Biography of Wilkin B. Stevens, M.D.

WILKIN B. STEVENS, M. D. Considered either as a busi-
ness man or professional man there are few individuals in
McDowell County who have a broader and heavier program
of responsibilities than Doctor Stevens, whose home is at
Eckman. Doctor Stevens came into this locality a number
of years ago as assistant to H. D. Hatfield, then chief sur-
geon of Miners Hospital No. 1 at Welch. When Doctor
Hatfield became governor of the State of West Virginia
Doctor Stevens remained as his logical and well qualified
successor, and he has since taken on numerous other duties.
He is practically the official and unofficial head of all the
medical and welfare activities of a large group of mining
corporations, and is undoubtedly one of the most popular
men with all classes in this section of the state.

Doctor Stevens was born at Milltown, Alabama, May 14,
1877, and his early life was in an environment where he
was practically compelled to put forth his best efforts in
order to secure preparation for the career he had chosen.
His parents, Joseph H. and Martha Jane (Blackburn)
Stevens, were natives of Alabama, the former of English
and the latter of German ancestry. Joseph H. Stevens was
a farmer and cotton gin proprietor, and the latter indus-
try was the chief support of his family. Be was a very
active member of the Christian Church. Wilkin B. Stevens
acquired a common school education in Milltown, also at-
tended the academy which took the place of a high school
there. He was twelve years of age when his father died,
and that threw upon his shoulders much of the work per-
formed by his father, all of which he did in addition to
going to school. He did all the bookkeeping for the cotton
gin. By the time he was twenty-one he had finished a
course in the Milltown Academy, and the following year
he operated the cotton gin. Out of his savings he entered,
in 1899, the Maryland Medical College at Baltimore, and
was graduated M. D. in 1904. The following eighteen
months he was assistant to Doctor Gundry in the Belay
Sanitarium near Baltimore.

>From there he came to Bramwell, West Virginia, to
take up mining practice as assistant to Dr. W. B. Whitman
in 1905. This work was in connection with the Booth
Bowen Coal & Coke Company, Caswell Creek Coal & Coke
Company, Buckeye Coal & Coke Company. On April 1, 1909,
Doctor Stevens became assistant to Dr. H. D. Hatfield at
Kimball. Doctor Hatfield was elected governor in 1912,
and Doctor Stevens succeeded him in charge of all the work
of the Pulaski Iron Company, Empire Coal & Coke Com-
pany, Bottom Creek Coal & Coke Company, Tidewater Coal
& Coke Company, Kink Coal Company, Cirrus Coal & Coke
Company. In addition to this he has since been delegated
the medical work of the Houston Coal & Coke Company,
Keystone Coal & Coke Company, the Carswell operation of
the Houston Colliery Company. He is now at the head of a
well organized medical and surgical staff, with five assist-
ants, and he has personal supervision of the medical work
for all the various properties. He not only has charge of
the practical work but the medical supplies for all the va-
rious companies.

Doctor Stevens is a director of the First National Bank
of Keystone and is president of the First National Bank
of Kimball. He was one of the organizers and the first
president of the latter bank. He is a Scottish Rite Ma-
son and Shriner, an Elk and a member of the Baptist
Church.

In Philadelphia in 1909 Doctor Stevens married Miss Ro-
setta Barlow Davidson, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth
(Hockinson) Davidson. Her parents were born in Penn-
sylvania. Doctor and Mrs. Stevens have three children,
Joseph Blackburn, Richard Wilkin and Ethel Jane.


The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., 
Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 23-24

Submitted by Valerie F. Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>

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