My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES E. STEVENS, a resident of Ware and one of the leading woollen manufacturers in the country, was born in the town, April 21, 1843, and is a son of Charles A. and Maria (Tyler) Stevens.

His grandfather, Nathaniel Stevens, was born in Andover, Mass., in the year 1783. During the active period of his life he was successfully engaged in the manufacture of woollen goods at North Andover, Mass. He married Miss Harriot Hale, a native of Chelmsford, Middlesex County; and they reared a family of nine children, eight of whom married. There were four sons and five daughters. Five are now living, namely: Henry H. Stevens, of Lexington, Ky.; Moses T. Stevens, a very successful woollen manufacturer at North Andover, who was for four years a member of Congress, and has held various other prominent positions; Julia M., the widow of S. S. Hunting, residing at Des Moines, Ia.; Catherine, who married Oliver Stevens, of Boston; and Eliza, the wife of J. H. D. Smith, living in Boston. Their father died in April, 1865, seventy-eight years of age, and their mother in January, 1882, eighty-eight years old.

Charles A. Stevens, who was born in North Andover, Mass., August 9, 1815, worked for his father for a short time after ceasing to attend school. In 1841 he removed to Ware, and in company with the late George H. Gilbert started in the woollen business for himself. Ten years later the firm of Gilbert & Stevens was dissolved, and he conducted the business alone up to 1872. At this time he took his son, Charles E. Stevens, into partnership with him; and they did a thriving and successful business up to the time of his death. Besides his mill interests, he was connected with other large business enterprises. Among them were the Turner’s Falls Water Company, the John Russell Cutlery Company, the Cotton and Woollen Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Boston, and the Ware Savings Bank. He was President of each of the last three, and was the last survivor of the original incorporators of the Ware Savings Bank, which was organized in 1850. He was a member of the State legislature in 1852, a member of Governor Bullock’s Council in 1866 and 1867, and Congressman to serve the remainder of the unexpired term of Alvah Crocker, of Fitchburg, after he died. In 1853 he was one of the leaders in organizing the Ware Fire Department, of which he served as the first Chief Engineer. In politics he was a stanch Republican, and served as a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1860 and 1868.

He was married on April 20, 1842, to Maria Tyler, a daughter of Jonathan Tyler, of Lowell, Mass. Their wedded life was spent in Ware, where their five children — four sons and a daughter — were born. One son died in infancy, and Nathaniel lived to be but four and a half years of age. The survivors are as follows: Charles E. Stevens, the subject of this sketch; Jonathan Tyler Stevens, of Lowell; and Julia M. S., the wife of Dr. J. H. Jolliffe, of New York City. Their mother died March 3, 1881, sixty-five years of age, and their father on April 7, 1892. He was with his daughter in New York at the time, and his funeral occurred just eight months from the time of her marriage. The burial was in the family lot at Aspen Grove Cemetery in Ware. As marks of respect to the memory of the deceased the business offices and stores of the town were closed during the funeral services. The mill of Charles A. Stevens & Co. was closed from Saturday noon until the following Wednesday, and for two hours preceding the services a thousand of the mill operatives and their wives viewed the remains.

Charles E. Stevens received a good practical common-school education. He was reared to the manufacturing business, and became a partner in his father’s business in 1872, when the firm title was changed to Charles A. Stevens & Co. At his father’s death he became the sole proprietor, and has continued to do a most successful business, keeping up the standard of excellence for which the goods manufactured by that company have become so well known throughout the country. He also succeeded his father as President of the John Russell Cutlery Company, and is a Director of the Turner’s Falls Water Company, of the Cotton and Woollen Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Boston, of the Ware National Bank, of the Ware River Railroad Company, of the Ware River Manufacturing Company; and he is a Trustee of the Ware Savings Bank.

His political principles are Republican. In 1882 he was chosen a member of the House of Representatives, and for 1889-90 served as a Senator in the legislature. For two years he was a member of the State Central Committee, and was elected a member of the Governor’s Council in 1894 and 1895. The accompanying portrait of Mr. Stevens will be widely recognized and appreciated.