Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 170] the leading physician and surgeon of Ellwood City, Wayne township, this county, is well known as a man of professional and business ability, with a great store of enterprising activity, that has done much toward materially helping in the growth of Ellwood City. His career has been marked by energy and thrift, and his professional talent has been the solid foundation for his excellent reputation among his brother-members of the medical fraternity. He was born in Mahoning township, Feb. 18, 1845, and was a son of Silas Stevenson, and a grandson of James Stevenson. James Stevenson was born in Ireland, but sought his fortune in this country, the adopted home of many an Irishman who has felt the heel of the oppressor; he served in the Revolutionary War with honor, and at its close settled in Mahoning Co., Ohio, where he cleared a large farm, that is a spot of local celebrity, known at Mt. Nebo. His sons were Elijah, James, Samuel, Silas, and Elisha M.
Silas Stevenson, the elder, married Sarah Cracraft of Poland, Ohio, and settled near Hillsville, Lawrence County, where he was a wagon-maker and acquired some village property. In 1857, he removed to a farm near New Bedford, Lawrence County, where he followed agricultural pursuits; two years later he was elected sheriff of the county. His first wife had died at the comparatively early age of forty-five, after giving birth to the following children: James; Joseph; Nancy J.; Albert G.; John H.; Silas; Mary A.; Martha M.; and Samuel. Of this family only Joseph, John H. and Dr. Silas are living. About 1855, Silas Stevenson, Sr., was married to Mrs. Eliza Sample, and they became the parents of five children: Charles; James; William M.; Francis B.; and Edwin S.
Dr. Silas Stevenson attended the district school when a lad, and fitted himself to study medicine in the office of Dr. A. R. McClure. The preservation of the Federal Union of the United States being involved in the somewhat doubtful outcome of the Civil War, and the calls for more volunteers becoming more and more urgent, Dr. Stevenson left his studies in 1863, and enlisted in the 55th Reg. Pa. Vol. Inf. This regiment saw no battle. Feb. 16, 1864, he enlisted in Co. K, 100th Pa. Vol. Inf. He was wounded two months after joining the army, being shot in the right shoulder by a sharpshooter before Petersburg. Having received a serious wound in the head from fragments of a bursting shell at Fort Thedden, he was taken to a hospital where he remained until May 15, 1865, and then discharged.
War had strengthened the doctor's sympathies without blunting his sensibility in the presence of death and great physical suffering, and when he entered the Cleveland Medical College he made very satisfactory progress, graduating in 1868. He located at New Bedford, Pa., and by careful and thorough exercise of his skill built up a large and paying practice. He also owned a drug store there, and held the office of postmaster for the period of twelve years. He also represented Lawrence County in the State Legislature in 1885-87. On his arrival in Ellwood City in October, 1891, he proved himself to be the right man for the town by investing his money in local real estate, and by exhibiting a spirit of active interest in city affairs. He has a great faith in the future of Ellwood City and has been since becoming one of its residents one of the foremost promoters of business enterprise, and a leader in every movement that is started for the purpose of booming the town. He has served as school director, president of the school board, and president of the council, having been one of the first councilmen. In 1893-94 he built a very handsome brick block, 26x72 feet in dimensions on the ground, and three stories high; the first floor is occupied by Chamber & Co. as a grocery store; the second floor is used for offices and for tenements; and the entire third floor is divided off into apartments for tenement purposes. He also had constructed after his own elaborate plans and specifications an elegant residence on the corner of Seventh Street and Park Avenue, and he also put up the edifice on Lawrence Avenue, where he has his physician's office, fitted out in the most complete method; this structure is 18x32 feet, two stories high, and contains one store and two tenements. The doctor also owns some desirable building lots about the town, which are rapidly increasing in value with every passing year. He is about to build a brick edifice for office and tenement purposes. Among the citizens of Ellwood City, Dr. Stevenson is respected and admired for his scores of qualifications for a successful business man, in addition to his enviable position at the head of the medical fraternity. He has countless friends among his patients, and wins more almost daily by his skill and kindness in the treatment of their ills. As a physician of good standing in Lawrence County, his reputation is unexcelled.
In 1870, Dr. Stevenson allied himself in the married state with Sarah E. Robinson, daughter of Samuel Robinson of Mahoningtown, this county. No children came to cheer their hearts, and being fond of young people, they took a little girl to live with them, Miss Myrtle Stewart, who grew up to a beautiful womanhood, and married Robert A. White, a contractor and builder, to whom she bore one child, Leona. From 1888 to 1892 the Doctor served as U. S. Medical Examiner of Pensions in the Lawrence and Beaver County district. He is now president of the borough council.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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Updated: 3 May 2001