Stephen Phelps Bawden

BAWDEN, PHELPS, WOODWARD, LISCHER, CAMERA, ROBESON, HASKINS, MASON, WILLIAMS, ELDRIDGE

Posted By: Carol Bawden (email)
Date: 4/3/2007 at 13:29:43

STEPHEN PHELPS BAWDEN, youngest child of Stephen Douglas and Mary Ella Woodward Bawden, b 5 May 1877 in Davenport named for his maternal uncle J. B. Phelps. He graduated from the University of Iowa Law School in 1894 and entered the law office of Julius Lischer and George Washington Bawden in Davenport. He served Scott County as Assistant County Attorney, nominated by the Republican Party for County Attorney and was elected alderman of the 6th ward in Davenport. He also managed the family Valley Place Investment Company organized to sell lots in Bawden’s Addition in Rockingham (now west Davenport).
Stephen married Edna Camera Haskins, 7 September 1905 in Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Davenport. She was the daughter of Charles and Alice Martha Robeson Haskins, Mr. Haskins operated a livery stable on W. 4th St. in Davenport. Stephen and Edna had no children and lived with the family at 1315 E. 11th St.
He was an extremely outgoing and popular man, member of Phi Kappa Psi social fraternity at the University of Iowa, the Commercial and Outing Clubs, (now the Outing Club, a social dues-paying organization, with an outdoor pool, bowling alley and eating area). He was a member of Trinity Cathedral serving as vestryman and clerk, and was the treasurer for the Iowa Diocese of the Episcopal Church.
His sudden death of a stroke in the family home 13 December 1914 at age 37, shocked Davenport. Flags were flown at half-mast, the mayor issued a special tribute and newspapers carried lengthy articles which stated “Stephen Bawden had more friends than any man in Davenport, his popularity extending to all classes”.
For several years after her husband’s death, Edna Haskins Bawden lived with her widowed sister-in-law, Jennie Eldridge Bawden (George Washington Bawden’s wife). Edna married James D. Mason in his parents’ home in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa, on 1 October 1919. James was the son of James B. Mason of Davenport and a grand nephew of Mary Williams Eldridge (Jennie’s mother).