BIOGRAPHY: Stedman, Matt E.
From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875

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Honorable E. MATT STEDMAN. – Among the young men of Vinton who may be 
classed as early settlers, there are none more deserving of mention in the historical Atlas 
of Iowa than Honorable E. Matt Stedman, who represented his country in the House of 
Representatives of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth General Assembly of Iowa.  He is a 
Buckeye by birth and education, being a native of Chester, Meigs County, Ohio, where 
he was born March 2, 1835.  His ancestors were among the early settlers of Ohio, his 
grandfather, Rev. Eli Stedman, having removed there soon after the organization of that 
state.  On his mother's side he is a direct descendant of General Yates of Revolutionary 
fame.  The rudiments of his education were received at district and select schools, which 
he regularly attended until he was fifteen, when he commenced a regular course of study 
at Marietta College, but on account of the death of his mother and some unfortunate 
business matters, he was compelled to abandon it in order to earn means for his own 
support and further education.  He afterwards attended the Ohio University at Athens, 
where he remained until the close of the Fall term of 1854, where he secured a school, 
and taught one term, closing in March 1855.  Immediately after closing his school he 
removed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he remained variously employed until the Fall of 
1856, when he came to Vinton and secured a clerkship with Olmsted A. Vanhoen, with 
whom he remained some four years, when the firm failed and he was employed by the 
assignee to close out the business.  In March, 1860, he bought a small stock of groceries 
and commenced business for himself, with a cash capital of $250.  By working hard and 
attending close to business, has succeeded far beyond his expectation, his sales frequently 
reaching above $50,000 per annum.  Having been so long a resident of Benton County, 
and by his fair dealing and close attention to business, secured such a large circle of 
friends and acquaintances, he was urged in the Summer of 1871 to become a candidate 
for Representative upon the Republican ticket, and was nominated and elected by the 
popular vote.  Upon taking his seat in the House, he conducted himself in such a manner 
as to receive the warmest commendations from the leading members of that body; 
secured without a dissenting voice an appropriation of $70,000 for the enlargement of the 
Iowa College for the Blind, situated at Vinton, and made a large number of warm friends 
among the leading men of the state.  He was re-elected in 1873, by an increased majority, 
and refused to be a candidate for re-election in 1875.

Mr. Stedman has been married twice; first, December 15, 1859, to Miss Eva A. Hoke, 
who died in August, 1864, leaving one son.  He was again married December 25, 1865, 
to Mrs. Julia McLaughlin, a resident of Meigs County, Ohio, and a playmate of his 
childhood.