Will County IL Archives Biographies.....STEVENS, JEROME ************************************************ 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: Paula Winke-Martisek wranglerjack@comcast.net September 24, 2007, 6:00 pm Author: GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD JEROME P. STEVENS is a member of a family that has been well known throughout this county from a very early period of its settlement. He was born in Joliet in 1854 and has always made this city his home, being now engaged in the real- estate and loan business here. His father, Henry K. Stevens, a native of Newark, N. J., born in 1811, came west in 1829, first settling in Michigan, where he engaged in the cultivation of farm land. From that state he moved to Indiana in 1832 and settled on the Wabash River. The year 1836 found him a pioneer settler of Will County, Ill., where he spent one year on a farm. In 1837 he came to Joliet and opened a tavern on North Chicago street, where the Bissell hotel is now standing. His inn was the leading and the largest hotel in the city and was known as the Waving Banner. While conducting it he began to purchase real estate and in time his property interests became so valuable that he abandoned the hotel business and turned his attention to the real- estate and loan business, which he continued very successfully for years. A man of shrewd judgment, keen intuition and quick in forming decisions, he prospered in his real-estate transactions, and bought and sold extensively. When he came to Joliet it was a small village, sparsely populated, and giving to the casual observer few indications of future prosperity; but he discerned its advantages and was at once convinced that investments made here would prove profitable. Subsequent events have proved the wisdom of his judgment. After a business life covering many years he retired, dividing his property among his children, and has since made his home with his son, Jerome. His wife, who died in 1887, at the age of seventy-two years, was Mary A. Bissell, a native of Ohio. They became the parents of five children, namely: Eliza, wife of O. S. Chamberlin; Albert P. and Henry T., of Joliet; Addie, who married Dr. W. O. Cheeseman, of Chicago; and Jerome P., of Joliet. After completing his education in the schools of Joliet, Jerome P. Stevens began to deal in real estate in Joliet. In 1891 he removed the business to Chicago, where he devoted his time to the placing of loans and the buying and selling of real estate until 1897, when he returned to Joliet. As a business man he possesses many of the traits that made his father successful, and it is safe to predict for him a busy and prosperous life, in, the carrying forward of the various enterprises he has already placed upon a substantial basis. His marriage took place in Mokena, Will County, in 1891 and united him with Miss Clara Belle Jones, by whom he has two children, Mary C. and Arthur J. 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/stevens1761nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 3.3 Kb