Summary Information
Stevens Family Papers
1829-1922
Parkside Mss 11; PH 4060(3); PH 4091
0.2 cubic feet (1 half-archives box), 3 certificates (1 folder), and 23 photographs, 7 ferrotypes and 1 piece of ephemera (1 folder)
UW-Parkside Library / Parkside Area Research Ctr. (Map)Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of members of the Stevens
family, relatives of Alanson H. Stevens who migrated from Schoharie County, New York to
Bristol, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, in 1844. Family correspondence, a diary (1857-1861) kept
by Martha A. Stevens, records of land transactions including two Revolutionary War bounty
land certificates, genealogical information, and a draft of Volume 1, No. 2 of The Literary Avalanche, a literary journal co-published by a
member of the family. The correspondence includes a letter describing effects of the
Peshtigo Fire. Photographs are primarily studio portraits of unidentified family members and
other ephemera.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-pks0011 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Mary Edith Stevens (1885-1971), who collected the Steven Family Papers, was the
granddaughter of Alanson H. Stevens (1809-1895?), who came from Broome, Schoharie County,
New York to Wisconsin in 1844 and sometime before the Civil War settled on a farm near the
Village of Bristol in Kenosha County. Her father, Frank Stevens (1851-1921), a physician and
surgeon, was active in Bristol affairs. He graduated from Oshkosh State Normal School in
1875 and taught briefly in the Merrill public schools before studying medicine at
Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Graduating in 1879, he returned to Bristol to
practice. In addition to his medical practice, he founded the Bristol Telephone Company, was
president of the State Bank of Bristol, and was active in local and regional Methodist
affairs. Mary Edith completed high school in Kenosha in 1903, when her health prompted her
to move to Los Angeles, California. In 1911 she founded a private academy for girls, the
Berkeley Hall School, which she soon moved to Beverly Hills. She ran the school until her
retirement in 1957 when she moved to Laguna Beach. She died in 1971 in Cosa Mesa,
California.
Additional information about the Stevens family in Wisconsin, Connecticut, New York,
Florida, and Alabama can be found in a letter by Jason Stevens to Alanson H. Stevens, March
22, 1895 (folder 2), and in the "Genealogical Record of the Stevens Family" (folder 6), as
well as throughout the correspondence (folders 1 and 2).
Scope and Content Note
The Stevens Family Papers, 1829-1922, are arranged alphabetically by type of document. They
include correspondence, a diary, an essay and teaching certificates, financial and legal
papers, genealogical information, the draft of a literary publication, and photographs.
The correspondence contains information on the activities and attitudes of family members
from 1829 to 1922 mainly in Wisconsin and New York. Especially notable are a letter by F.E.
Stevens to his sister Mary Anne, April 8, 1831, concerning contentment as the key to true
happiness, and one of September 18, 1911 discussing a trip around the world. The diary
Martha A. Stevens kept from 1857 to 1861 includes routine chronological entries, copies of
letters, and essays on such topics as "Life is What We Make
it" and "Beauty in the Heart."
The financial and legal papers are records of land transactions, including two
Revolutionary War bounty land scrips; title abstracts; deeds; indentures; and tax receipts.
There is genealogical information on the family from its American origins in 1712 to the
late 1880s. Also includes a draft of Volume 1, Number 2 of The
Literary Avalanche, a literary journal co-published occasionally by a member of
the Stevens Family.
Certificates relate to the careers and education of Ida M. and Mary Edith Stevens.
Photographs are primarily individual studio portraits, many unidentified relating to the
Stevens family. Includes 23 photographs, 7 ferrotypes, and 1 item of ephemera.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Helen Sara Unger, Laguna Beach, California, June 12, 1972 and in 1976. Accession Number: M72-201, M76-629
Processed by Eleanor Niermann and JAT (FGH intern), December 28, 1972.
Subject Terms
Stevens family; Stevens, Alanson H., 1809-1895?; Stevens, Martha A.; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific CircleGreat Fire, Peshtigo, Wis., 1871Bristol (Wis.)Manuscript collectionGenealogiesPhotographsDiaries
Contents List
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Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
1
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General, 1831-1899,
1911-1922
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Alanson H. Stevens, 1829-1895
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Martha A. Stevens
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Diary, 1857-1861
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Essay and Teaching Certificates, 1854-1857
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Financial and legal papers, 1843-1890
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Stevens Family genealogy, 1888
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Box
1
Folder
7
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The Literary Avalanche, 1911
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PH 4060 (3)
Folder
1
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Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle certificates, 1890-1911
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PH 4091
Folder
1
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Studio portraits and ephemera, before 1911
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