John Stevenson (1816 - 1896)

STEVENSON, BLAIN, SUTTY, BATES, HAMMOND, FALL, CHISHOLM, TEMPLETON, CHIDESTER, ALLINGHAM, EWING, SHAHAN, MILLER, MCCOY, AMOS, DRISCOLL, BERKMAN

Posted By: DJ Scieszinski
Date: 5/28/2020 at 13:34:14

The Friday Union
Friday, January 24, 1896
Obituary

On Jan. 16, 1896, John Stevenson, living in Mantua township, Monroe county, Iowa, two miles southeast of Frederick, died.

Mr. Stevenson was born in Westmoreland Parish, Ireland, July 15, 1816. His parents, Robert and Fanny Blain-Stevenson, preceded him some years to America, he being left a little boy with his grand parents. His grand parents demised when he was 16 years of age, when he started to come to America to find his parents, took shipping on board of the ship “William Ewing,” Capt. William Sutty commanding; was promoted to cabin boy by the captain. When off the coast of Nova Scotia, the ship was wrecked and lost. He with the Capt. and some others of the passengers out of 400, were among the saved. He received a pass to come on to Cleveland, Ohio; thence to Ravanna, Portage county, Ohio, where at the age of 18 he married Dorliskia Bates, March 2, 1836, and located near Mentor, Ohio.

Nov. 8th, 1847, he came with his family to Mantua township, Monroe county, Iowa, and entered the land and home upon which he died.

During his younger days he was one of the prominent business men of the community in which he lived. He was an intimate friend of James Hammond, Michael W. Fall, William Chisholm, Dolph Templeton and many other business men of the county.

He leaves five children surviving him. C. H. Stevenson, near Frederic, G. F. Stevenson, Des Moines, Iowa; G. W. Stevenson, Coquell City, Oregon; C. L. Chidester, Mantua township; L. J. Stevenson, Mantua.

He was well respected and had a host of friends in the community in which he lived. He was a devoted christian and died with sweet prayers on his lips. His last and dying words were “O! Lord let no harm befall me.”

He never succeeded in finding his parents. It is known that he has brothers and sisters in the United States as follows: George Stevenson, William Stevenson, Rachel Stevenson, Nancy Jane Stevenson; that he has relatives supposed to be living in Penn. by the name of George Allingham, and John Ewing, but their postoffice address is unknown. If any of the above should see this notice please write, C. H. Stevenson, Frederic, Iowa, Monroe county.

The pall bearers were J. W. Shahan, Milton Fall, John Miller, Absalom McCoy, George Amos, John Driscoll. The funeral services were conducted by Rev. H. Berkman of the Dunkard church.