Solano-Sacramento County CA Archives Biographies.....Stevenson, A. M. 1821 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 4, 2007, 12:37 am

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891)

COLONEL A. M. STEVENSON, who has been a resident of California since 1850 and of
Solano County during most of that time, was born in Versailles, Woodford County,
Kentucky, in 1821. His parents were William and Jane (Muldrow) Stevenson, his
father a native of Maryland and his mother of Virginia; their parents moved into
Kentucky during its earliest period of settlement. Colonel Stevenson's
grandfather fought for the independence of this country in the Revolutionary
war, and his father was a soldier in the war of 1812.

  At the age of about twenty years Colonel Stevenson was employed in the office
of the clerk of the Circuit Court, where he learned many valuable lessons for
life. Next he engaged in mercantile business, in which he continued until the
breaking out of the Mexican war, when he enlisted in the First Regiment of
Kentucky Cavalry, under Colonel Humphrey Marshall, his immediate commander being
Captain Thomas F. Marshall. Colonel Marshall, by the way, afterward became
prominent as a politician and as a Confederate commander during the late civil
war. Going to Mexico with his command, he was appointed Quartermaster with the
rank of Colonel, which position he held until the close of the war,
participating in the battle of Buena Vista and a number of skirmishes. After the
war he resided in Kentucky until the great gold excitement of this State took
the world, when he came hither by the way of New Orleans and Panama, reaching
the golden coast in the early part of April, 1850. After a few weeks spent in
the mining regions, he went to Sacramento and began as a trader in live-stock,
becoming one of a  stock company who purchased horses, cattle and sheep  from
the immigrants, and sent many of them down to the Vaca Valley to fatten; and
they also bought and imported horses, cattle and sheep from the East. G. B.
Stevenson, one member of the company, brought out in 1851 2,000 sheep from
Illinois in one season, costing him about $1.25 a head in Illinois, and he sold
them here on an average of $10 a head, while the rams brought as high as $50.

  In 1853 Colonel Stevenson returned to the East by way of Panama and New York,
visiting on the way his former home in Kentucky. On that trip he purchased, in
his native State, a number of blooded horses, and in Missouri and Illinois he
bought also a lot of tine cattle, all of which he brought successfully across
the plains to this State, in 1854. This company purchased a large extent of land
and cattle, continuing in these operations until about 1860, when they dissolved
and divided the profits. Colonel Stevenson continued in the same line of trade
until about 1870, when he organized the Vaca Valley & Clear Lake Railroad
Company, who built the line from Elmira to Madison and managed it until July,
1888, when they sold it to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company; and since that
time the Colonel has been operating with the latter company in looking after its
land interests along this line. He has twice represented Solano in the State
Legislature; is a member of Vacaville Lodge, No. 83, I. O. O. F.

  In 1857 Colonel Stevenson married Miss M. E. Gardner, a native of Arkansas,
and they now have six children: Jennie, now the wife of Doctor J. W. Stitt, of
Vacaville; Annie E., now the wife of Frank H. Buck, of Vaca Valley; Mary Lou,
now Mrs. Henry Heilbron, of Sacramento; Leila and Mabel, graduates of Vacaville
College; and Andrew M., at present attending the same institution.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.


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