STEVEN. J. F.

STEVEN, FRY, MACDONALD, WEBB, CLAPSADDLE, WERMERSEN

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 7/21/2003 at 19:00:31

Biography reproduced from page 497 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

J. F. Steven is successfully engaged in farming and stock-raising in Luverne township, where he owns a highly improved and well cultivated farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He was born in Dupage county, Illinois, September 24, 1857, and is a son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Fry) Steven, the father, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and the mother of Pennsylvania. Alexander Steven was brought to Canada when a child of five years and there reared to manhood. At the age of twenty-two he came to Dupage county, Illinois, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was at one time a contractor on an old air line railroad, but his energies were usually devoted to agricultural pursuits. In early manhood he preempted forty acres of land and subsequently homesteaded eighty, that formed the nucleus of his farm, the boundaries of which he kept extending as he was able until he held the title to two hundred acres. This he converted, through many years of toil and close application, from a wilderness to a highly improved and productive farm, which became a valuable property. The mother, who passed away on the homestead about 1879, at the age of forty-seven years, was long survived by the father, whose death occurred on the old farm in 1898. Twelve children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Steven: Christina; Archibald, the present mayor of Geneva, Fillmore county, Nebraska; Elizabeth, the wife of Duncan MacDonald, of Wheaton, Illinois; Isabel, deceased; William W., the postmaster at Wheaton; J. F., our subject; Alexander, who lives in Buffalo county, Nebraska; Jeannette, the wife of Fred Webb, living in the vicinity of Deadwood, North Dakota; Ulysses, who died at the age of three years; one who died in infancy; T. L., a resident of Kossuth county, Iowa; and one who died in infancy. The father was again married after the demise of his first wife, and there were two children of the second union: Allen W., whose whereabouts are unknown; and Bliss, who is living in Wheaton, Illinois.

Reared on the home farm, J. F. Steven acquired his education in the common schools of Dupage county, while laying the foundation for an agricultural career by assisting his father with the work of the fields and care of the stock. Upon attaining his majority he left the parental roof and soon thereafter bought an improved farm in the same county. He subsequently disposed of this and came to Kossuth county, where he had previously purchased some land. While engaged in the erection of buildings and making other necessary improvements preliminary to occupation on his own farm, Mr. Steven cultivated some land which he rented from his brother. His holdings comprise one hundred and sixty acres and his farm is numbered among the valuable properties of the locality. During the long period of his ownership he had erected good, substantial buildings, planted groves and an orchard, and brought his fields to a high state of productivity.

In 1880, Mr. Steven was married to Miss Elva Clapsaddle, and to them have been born five children: Harvey, a farmer of Madison county, Iowa; Bessie E., the wife of G. W. Wermersen, an implement dealer of Britt, Iowa; L. F., who is at home; Mattie E., a teacher in the local schools, also at home; and Hattie E., who died at the age of six months.

In matters of faith both Mr. and Mrs. Steven are Methodists, and they are charter members of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen at Corwith. In politics he is a republican and has been a member of the school board and a trustee ever since the school was established in his district. He heartily cooperates in every movement that will tend to advance the intellectual or social standards of his community and organized the first literary society in his neighborhood. He is a strong advocate of advanced education and has been a tireless worker in the interest of the schools of Luverne township. Mr. Steven is highly esteemed by all who know him as he is a man of progressive ideas and high standards of citizenship and takes an active interest in promoting every movement that will tend to advance the community welfare.