Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/32

 STEVENS

STEVENS

1811 established the first steam ferry; in February, 1812, urged the construction of a railroad between the Hudson River and tiie Great Lakes, ratlier than a waterway'; in the same year invented the first *" monitor" for naval warfare with gun turrets to rotate by steam; in 1813 invented, built and operated a ferry boat made of two simi- lar boats with a paddle wheel between, and operated by six horses on a tread; and in 1815 he obtained the first charter issued for a railroad in the United States, to be operated in place of the stage lines between the Raritan and Dela- ware rivers, which resulted in the Camden and Amboy railroad, incorporated in 1830. In 1823 he obtained with Horace Binney and Stephen Girard a charter for a railroad between Phila- delpiiia and Lancaster, Pa. He built, upon a four wheeled truck, an engine, and ran this car on a track fitted with wooden rails, the first en- gine that ever ran on a railroad in America. The track was circular, in spite of which he at- tained a speed of twelve miles an hour. This was in 1S2S. wlien Mr. Stevens was seventy-five years old. He was a .skilled engineer, a fine classical scholar, a student of natural philosophy and metaphysics and a practical horticulturist. He <lied in Hoboken, N.J., March 6, 1838.

STEVENS, John Austin, author, was born in New York city, Jan. 21, 1827; son of John Aus- tin and Abby (Weld) Stevens; grandson of Lieu- tenant-Colonel Stevens (of the " Tea Party," who served in the 2d Continental artillery at Saratoga and Yorktown) and Lucretia Ledyard, his wife, and of Benjamin and Abby (Perkins) Weld, and a descendant of Erasmus Stevens, born in 1686, lieutenant in the Ancient Boston artillery of Ma-ssachusetts, 1739-41, and also a descendant of Richard Warren of the Mayflower compact. His father was a well known merchant and banker of New Y''ork city, and first president of the Merchants' exchange, who, as head of the treasur\' note committee, negotiated for a govern- ment loan of .$150,000,000 in August, 1801. The son was graduated from Harvard in 1840; was married, June 5, 1855, to Margaret Antoinette, daughter of William Lewis and Mary Elizabeth (Babcock) Morris of New York, and engaged in business as a merchant in that city. He was secretary of tiie New York Chamber of Com- merce, 1862-68; and of the Treasury Note com- mittee; librarian of the New Y'ork Historical society, and a corresponding member of the Massachusetts Historical society. He founded and was first president of the Sons of the Revolu- tion, and founded the Loyal National League, the first of these orders; and also the Society of Col- onial Wars in Rhode Island, 1897. He was editor of the Magazine of American History for many years, and is the author of: Colonial Records of

Vie Netc York Chamber of Commerce (1867); Memoir of George Gibbs, Librarian (1873); Life of Albert Gallatin, "American Statesmen " Series (1884); Letters to the New York Times by Knick- erbocker {lUi: '3); The Progress of New York in a Century (1876); The Expedition of Lafayette against Arnold (1878); The French in Rhode Lsland (1878-81); Memoir of William Kelby, Librarian (1898); Memorial of A. A. Low; New York City in tite Nineteenth Century (1901); and numerous addresses and important contributions to enyclo- paedias, other reference books and magazines.

STEVENS, John Leavitt, diplomat, was born at Mt. Vernon, Maine, Aug. 1, 1820; son of John and Ciiarlotte Stevens of Brentwood, N.H. He was educated in the Maine Wesleyan seminary and at the Waterville Liberal institute, .subse- quently studying theology. He was ordained in 1844, and was active in the Univeralist ministry until 1854, when he was obliged to give up the profession on account of ill health. In 1855 he was editor, with James G. Blaine, of the Kennebec Journal, and after Mr. Blaine became editor of the Portland Advertiser, was editor, 1858-69. He was chairman of the Republican state com- mittee, 1855-60; a delegate-at-large to the Re- publican national conventions of 1860 and 1876, casting his vote at the former for William H. Seward for Presidential candidate; was a mem- ber of the state legislature, 1865-68; and a state senator, 1868-70. In 1870 he was appointed by President Grant U.S. minister to Uruguaj^ and Paraguay, resigning in 1873; by President Hayes U.S. minister to Sweden and Norway, serving, 1877-83; and by President Harrison U.S. minis- ter to Hawaiian Islands, serving. 1889-93. In

1890 his office was raised to the rank of envoy ex- traordinary and minister plenipotentiary. Dur- ing the Hawaiian revolution of 1893, Minister Stevens placed the islands under the protection of the United States on February 1, which pro- tectorate was withdrawn, April 1, by Commis- sioner James H. Blount, by whom he was suc- ceeded. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Tufts college in 1883. He is the author of: History of Gustatms Adolphus (1884); and in