BIO: Benedict T. STEVENS, Huntingdon County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: 
Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, 
Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. 
Runk & Co., 1897, pages 405-406.
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  BENEDICT T. STEVENS, Three Springs, Huntingdon county, Pa., was born 
February 20, 1838, on the old homestead in Springfield township, 
Huntingdon county, son of Benedict and Eva Stevens. The family came to 
Huntingdon county from Maryland. Giles Stevens, great-grandfather of 
Benedict T., died near Shirleysburg.
  B. T. Stevens was first a pupil in the common schools, attending 
school only during the winter terms of three months. He afterwards 
attended select schools at Beersville and Three Springs, and, for one 
term, at Orbisonia, Pa. HE was not merely a pupil, but was indeed a 
student, doing much independent work at home. For five terms Mr. 
Stevens taught winter schools in Clay and Springfield townships. During 
the summer months he worked on the home farm, until he was eighteen 
years old, when he began to learn plastering. At this handicraft he 
served an apprenticeship of two years, with his brother David, and was 
still thus engaged in 1862, when he left all other work to aid in the 
defense of his country. He enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Tenth 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, for three years, or for the war. At 
Winchester, Va., he joined his regiment, which soon after moved to 
Fredericksburg, and from that place was ordered back to the valley. On 
the way Mr. Stevens was taken ill of typhoid fever, and in May, 1863, 
was sent to the hospital in Washington, D.C. There, in June, 1863, he 
received his discharge, by reason of disability. After his recovery, at 
home, he worked for a short time at his trade, with Mr. Swope. In the 
winter of that year he taught school; in the following summer he farmed 
the homestead. Mr. Stevens re-enlisted in February, 1864, in the 
Twenty-second Pennsylvania Cavalry, Company H, joined his regiment at 
Chambersburg, Pa., and moved with it to Martinsburg, thence to 
Cumberland, and thence into Camp Stoneman, near Washington, D.C. They 
received their horses at Harpers Ferry, joined Sheridan's command in 
the Shenandoah valley, and took part in all the battles along that 
valley. Among the most noted ones were Winchester, Fishers Hill and 
Cedar Creek. In the last-named engagement Mr. Steven's horse was shot 
under him, and he was sent to the rear, while Sheridan rode up on his 
famous black charger. Mr. Stevens was accidentally wounded in camp in 
the spring of 1865, at New Creek, W. Va., receiving a bullet through 
his right arm from a gun in the hands of a negro; his arm was in such a 
position that the bullet passed twice through it. He was sent to the 
camp hospital, and was discharged under general order in June, 1865.
  Mr. Stevens went home, but could not work at his trade on account of 
the wound in his arm. He taught school for two terms, and then, with a 
partner, engaged in the marble business, which he carried on for two or 
three years. In 1872 he embarked in mercantile business, working at 
intervals as salesman. In partnership with his brother, Wesley L. 
Stevens, he opened a general store in 1877, in Three Springs; several 
years later, buying out Wesley Stevens' interest, he converted it into 
a hardware store, and continued the business alone. A few years later 
Mr. Stevens re-admitted his brother to partnership, and still later on, 
sold out to him, and went out for a time as traveling salesman. He then 
purchased the business and the real estate from his brother, and 
conducted the business alone until 1895, when he admitted his eldest 
son as his partner. Mr. Stevens is a staunch Republican. He has served 
as councilman and as school director. He is a gentleman of intelligence 
and refinement, highly honored in the community. He is a comrade of 
Colonel Albright Post, No. 483, G.A.R., at Three Springs.
  Benedict T. Stevens was married at Three Springs, June 4, 1863, to 
Mary, daughter of Judge Heeter; of their ten children, six died in 
infancy, leaving two daughters and two sons: Ida (Mrs. Sigel Ashman), 
of Clay township; John A., married Elizabeth Shue, has two children, 
Norman J. and Ida; Edwinna, at home, is a graduate of the State Normal 
School at Lock Haven, Pa.; and Edgar B., married Minnie C. Stake, and 
has one child. Mr. Stevens is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, in which he is steward and trustee.