My family tree

In early manhood, Col. Stevens went to Galena, Ill, where he remained for several years and then entered the US Army for service in the Mexican War, in the Quartermaster's Dept. with rank of captain. He left Mineral Point in Oct 1846 for New Orleans from where he sailed, 1 Nov, for Brazos Santiaga, near the mouth of the Rio Grande, and from there went to Matamoras, Mex. Dec 25, 1846, he left Matamoras with Gen. Pillow's command for Victoria, via San Fernando, in the State of Tamaulipas. In Victoria, he met Gen. Zachary Taylor's command and was sent to Tampico and from there to Lobos Island, Vera Cruz, Puebla and Mexico City. He was present at the battles of Contreas, San Antonia, Churubusco, Molino del Rey and Chepultepec. After the occupation of Mexico City he was sent to National Bridge, in the State of Vera Cruz, where he stayed during the winter. Due to eye trouble he was forced to retire from the army, his resignation as a captain, being accepted 30 May 1848. He planned to settle in Texas, but about this time the territory near Ft. Snelling was opened to settlers and he decided to settle in MN instead and arrived in St. Paul in April 1849. [Data supplied in 1921 by Rev. Albert-Harrington Farnsworth. Minnesota was admitted to the Union in 1858.]

The same month he went to St. Anthony on a prospecting trip, during which he admired the west bank of the Mississippi River. At that time there was nothing there but a saw mill; this site later became the city of Minneapolis. May 1, 1849 he made claim to land on the river on the west bank and here built a "humble house," [This house is now in Minnehaha Park as well as a bronze statue, given by his dau. Katharine-Deborah (Stevens) Winston. The house was rescued from oblivion and May 29, 1896, school children pulled it to the Park.] to which he brought his bride, in 1850, and where his "first," child, Mary-Elizabeth was born the next year. Under the roof of this home the organization of Hennepin County took place, Indian councils were held,religious meetings gathered, famous people were entertained, marriages were solemnized (among them, that of Marshall Robinson to a sister of Mrs.Stevens, the youngest of the Miller girls--Mary Miller) and the first Lyceum, the first Court in that district, the first Agricultural Society and the first Singing School all had their inception. In 1848 at National Bridge, Mexico, Col. Stevens had been initiated in a Masonic Lodge and he had the honor to become Secretary of the first Masonic Lodge at St. Anthony, 14 Feb 185l. This year, he made the long journey to Washington and there cooperated with the territorial delegate, Hon. Henry-H. Sibley. While at the capital he had an interview with Daniel Webster and returning via New York City, arrived home on 4 April, after nearly a month on the way. Before his marriage, he had met with Franklin Steel at Ft. Snelling, a regular USA post, and, on his return to what is now MN, with Steel, he built a much needed business block. The Univ. Of MN was orgainized May 31, 1851, and from its beginning, Col. Stevens was tremendously interested in its welfare, as well as in all education. In 1852, Hennepin County was orgainized; the county seat had been called Albion and sometimes All Saints; it was really nameless for a period; finally, at the Stevens' house, in December 1852 it was christened "Minneapolis." This same year, Col. Stevens made an extended trip to the northwest part of what is now MN and was one of a group that caused the erection of the first bridge from Nicollet Island to the west shore of the Mississippi. In Nov, Stevens & Co. sold their business block and store and in May 1853, Stevens and John-P. Miller imported a full blooded Devon bull and cow, Stevens being one of the incorporators of the County Agricultural Society. He was also a candidate for office in the local legislature as a Whig, but lost. In 1854, Col. Stevens became interested in an undertaking to make brick; secured land in MN for the university; converted one hundred acres of his riverside farm into village building lots, etc., but no proper deeds could be given, when these plots were sold, grantor and grantee just trusted one another. [Until the Spring of 1855, when the proper officers were instiututed, etc.] The names that he gave the streets in this development are now changed, with the exception of Nicollet and Hennepin Avenues, now the principal shopping streets. Col. Stevens, his wife and three small daughters, left their home in Minnea. 10 May 1854, for a trip East; he returned 3 July, but left the family with Mrs.Stevens' parents, in Westmoreland, her childhood home. In Sept that year, he served as a member of a committee for the Whig party in MN; was elected president of the Agricultural Society the next month; and in Nov was also elected head of the Lyceum. In 1855, he was again president of the Agricultural Society, an officer in the Hennepin Lodge of Masons and a member of the Board of Regents for the University. He now decided to buy a farm outside of MN so with a party of men left May 1855, for a journey through the big woods and on the present site ofGlencoe, he selected a farm and moved his family there the following year. Before this, in 1855, he was elected a member of the School board. [In 1855 Hennepin County listed 4171 persons, of whom but 790 were US born.] Jan 2, 1856, he served as vice-president of the Agricultural Soc. and it was at this time that St. Anthony was annexed to Hennepin County. He was also on the building committee for the university and imported short horns from Kentucky. In 1858 he was a member of the first MN House and later was a member of the second Senate and the fourth House (1876). About this time, 1858, there ensued a bad economic depression. In the first election of Hennepin County, in 1862, Stevens was chosen Register of Deeds and Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners. He became interested in the state Militia; being appointed a Brigadier General in October 1858. In 1862, when the news of the Sioux Outbvreak came, he rallied his neighbors and with their aid prepared for defense. During this Indian uprising, he was in command of a long section of the frontier, but his "resolution and vigilance in stopping the headlong flight of settlers, turning them back to their farms and villages and orgainizing them for self- defense have been greatly and justly praised." In 1864, Col. Stevens was an officer of the Treasury Department at Natchez, Miss., for some months, under Gen. Brayman, who highly commended him, in a report dated 15 May 1865. After the Indian uprising, Col. Stevens and his family left Glencoe and eventually moved back to Minnea. where he was active up to a year before his death--was an indefatigable reader and never used glasses. In 1867, the older settlers of the Twin Cities formed an association and he gave the first annual address. He held many other civil and military offices as appears in letters of his correspondents. Letters received by him for nearly half a century have been preserved almost entire and some eight hundred are no in the MN Historical Society in St. Paul. Col. Stevens was a proprietor and editor of a number of newspapers, such as the St. Anthony Express; the Glencoe Register; and the Farm, Stock and Home. He was author of Personal Recollections of MN and Its People and the Early History of Minnea. published in 1890 in St. Paul and was co-editor of the History of Hennepin County, published with Judge Atwaters's History of MN, 1895. In the Lakewood Cemetery, in Minneapolis, are these memorials:

Col. John H. Stevens Sarah Stevens Mary E. 1820-1900 1854-1880 daughter of Helen M. Stevens Col. J.H. and Helen F. 1822-1902 Stevens First child born in Minneapolis Died July 27-1867 Aged 16 yrs 1 mo. 27 days Family History Book: Ancestry of Colonel John Harrington Stevens and Frances Helen Miller by Mary Lovering Holman. Possession of Lucy Woodard.

Minnesota Progressive Men: ...He also contributed several chapters to the publication known as "Atwater's History of Minneapolis." Colonel Stevens was married on May 1, 1850, to Miss Frances Hellen Miller, a daughter of Abner Miller, of Westmoreland, New yo9rk. They were married at Rockford, Illinois. they have six children. Mary Elizabeth, the first white child born in Minneapolis, died in her seventeenth year. Cathrine D., the second child, is the wife of P.B. Winston. the third daughter, Sarah, is not living. Gardner, the Fourth Child, and only son, is a civil engineer. Orma, the fifth, is now Mrs. Wm. L. Peck. The sixth, Miss Frances Hellen, is married to Isaac H. Chase, of rapid Citry, South Dakota. It is characteristic of Colonel Stevens that, though comfortably off at the present time, he has never made his wonderful opportunities for personal profit a means of amassing wealth. The public spirit and broad generosity of the man have made such a course practically impossible for him. (P. 418)