Barbour County, West Virginia Biography of Luther Clearfield STEVENS This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. 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. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 297 LUTHER CLEARFIELD STEVENS. There has hardly been any time since he was ten years of age when Luther Clearfield Stevens has not been engaged in some work of practical usefulness to himself or others. For over twenty years he has been a resident of Philippi, and has built up a lead- ing service in Barbour County as an undertaker and funeral director. He was born not far from Grantsville in Calhoun County, West Virginia, June 4, 1871. His parents were David E. and Jane (Goff) Stevens, the former a native of Fleming- ton and the latter of Clemtown in Barbour County. David E. Stevens was a small boy when his father died, and he grew up an aid to his widowed mother and acquired only a common school education. He was the only child to survive his father's death. His step-father was Johnson Kelley, and he had a half-brother, Luther Kelley. David E. Stevens was a carpenter by trade, and in 1869, after his marriage, moved to Galhoun County, where he became a farmer. Later he returned to Flemington and resumed the work of his trade, and was employed about the mines until he retired. He is a veteran Union soldier, having served as a private in the Fourth West Virginia Cavalry. L. Clearfield Stevens spent the first five years of his life at his parents home on Sycamore Creek in Calhoun County. His parents then returned to Taylor County, and he grew to manhood at Flemington. He had only a com- mon school education, and about the time he entered his teens he left home and began earning his own way. For two years he worked for a farmer, earning about 50 cents a day, and for four years drove team for Dilworth & Poling, merchants. His next employment was in a saw-mill, and while his industrious habits gave him instant employment at this and other occupations he saved little from his wages. After about six years with the saw-mill he operated a threshing machine around Flemington for two years. He then worked as a housebuilder for a year at Mountain Lake Park. In 1896 Mr. Stevens acquired a saw-mill in Barbour County, and conducted this with a fair degree of profit until 1901, when he sold the mill and, having since 1898 been located at Philippi, he took up the livery business in the county seat. He was in the livery busi- ness four years, and since then has been an undertaker and funeral director. He was attracted as a young man to this profession, but the idea was usually discouraged by his friends. It was only after he was able to command some capital of his own that he put his long cherished purpose into practice, providing himself with some equip- ment and establishing an office on Main Street at Philippi in 1905. The first call for his services was made in March of that year. In May the State Board of Embalmers licensed him after a correspondence course and demonstra- tion work with H. S. F. Echols of Philadelphia. In the passing years Mr. Stevens has steadily added to his equip- ment until he has every facility of the modern funeral director, including motor hearse and office building pro- vided with funeral chapel. Mr. Stevens served for three years as deputy sheriff of Barbour County under Sheriff E. R. Dyer. He is a repub- lican, and is affiliated with the Lodge and Encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Rebekahs, is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the D. O. K. K. and the Maccabees. At Philippi November 14, 1902, he married Miss Daisy Mann, who was born in Barbour County, in November, 1875, daughter of John C. and Sallie (Johnson) Mann. The other children of her parents were Willie, O. J., J. Rush, Basil and Mrs. Annie Stomp. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have two sons, Edgar and Hayward Kemper. The latter is a student in Broaddus College.