Rev. S. H. Stevens Biography This biography appears on pages 1777-1778 in "History of South Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. REV. S. H. STEVENS, an honored resident of Gregory county, is a native of the Empire state of the Union and a scion of staunch old New England stock. He was born on a farm in Cattaraugus county, New York, on the 18th of April, 1837, being a son of Levi and Nancy (Van Tassel) Stevens, the latter of whom was born in the state of New York, being of the sturdy Holland Dutch lineage. The father of the subject was born in Vermont, where he was reared to the age of twelve years, when he accompanied his parents on their removal to the state of New York, where he passed the remainder of his life, engaged in agricultural pursuits. His father was for many years engaged in the nursery business in the old Green Mountain state, his property in this line being destroyed during the war of 1812. He located in Niagara county, New York, where his death occurred, while his son Levi died in Cattaraugus county, where he was engaged in farming for many years. He was a Democrat in politics and was a devoted member of the Baptist church, having been identified with one church organization for the long period of sixty-one years, and having been eighty-four years of age at the time of his death, while his wife also passed away at the age of eighty-four years. They became the parents of five sons, all of whom are living. Rev. S. H. Stevens was reared on the home farm and secured his elementary education in the common schools of his native county, supple- menting this by a course of study in Adrian, Michigan, and early determining to prepare himself for the ministry of the Baptist church. He was ordained in 1866, at New Haven, Macomb county, Michigan, and in 1868 removed to Oakland county, Michigan, where he was engaged in the work of his noble calling for the ensuing four years, and thereafter he held for two years the pastorate of the Baptist church at Lenox, Ashtabula county, Ohio. At the expiration of this period he removed to Correctionville, Woodbury county, Iowa, and there continued his ef- fective labors in the vineyard of the divine Master until 1895, when he came to South Dakota and became a pioneer of what is now Gregory county. Here he took up a homestead claim of government land, and on a portion of the same the thriving little village of Bonesteel is located. He was the first regular pastor of the first Free Baptist church organized in the county, and the Baptist church of Bonesteel was the first edifice of the sort erected in the county by the English-speaking people. The subject retired from the active work of the ministry in 1897, but still continues to exercise the functions of his ecclesiastical offices at intervals. When the dark cloud of civil war obscured the national horizon, Mr. Stevens was among the first to tender service in defense of the Union. In July, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company F, Sixty-fourth New York Volunteer Infantry, the command being stationed at Elmira until the following October, for the purpose of tactical discipline. The regiment then proceeded to the national capital, remaining in its defensive force until December, when it crossed the Potomac and camped near Alexandria, Virginia, during the winter. It took part in the engagement at Manassas Junction, in the following spring, and then moved onward to old Fortress Monroe and took part in the Peninsular campaign. The subject was an active participant, under General McClellan, in the engagement at Fair Oaks, where he received a wound in the neck, but joined his regiment in time to participate in the battles of Antietam and Chancellorsville, where before crossing the river he was taken ill with fever. He, however, recovered to start forward with his command on the way to Gettysburg, but while enroute suffered a sunstroke, which compelled him to enter the hospital, where he remained until about twenty days before his three-years term of enlistment expired, and received his honorable discharge at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June, 1864. He retains a deep interest in his old comrades in arms and signifies the same by retaining membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, while he is also identified with the Independent Order of Good Templars. In politics Mr. Stevens has ever given his allegiance to the Republican party. The subject has attained marked temporal success, and that through consecutive and indefatigable work. He is now the owner of seven hundred and twenty-three acres of valuable land, about three miles distant from Bonesteel, near which village he also owns an additional one hundred and twenty acres. On the 5th of March, 1865, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stevens to Miss Angeline Bassett, who was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, being a daughter of Daniel and Abigail (Libbey) Bassett. Daniel Bassett was born in Washington county, New York, on the 17th of September, 1806, and became a tanner and currier by vocation, while he eventually removed to Cattaraugus county, where he followed this line of enterprise until his retirement, his death there occurring in 1873, while his wife passed away in 1877. Of their nine children all are living except one. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have two children, Howard, who is now foreman in the painting department of the Great Northern Railroad Company, in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Mabel A., who is the wife of William Redmon, a successful farmer of Plymouth county, Iowa.