STEVENS, John W. - 1914

STEVENS, PORTER, MOORE

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 7/1/2009 at 12:36:55

HISTORY OF
Cherokee County
IOWA
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1914
by Thomas McCulla

JOHN W. STEVENS.

On the roster of county officials in Cherokee county appears the name of John W. Stevens, a most popular and capable official now serving for the fourth term as county recorder. He is one of the native sons of Cherokee county, his birth having occurred July 29, 1876. The family is of English lineage and was founded in America by the grandparents of our subject, the father C. H. Stevens being born in Lafayette, Wisconsin, August 8, 1846, just two weeks after the arrival of his parents from England. When he removed westward to Cherokee county, in May, 1867, he made the journey with ox teams and covered wagon, after the primitive manner of the times. He was the youngest of the family of twelve children. As the years passed by, however, he prospered, owing to his capable management, his unfaltering industry and his laudable ambition. On March 28, 1875, at Cherokee, Iowa, he married Eva L. Porter, a daughter of C. M. Porter of New York, who had moved to Cherokee county. He became an extensive dealer in agricultural implements in Cherokee and is now an expert man with the International Harvester Company. His wife also survives and they are both active, well preserved people. In their family were six children.

Reared in the county which is still his home, John W. Stevens became a publicschool pupil in Cherokee and advanced through consecutive grades until he became a student in the high school. After starting out in life on his own account he followed various lines of industry, including that of railroad work as clerk in the freight depot. In 1906 he was elected county recorder and his systematic methods, his promptness and reliability have made him most efficient. That the public has the utmost confidence in him is indicated in the fact that he has been three times reelected to the office and is now serving for the fourth term.

On the 2oth of June, 1900, Mr. Stevens was married to Miss Rosa A. Moore, a native of Kentucky, and they have become the parents of six children: Mildred B.; Harris C.; John E.; Thomas L.; Thelma G.; and Rose. In politics Mr. Stevens is a republican, having always adhered to the faith of that party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He is an active worker in its ranks, yet never sacrifices the public welfare to partisanship. He belongs to a number of fraternal organizations, including the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is a past noble grand. He is interested in American ethnology and geology and especially in the study of the American Indian. He possesses a fine collection of Indian relics. A life long resident of Cherokee county he has witnessed much of the growth and development of his section of the state and there are few important points in its history unfamiliar to him.