STEPHENSON, V. E.

STEPHENSON, SISLEY, THOMPSON

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 7/21/2003 at 19:08:51

Biography reproduced from page 60 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

V. E. Stephenson is one of the well known and successful citizens of Luverne, Iowa, where he is successfully engaged in the general mercantile business. He was born in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, July 2, 1869, and received his early education in the common schools of that state, completing his scholastic training at the age of seventeen. He remained under the parental roof until he was twenty-one years of age but during that time he was employed as a clerk in a store in Wisconsin from 1887 until 1891. Mr. Stephenson then came to Kossuth county, Iowa, and settled in Luverne, where for a short time he was a clerk in the store of Henry Klindt. On February 15, 1897, Mr. Stephenson purchased the grocery stock of M. A. Lovell, of that place. He continued to give his attention to his grocery trade for three months, and then added an up-to-date stock of men’s furnishing goods. On January 1, 1898, he admitted to partnership in his business J. R. Moulton, to whom he later sold his entire interest in June, 1900, and on September 15th of that year he established himself in the general dry-goods and grocery business and now carries a full line of dry goods, shoes and groceries. His establishment is one of the best known in Kossuth county and it is one of the most complete of its kind in this portion of the state. He is a stockholder and director in the Luverne State Bank, also a stockholder in the Corwith Telephone Company, the owner of a fine tract of land in Canada and also owns the beautiful residence in which he resides in Luverne.

Mr. Stephenson was united in marriage in 1893 to Miss Lou Sisley, a native of Pennsylvania, and to them four children have been born, Harold, Wayne, Helen and Gordon, all of whom are at home.

Mr. Stephenson is affiliated with the republican party and has been a committee man from his township. He was a member of the city council for four years and has also been secretary of the school board for the past twelve years. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America and has passed through all the chairs in both orders. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Since 1897 Mr. Stephenson has been identified with the business interests of Luverne and public opinion places him among her most useful citizens. He is a man who is identified with the interests of the community in which he lives and has always been especially interested in educational movements in Kossuth county. He is a man of unquestioned integrity and throughout the county his name is a synonym for all that stands for the best in civic and community life.