Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Stevens, Walter D ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 1:36 pm Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County WALTER D. STEVENS is one of the enterprising business men of Joliet, where since 1896 he has been proprietor of a carriage repository. He occupies a three-story building, 66x60 feet, furnished with every modern equipment, including elevators, etc., and stocked with Babcock buggies, Ariel bicycles and vehicles of all kinds. The location, on the corner of Van Buren and Joliet streets, is convenient and central. As a business man he has already gained a name and place among the people of Joliet. Active and judicious, he uses sagacity in all of his business dealings, and shows keen judgment in both buying and selling. His honorable dealings have won for him the confidence of the people. The father of our subject, J. W. Stevens, was born in Gaudhurst, England, and coming to America, became a business man of Joliet in 184S, opening a dry-goods store on Jefferson street. Two years afterward his wife joined him, crossing the ocean on the sailing vessel "Irving," which landed in New York after a voyage of thirty days. Her brother-in-law, Capt. R. J. Doughty, was owner of the vessel on which she crossed. From New York she proceeded by rail to Buffalo, thence via the lakes to Chicago and canal to Joliet. She was born in County Kent, England, and bore the maiden line of Harriet Deverson. Her father, Daniel Deverson, also a native of County Kent and a farmer, died there at eighty-six years, while her mother, Annie, daughter of Stephen Stokes, a farmer, spent her entire life in the same county, where she died at eighty-four years. There were twelve children in the family, but only four are living. Harriet, who was next to the youngest of the twelve, is the only member of the family in America. Possessing considerable business ability, as soon as she joined her husband in Joliet she began to assist him, and for some time carried on a millinery business in connection with his dry-goods store. After his death, in 1859, she continued at the head of the entire establishment. In 1861 she was a second time married, becoming the wife of Frank Bush, who was born in Whitehall, N. Y., a son of Stephen and a brother of J. E. Bush. He came to Illinois about 1854, and with his brother, Henry, engaged in cattle dealing and the wholesale meat business. He owned a farm of one hundred and thirty acres adjoining the city. He died November 10, 1897. The following year forty acres of his farm was sold to Joliet for a park and was named Bush park. In 1871 Mrs. Bush bought a store on Jefferson street, where she continued business until 1892, and then sold both the stock of goods and the building. In 1863 she bought a beautiful home on the corner of Western avenue and Hickory street. She has built many tenement houses both on the east and west sides, and built the Bush block on the corner of Exchange and Bluff streets. In 1892 she erected the Strobridge build ing, corner of Van Buren and Joliet streets. She still owns ninety acres of land adjoining Bush park, and this she superintends. To her first marriage three sons were born, Walter D.; Irving D. (in Alaska), formerly the first secretary of the Joliet Stove Works, afterward engaged in the manufacture of agricultural implements, and for thirty years one of the prosperous and prominent business men in Joliet; and Eugene, an assayer of great ability andpromince, in Leadville, Colo. Four children were born of her second marriage, namely: Hattie, wife of Peter Shatts, attorney, of Joliet; Luella, at home; Charles Franklin, who is agent for the Wells-Fargo Express Company, at Des Moines, Iowa; and Arthur Willis, formerly manager of the Joliet Gas Company. At the time his mother came to Joliet our subject was two years old. He was born in Dover, England, September 28, 1848, but the only home he remembers in connection with his early child- hood is Joliet. During the war he was sent to school in England and spent five years in Canterbury Academy, after which he shipped in the English merchant marine service under an uncle, who was a captain engaged in the Mediterranean trade. Returning to Joliet he engaged in the grocery business as a member of the firm of Carson & Stevens, after which he was in the lumber business with Frank Bush & Co., then engaged in the book and stationery business alone. In 1873 he went to Georgetown, Colo., where at first he was interested in prospecting and mining, but soon turned his attention to the insurance and real-estate and mining business. In 1879 he went from Georgetown to Leadville, where he engaged in the same business. While in the west he traveled through the coast country and in British Columbia. Returning to Joliet in 1893 he was first connected with his brother Irving D., but in 1896 he started in business alone. In politics Mr. Stevens has always affiliated with the Republicans. From 1873 to 1893 he served as a delegate to every state Republican convention in Colorado. For one term he was assessor. He also served as police magistrate and ex-officio mayor of Georgetown. He is well-informed regarding public affairs, although he has not been so active in Illinois as in Colorado, for his attention is quite closely given to business matters, and he has little leisure for participation in politics. Additional Comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/stevens1169gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb