STEVENSON FAMILY HISTORY STEVENSON FAMILY HISTORY From the Eastern Shore of Maryland (Old Somerset, renamed Worcester County) to Woodford County, Kentucky to Putnam County, Indiana with allied families * Compiled by MARGARETTA STEVENSON Privately Published New York 1966 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Latimer Trend & Co. Ltd., Whitstable, Kent TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD 7 SECTION I. 17th and 18th CENTURIES THE EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND 11 A. ~ackgi:oun.51 and earlr Steven~?n settlers 11 The Scotch Presbyterians in North Ireland - Siege of Londonderry - Presbyterianism in Old Somerset County (later renamed Worcester), Maryland - Early Stevenson settlers south of the Pocomoke River and their holdings - Samuel Stevenson, merchant, of Snow Hill - Joseph Stevenson of Goshen plantation - his will - Benjamin Stevenson of Peace and Plenty plantation - his Revolutionary War record - The "first Civil War" (1775-1783) as fought on the Eastern Shore - Genealogy of the Stevensons. B. Anteceden~s of Mary (Pol~~ C!),x, wife of 33 Benjamin Stevenson - Allied names: Southey, Littleton, Bowman, Whittington, Fassitt Accounts of Colonel William Whittington - Genealogy and proof of descento SECTION II. 18th CENTURY THE CAMPBELLS AND NELSONS OF LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA 49 Revolutionary War record of Alexander Campbell - Will of Joanna Nels on Campbell - Genealogy of Campbells and Nelsons. SECTION Ill. LATE 18th and EARLY 19th CENTURIES 55 THE STEVENSONS OF EASTERN SHORE, MARYLAND, IN WOODFORD COUNTY, KENTUCKY 1790-1826 with allied families. SECTION IV. 19th and 20th CENTURIES 77 The move from WOODFORD COUNTY, KENTUCKY, to PUTNAM COUNTY, INDIANA, in 1826. - 5 - A. Descendants of Alexander Campbell Stevenson (1802-1889) and Jane Fisher Stevenson (1819-1848) and Rebecca Jane Foster Stevenson (1826-1907?) (with excerpts from her Journal). 83 B. Descendants of Elizabeth Harriet Stevenson Kinkead {1807-1871) and James Dunlap Kinkead (with his antecedents). 95 C. Descendants of Margaretta Stevenson Peck (1809-1891) and William Baker Peck (1801-1886). 99 D. Descendants of William Nelson Stevenson (1820- 1902) andEmmaNorris Stevenson (1836- 1908) (with her antecedents). 111 With some 20th Century biographical notes. APPENDIX I. Summarized data. 135 APPENDIX II. Genealogies of the English families of Littleton and Whittington. The Argyll Campbells of Scotland. 141 FOREWORD Three handwritten copies of family history were the beginning; that of Alexander Campbell Stevenson, William Nels on Stevenson and their sister Margaretta Stevenson Peck. All start with Benjamin Stevenson. All agree except in small details. When two dates disagree, both are given. Roy Stevenson King's book, 9'enealogi~~, was valuable in the North Ireland history and in helping to disentangle the other Stevensons in Woodford County, Kentucky. The following books, along with a variety of other reference material, helped to provide background: Torrence's Old Somerset Schaarf's History of Maryland Andrew's History of Maryland Wilstach' s Tidewater Marylan,q Footner's Rivers of the Eastern Shore Hailey's !fistory of Woodford County Shewmaker' s Pisgah. and her People We are indebted to Mrs. Irma Tilghman of Salisbury, Maryland, who worked with Torrence on his Old ~omerse~, for her research on the Stevensons earlier than Benjamin, on the Whittingtons and the L ittletons; to Mr. H. L. Benson of Baltimore for the location of Joseph and Benjamin Stevenson's Maryland farms, Goshen and Peace and Plenty. Also, various cousins have been more than diligent in supplying material, especially Margaret Peck McWilliams and Marjorie Helm Swigert in canvassing cousins, and Emma Buchtel Lennox for material from Kentucky including the location of Benjamin Stevenson's farm in Woodford County, Kentucky. The genealogical records from Joseph Stevenson of Goshen on down are thoroughly documented, as are those of the Littletons and Whittingtons, of Virginia and Maryland and other allied families of Mary {Polly) Cox's antecedents; the same is true of the Kentucky and Indiana records; and of the Campbell and Nels on records. The record of Samuel Stevenson was found at the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Maryland, in the Chart of Stevenson Family, Filing Case A; account 53298, signed by ·Rev. C.H. B. Turner. The Reverend Turner, an Episcopal rector of the area, was well-known as a careful researcher, but unaccountably in this case he does not state the source of his notation on Samuel Stevenson. That a well-to-do merchant of that name lived in Snow Hill at that time is well known, and that· he had a son Joseph. Our documented Joseph, father of Benjamin, suddenly appears in the land r·ecords with money to accumulate a large acreage, presumably by inheritanceo There is no other Joseph Stevenson in the tax records at that timeo These facts, with the support of the Reverend Turner's reputation as a researcher, make it reasonable to assume that our Joseph was that Samuel's son Joseph. It is hoped that Samuel's will or other documentation may yet turn up. The background history in Scotland and North Ireland would remain the same in any case, for the family is on record as devout Presbyterians, and these were the times they lived in. No family history is ever complete, and there is no such claim for this one. The attempt here has been to put together the information at hand; others may add to it. The following notations might be useful as starting points for further investigation of the Scotch-Irish Stevensons: a) Bolton in his Scotch-Irish Pioneers states that the Pres­ byterian records of Ulster are good; mentions the Official Minutes of the Synod of Ulster. Also the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland at Belfast. b) Further research on Samuel Stevenson might be profitable in the early Presbyterian settlements of North Carolina~ such as New Berne. His first son was born in North Ireland in 1701; his second in North Carolina in 1703; he settled in Snow Hill, Maryland, in 1716. There is no willrecorded in Snow Hill; (possibly he went back to North Carolina?). c) Further interesting data on the Campbells and Nelsons might turn up in the records of Lancaster County, Penn­ sylvania. Margaretta Stevenson (Mrs Norman Taylor) Elmwood August 23, 1965 Princess Anne, Maryland SECTION I. 17th and 18th CENTURIES THE EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND A. Background and early Stevenson settlers The Scotch Presbyterians in North Ireland - Siege of Londonderry - Contemporaries in North Ireland - The Eastern Shore - Presbyterianism in Old Somerset County (later renamed Worcester), Maryland - Early Stevenson settlers south of the Pocomoke River and their holdings - Samuel Stevenson, (b. 1675) merchant of Snow Hill in 1716- Joseph Stevenson (b. 1705} of Goshen - his will - Benjamin Stevenson (b. 1746/49} of Peace and Plentz - His Revolu­ tionary War record - The "First Civil War" as fought on the Eastern Shore - Genealogy of the Stevensons. B. Antecedents of Mary (Polly) Cox, wife of Benjamin Steven­ son -Alliednames: Southey, Littleton, Bowman, Whittington, Fassitt - Accounts of Colonel William Whittington - Genealogies and proof of descent. SECTION I A. BACKGROUND AND EARLY STEVENSON SETTLERS The direct line is always marked with an* Roy Stevenson in his book, genea~ogie~, has this to say about the origin of the family: "Genealogists in London, England, furnish strong evidence that the Stevensons were descended from the officer of that name in the army of William the Conqueror who for the services rendered in the Battle of Hastings was rewarded with a grant of land in Scotland south of Glasgow, the parish and town of which still bear the name of Stevenson. S'richal mo Dhream is the Gaelic motto of the Stevensons and means, ~ race is royal. It is the motto of the Clan Alpine, but more recently has been used only by the Clan MacGregor to whom the Stevensons claim allegiance. " Another source states: "The name of Stevenson or Stephenson is claimed by some authorities to have been of ancient Anglo­ Saxon origin and by others to have been of Nor man origin and to have gone into England at the time of William the Conqueror about the year 1066 A. D. It is found on ancient records in the various forms of Steevenson, Stephanson, Stevensoun, Steven­ sone, Stephensonne, Stevensonne, Stepheneson, Stephenson and Stevenson of which the last two are the forms most generally accepted today. Families of this name were to be found at early dates in Scotland, whence they spread to the English counties of York, Derby, Lincoln, Cumberland, London, Middlesex, Warwick, Durham, Chester and Northumberland, as well as to various parts of Ireland at a later date. These families were, for the most part, of the landed gentry and yeomanry of Great Britain. The Stevensons or Stephensons are said to have been a very ancient clan in Scotland, possibly related to the Mac­ Gregors. One of the earliest records of the family is that of one Stevenson of the county of Lanark in 1296 and another of Yorkshire in 1379, Sir Hugh Stevenson was a high constable of Scotland. " Stevensons, in general, come from south of Glasgow. The town of Stevenson (or Steventon) is in Ayrshire, Scotland, north of the city of Ayr. - 11 - Our Stevenson coat-of-arms is described in one of our family records as follows: Arms. Argent, a chevron between three fleur-de-lis azure on a chief of the last as many mullets of the first. Crest. A dexter hand issuing out of a clous holding a laurel gar land all proper. Motto. Coelum no Solum (Heaven, not earth). (Encyclopedia of American Biography Vol. 1.XXXI. p.175 Burke's General Amory p. 970). The Scotch spelling of the name is almost always Stevenson; the English, Stephenson. There are many other variants in this country, including Stinson and Steveson. Our Stevensons are of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian descent. Those Scots who fled to the north of Ireland to live, and their descendants, were call~d Scotch-Irish; they are not a mixture of the Scotch and Irish races; they did not intermarry with the Irish, but remained a homogenous race.