Wilbur F. Stevenson, Indiana.

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Wilbur F. Stevenson.

Mr. Stevenson was born in Scott County, Kentucky, November 12, 1842. Parents, Evan Stevenson and Lydia Boggs Stevenson. The family moved to Benton County, Indiana, in 1856. He attended school at the "Battle Ground" in 1860  and 1861. He enlisted in Company D. Tenth Indiana Infantry, September 6, 1861 ; was made Corporal and later promoted to Sergeant. His service was marked by nothing of unusual interest until the battle of Chickamauga, where he "stopped a bullet with his knee." After partial recovery he did hospital duty at Madison, Ind., until the expiration of his term  of enlistment. He went to school in LaFayette in 1865.

Moved to Piatt County, Illinois, in 1868. Married Alice Tallman in 1871. Has five children  Evan Stevenson, born in 1872; Mrs. W. H. Dilatush, born in 1876; Mrs. C. B. Caldwell, born in 1883; Mrs. J. W. Ayre, born in 1884; Mrs. E. J. Hawbaker, born in 1889. He has served terms as Supervisor of Piatt County and as Mayor of Monticello, but has managed, so far, to "side step the penitentiary." In politics he was originally a Republican, but becoming disgusted at the mean treatment of the Southern people during the reconstruction period he "reformed" (Oh, Lord) and embraced Democracy. His principal business interests have been farming and the feeding of cattle and hogs.

The above was written by himself. It is a mystery how the "political reformation'' of this fellow kept him out of the pen. That of itself was a sufficient crime to cause a life sentence.