Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

STEVENSON The family whose record is proposed to be established in this place has no long line of American ancestors to display, none who were of the "Mayflower," nor Puritans, nor soldiers of the Pequot, King Philips nor other of the colonial wars, nor it it their proud boast that an ancestor in New England was hanged on gallows hill in Salem for witchcraft. But the family here to be mentioned comes of sturdy Scottish stock and of ancestors who were famous clansmen in feudal times and whose descendants in later generations fought in the wars with the same zeal in behalf of the mother country as did the clansmen in upholding the honor of their chief and his house. (I) James Stevenson, with whom this narrative begins, came of the Stevensons of the north of Scotland. He fought with Wellington at Waterloo and was slain in that memorable battle. Of his ancestors little else is known other than what has been stated in the preceding paragraph, but there are few New Englanders who can boast an ancestor who fought under Wellington, which is considered an honor equal to and perhaps greater than that of having an ancestor who fought in the colonial wars on this side of the Atlantic ocean. [trans note: you can tell this was written by a man, can't you?] (II) John, son of James Stevenson, was born in the north of Scotland. He married and had children, and among them were sons John, James, Alexander and George, and a daughter Elizabeth. (III) James (2), son of John Stevenson, was born in Burnside, Scotland, in 1842, and died in the East Indies in 1873. He was a linen weaver, a skillful workman at his trade, and at his home in Scotland held a responsible position as foreman of the Baxter Manufacturing Company's mills. At the time of his death he was manager for the Bourne Company in the extensive linen mills about six miles out of Calcutta, India. In 1860 Mr. Stevenson married Mary Bissett, who was born in Scotland in 1842 and died in New Brunswick in 1875. They had seven children, four of whom died young. Those who grew to maturity are: 1. John, a school teacher and bookkeeper living in New Brunswick. 2. James B., of whom mention is amde in a succeeding paragraph. 3. Alexander, a farmer now living in Easton, Maine. (IV) James Bissett, son of James (2) and Mary (Bissett) Stevenson, was born in Dundee, Scotland, April 5, 1867, and was a boy of about seven years when he came with his widowed mother and her children to New Brunswick in 1874. When old enough to work he was taken from school and went out to farm work, and while so employed managed to attend school during the winter months and thus laid the foundation of a good education. In 1887 he left New Brunswick and came to Maine, where he found work on railroad construction, and later on was employed for a time at marble cutting in Strong and Farmington. During these years which were devoted to various employments he occupied his leisure hours with profitable reading and study, for he had a higher aim in life than that of laborer on railroads or cutting marble, and in 1898 he took up the study of law in the office and under the direction of Lewis Voter, a member of the Farmington bar. Later on he matriculated at the University of Maine law school, completed the course of that institution, took his legum baccalaureus degree in 1900, and was duly admitted to practice in the courts of this state. Having come to the bar, Mr. Stevenson began his professional career in Rumford Falls in 1901, and has since engaged in active general practice. In connection with professional employments he has taken considerable interest in public affairs, on the Republican side, without being in any sense a radical partisan. He is trial justice in Rumford Falls and is now serving his second term as recorder of municipal court, and in various ways has for several years been identified with the best interests of his home town. He is a member of Blazing Star Lodge, No. 30, F. and A. M., Rumford Chapter, No. 56, R.A.M., Jephtha Council, No. 17, R. and S. M., two former of Rumford Falls and latter of Farmington, and of Strathglass Commandery, K. T., of Rumford Falls. He is also a member of Penacook Lodgte, No. 130, I.O.O.F., of Rumford Falls. On Feb. 23, 1902, Mr. Stevenson married Lucy B., daughter of James R. Small, of Farmington, and by whom he has one child: Shirley J. Stevenson, born in Farmington, May 27, 1903.