Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Stephenson, A M 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 28, 2008, 11:31 pm

Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907

A. M. Stephenson, who is engaged in the printing business in Joliet under the 
firm style of A. M. Stephenson & Company, was born on a creek called Brown's 
Wonder, near Lebanon, Indiana, his natal day being June 2, 1844. His parents 
were John and Jane (Jameson) Stephenson, who emigrated from Blue Lick Springs, 
Kentucky, to Indiana about 1830. After residing there for three decades they 
removed in 1860 to Illinois, settling at Tolono. A. M. Stephenson accompanied 
his parents at that time and when nineteen years of age he entered the employ 
of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. He was soon made an agent of the 
company at Peotone and subsequently acted as bill clerk at Tolono and at 
various other points on the road. He was also agent at Manteno and Gilman, 
remaining with the railroad company for several years. On leaving their employ 
he became a commercial traveler, making a complete tour of the United States, 
visiting every state and territory. Afterward he became general agent at 
Beardstown for the Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis Railroad, in which 
capacity he served for two years, when he again became a traveling salesman 
and was thus engaged for two years. In the meantime the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy Railroad Company had purchased the Rockford, Rock Island & St. Louis 
road and Mr. Stephenson became general agent at Beardstown again, where he 
remained until 1879, when he removed to Wilmington and engaged in newspaper 
business, extending the field of his labors also to Braidwood and Braceville. 
He was thus connected with journalistic interests until 1892, when he went out 
of the newspaper business and made another trip, covering every state and 
territory in the Union. Seven years later he came again to Joliet, where he 
has since been engaged in the printing business, conducting the enterprise 
under the firm name of A. M. Stephenson & Company. The house has a liberal 
patronage and does an excellent class of work. In Florence township, this 
county, Mr. Stephenson was united in marriage to Miss Almeda Wilkins, a native 
of Will county and a daughter of Abraham Wilkins, a pioneer of this county. 
They have three children: Alta, the wife of M. C. Townsend, of Hinsdale, 
Illinois; Mrs. C. G. House, of Chicago; and Frank A., who was a prominent 
newspaper man of Joliet, and died in November, 1906, at a comparatively early 
age. Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson reside in the seventh ward, where he owns a fine 
home, and they are prominent socially, having many warm friends in Joliet. Mr. 
Stephenson belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken the 
degrees of the blue lodge and chapter. He also holds membership in Stevenson 
camp, M. W. A.; Council No. 1 of the Order of the White Cross; and also the 
Express and National Union, which are fraternal insurance organizations. In 
politics Mr. Stephenson is a stalwart republican and for the past five years 
has served as supervisor of Joliet. He has always taken an active interest in 
political questions and issues wherever he has been located and when only 
twenty-one years of age was a delegate to the senatorial convention from 
Champaign county, Illinois. His visits to every section of the Union has 
brought him that wide knowledge and culture which only travel can bring and he 
is recognized as a man of much intellectual force as well as discriminating 
business ability. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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