, and of this number is Charles Stauber, who was born in North Carolina in 1847, and consequently was about two years old when his parents came to Iowa. As he grew up he assisted his father in making the old homestead what it is now, and learned the art of agriculture after the Iowa methods, which are perhaps the best in the world. At first, of course, it was necessary for the family to live in a rather rude way, after the manner of pioneers, and for many years they were sheltered in a cabin about sixteen by thirty-two feet in size. This in time was replaced by a commodious residence, completed in 1874, and all the other necessary buildings and adjuncts of an up-to-date farm were added as they were needed. All the children married and went to themselves with the exception of Charles and Ellen, who, since the death of their father, have continued to occupy the home place. Though Mr. Stauber has preferred to remain a bachelor, his home has not been without the cheerfulness that is imparted by the presence of children. His score of nephews and nieces think the world and all of "Uncle Charles" and their frequent visits to the old homestead are the source of much merriment and social pleasure. The farm is situated about one mile east of the village of Moravia, in one of the most desirable sections of the county, and is cultivated by Mr. Stauber with the skill and good judgment which come only from long experience. His standing in the county, both as a business man and model citizen, leaves nothing to be desired, and none enjoys greater personal popularity among those who know him intimately. Though his parents were of the religious sect known as Moravians, Mr. Stauber is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, but his sister still stands by the old church.
DAVID STEEL - To a student of biography there is nothing more interesting than to examine the history of a self-made man and to detect the elements of character which have enabled him to pass on the highway of life many of the companions of his youth who at the outset of their careers were more advantageously equipped or endowed. The subject of this review has through his own exertions attained an honorable position and marked prestige among the representative men of the west, and with signal consistency it may be said that he is the architect of his own fortunes and one whose success amply justifies the application of the somewhat hackneyed but most expressive title, "a self-made man."
Mr. Steel was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 8th of January, 1852, his parents being Matthew and Elizabeth (Bird) Steel. They, too, were natives of the land of hills and heather and spent their entire lives there. The father followed the occupation of farming in order to provide for his family, which numbered ten children.
David Steel had good common school advantages and when twelve years of age began mining coal, a business with which he has since been connected, either as a mine operator or owner, and to-day he is an important factor in the development of the rich coal resources of Appanoose county. Ere leaving his native land he was married in 1873 to Miss Jean Dinning, a daughter of Matthew and Martha (Nicol) Dinning. Four children were born to them in Scotland: Matthew, Martha, Elizabeth and Jean. With his wife and children Mr. Steel sailed for the United States on the 3rd of November, 1880. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in America. In this country three other children have been added to the family, David, William and Hugh.
Making his way westward, Mr. Steel was engaged in mining coal in Centerville and in 1883 came to Cincinnati, where he has since resided. Here he was again employed as a coal miner until 1888, when he joined several well known business men in the establishment of the Thistle Coal Company, and a shaft was sunk at what is now known as the Thistle mine. A rich coal bed was struck and the output of the mine soon brought an excellent financial return to the owners. Later Mr. Steel and David Dinning purchased the interest of the other partners and are now the sole proprietors of two paying and valuable mines. In his political views Mr. Steel is an earnest Republican, giving a loyal support to the men and measures of the party. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity as a Master Mason and he and his wife hold membership in the Congregational church. He is a most genial man, easily approachable by all who may have occasion to seek an audience with him, and is very hospitable and generous, being sympathetic in manner and nature and imbued with a broad humanitarian spirit. His life record proves the force of untiring industry as a factor in the business world, and although he started out for himself empty-handed he is to-day classed among the prosperous and progressive men of his adopted city.
JAMES H. STEVENS - Few men of his age have had such a varied business career as the popular merchant whose life it is now the intention to outline. Scarcely any of the regular mercantile callings have escaped Mr. Stevens' activities, and at different times he has been a carpenter, dealer in hardware, jeweler, general merchant, furniture dealer, keeper of a second-hand store, and to cap it all twice a proprietor of two different hotels. But Mr. Stevens' fame rests on even a more enduring foundation than that of having been "all sorts of a merchant," and successful in each line. He is entitled to the honor of having founded the town of Mystic, which now holds out bright promises, but when discovered by Mr. Stevens was in a decidedly forlorn state. In fact, there was nothing of it at all, unless two or three scattering farmhouses could be called a town, but the store established by Mr. Stevens made a nucleus around which in time grew up the now lively infant village. From these preliminary remarks it will be seen that James H. Stevens is an interesting man to know, and it is the object of this memoir to introduce the reader to his acquaintance.
He is a son of the late Wesley Jiles and Jane (Schooler) Stevens, natives of Ohio, who removed to Illinois about the third decade of the nineteenth century and settled in the vicinity of Abingdon, where they engaged in farming. Some years later they moved to Iowa and located near Eddyville, but in 1850 returned to Illinois, where they remained until 1862 and again came to Iowa for permanent residence. A sojourn of eight years was made in Wapello county, followed in 1870 by removal to Appanoose and the selection of a location near Mystic. During the last four or five years of his life Mr. Stevens resided at Mystic, where his death occurred in 1899, but his widow still occupies the old home. Mr. Stevens was a farmer all his life, Republican in his politics and the religious affiliations of himself and wife were with the Methodist Episcopal church. Of their nine children only five are now living.
James H. Stevens, youngest of his father's four sons, was born at Abingdon, Illinois, August 24, 1851, and he participated in the family's subsequent sojournings in Iowa. After the usual routine and educational experiences of farm life, he branched out for himself at the age of eighteen in the trade of a carpenter. This employment engaged most of his time and attention for eighteen years, and in 1887 he began a general mercantile business at Mystic, or, rather, at what subsequently became Mystic, as there was no town there when Mr. Stevens became the pioneer merchant of the locality. He had a partner named Elgin, but the business was only conducted one year under the firm name of Stevens & Elgin, after which it was sold to Swanson Brothers. Subsequently Mr. Stevens purchased a third interest in the same store, remained a partner for the next two years of the Swanson Brothers and Ewand Brothers Company, when he again disposed of his holdings. In 1890 he went into the hardware business as senior member of the firm of Stevens & Heifner, which continued until 1893, when he sold his interest and retired. Meantime he had embarked in the jewelry business in 1892 as senior member of Stevens & Casey, but this interest he also disposed of after a year to Forsyth & Son. In the fall of 1893 the firm of J. H. Stevens & Company was formed to conduct a hardware business, and shortly afterward the old partnership of Stevens & Casey was renewed to carry on a general merchandise store. After one year this last mentioned interest was disposed of, and in the spring of 1894 Mr. Stevens purchased the Coulter & Heifner hardware store, still retaining his interest in the firm of J. H. Stevens & Company. To Wallace Duncan, his partner in the last mentioned firm, he sold a half interest in the hardware store purchased from Coulter & Heifner, which was thereafter conducted under the firm name of Duncan & Company. Later Mr. Stevens bought the Duncan interest in both stores and since then has conducted the business alone under his own name in a double room. He added furniture to the hardware stock, but in 1901 he sold the furniture business to A. Shaw and confined himself exclusively to his other branch. He carries a full line of general hardware, stoves, agricultural implements and tinware. At one time Mr. Stevens was interested in a second-hand store of general goods, which he managed four years with a partner a portion of the time. Nor must it be omitted that twice during his busy career he undertook the role of "mine host," having charge of the Richelieu Hotel one year and the Iowa House a short time. He began business on the capital earned at the carpenter's trade and by farming, and his success in various lines indicates decided skill as a financier as well as those "hustling" qualities indispensable to success in any line.
The firm of Stevens & Elgin was the first to carry on a mercantile business at Mystic, the starting of their store in 1887 being the beginning of the town, as previous to that not a lot had been laid out and three farm houses were the only buildings in the vicinity. For the first six months after the birth of this embryo city goods were hauled from Garfield station on the Keokuk and Western Railroad, two and one-half miles distant. After the Milwaukee Railroad was constructed a station was opened and named Mystic. The same year that Mr. Stevens began his pioneer mercantile venture the first regularly operated coal mine was opened, but at present there are about thirty mines in the vicinity and the town has a population of over two thousand. As his partner only remained with him about one year, Mr. Stevens may truly be styled the founder of Mystic, as he certainly has been one of its principal business men and most enterprising citizens.
On the social side of life Mr. Stevens is as agreeable as he is popular in the commercial world. In 1875 he was united in marriage with Miss Maggie J., daughter of Robert Baker, a pioneer of Appanoose county, and their family consists of six children. Their household forms the central attraction tor many friends, who esteem it a privilege to share in its genial hospitalities.
BLAIR STEVENSON - The family to which the above named belongs was contributed to Iowa in its formative period by the old Keystone state, which sent forth such swarms of younger citizens to the western part of our country. Henry Stevenson, who was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, March 20, 1802, was the son of poor parents, and as he grew up had to work hard for a livelihood. In his earlier years his occupation was that of a woodchopper, but later he abandoned this rather exacting pursuit for that of farming. He married Sarah Blair, a daughter of one of his neighbors, whose birth occurred in October, 1797, and after this event lived some years in his native state, but in 1845 moved with his family to Darke county, Ohio, where he rented and cultivated a farm for six years. In 1851 they went to Wapello county, Iowa, where another place was rented until 1856, and then a final move was made to Appanoose county to the farm at present occupied by their son, where they lived until their deaths, which occurred respectively in 1885 and 1880.
Blair Stevenson was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1834, and he was next to the youngest in a family of eight children, four of whom are living. He was eleven years old when his parents moved west, and the frequent changes of residence which subsequently took place were not conducive to regular education such as is obtained in schools. In fact, his training consisted principally of the hard work he had to do on the various farms rented or owned by his father, but all this came in good play when he himself assumed the burden of managing a farm. On March 24, 1864, he was married in Wapello county to Louise White, a native of Gallia county, Ohio, who came to Iowa with her parents when two years old. Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson have seven children: Sarah Jane, wife of E. H. Streepy; Laura Belle; Mrs. Emma Barlett; Mrs. Minnie Hutchison; Walter; Mrs. Myrtle Fox; and Ella. Though he still resides on the home farm, Mr. Stevenson sold the place to his son-in-law, Mr. Streepy.
WILLIAM H. STEVENSON, M. D. - The world instinctively pays deference to the man whose success has been worthily achieved, who has attained wealth by honorable business methods, acquired a high reputation in his chosen calling by merit, and whose social prominence is not less the result of an irreproachable life than of recognized natural gifts. Mr. Stevenson is one who in the practice of medicine has gained enviable distinction, being today recognized as one of the leading members of his profession in this part of Appanoose county. He is now living in Cincinnati, where for almost twenty years he has made his home, and in addition to the care which he gives to a large general practice he is also conducting a drug store which he established about eleven years ago.
The Doctor was born in the town of Castine, Darke county, Ohio, on the 13th of November, 1851, and is a son of Parkhill John and Mary (Gunder) Stevenson. The father was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvaia, and was a son of Henry Stevenson, who was likewise a native of the Keystone state and was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Leaving Pennsylvania, Henry Stevenson removed to Darke county, Ohio, and thence to Iowa, first settling in Wapello county. About 1856 he came to Appanoose county, taking up his abode in Franklin township, where he lived for many years, making farming his occupation, and died when about eighty-seven years of age. The Doctor's father was married in Ohio, having accompanied his parents to that state in his youth. He wedded Miss Mary Gunder, who was born in Darke county, and was a daughter of William Henry Gunder, of Pennsylvania Dutch descent. At an early epoch in the development of Darke county he had located there and made his home in that community throughout his remaining days. It was in 1868 that the Doctor's parents removed from Ohio to Appanoose county, Iowa, settling in Franklin township, and four years later they took up their abode in Cincinnati, where the father is now living at the advanced age of seventy-seven years, while the mother has reached the psalmist's span of three-score years and ten. Parkhill Stevenson is a shoemaker by trade and throughout his entire business career has carried on his work along that line. A man of sterling worth, he has always been honorable and straightforward in business and has commanded the respect and confidence of those with whom he has been associated. In the family were six children, one of whom is deceased.
Dr. Stevenson, the eldest child, spent the first seventeen years of his life in the state of his nativity and then accompanied his parents to Iowa. He, too, laid the foundation of his education in the public schools of Darke county, Ohio, and after his removal westward became a student in Christian College at Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he gained a liberal literary education, and when nineteen years of age he began teaching school and followed that profession successfully for some time, alternating his work as an educator with periods of study through several years. In the meantime he took up the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. John M. Sturdivant of Cincinnati, Iowa, and after reading with him for a time entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. In 1S84 he entered upon the practice of medicine in this city, where he has since been located and where he has enjoyed a constantly growing patronage. About eleven years ago he also established a drug store, which he has since conducted in connection with his medical practice.
In 1875 the Doctor was united in marriage to Miss Matilda White, a native of Wapello county, Iowa, and to them have been born three children, but Frank, the eldest, is now deceased. The others are Lillian L. and Arthur P., who are still with their parents. In his social relations the Doctor is a Master Mason and is also connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His time and energies are largely devoted to his practice, although in matters of citizenship he is progressive and public spirited. Greater than in almost any other line of work is the responsibility that rests upon the physician. The issues of life and death are in his hands. A false prescription, an unskilled operation may take from man that which he prizes above all else, life. The physician's power must he his own. Not by purchase, by gift or by influence can he gain it. He must commence from the beginning, learn the rudiments of medicine and surgery and continually add to his knowledge by close study and earnest application and gain his reputation by merit. If he can reach prominence it must come as a result of skill, knowledge and ability, and these qualifications are possessed in a large degree by Dr. Stevenson, who occupies a most enviable position in the ranks of his chosen profession.