Guide to the Stevens Family Papers,
[ca. 1775-2010]

The Stevens family documented in this collection can be traced to Otho Stevens of unknown parentage and birthplace, although it is probable he was born in Great Britain and certainly died in Hampstead, N.H. in 1771. Descendent and resident of Pittsford, NY, Robert Croll Stevens, a genealogist and biographer, collected materials documenting the personal and professional lives of five generations of Stevens family, beginning with Alden Sprague Stevens, 1795-1874, a member of the fourth generation of the Stevens family.

Other major members of the Stevens family documented in this collection in descending order of generation are: Robert (Wadleigh) Smith Stevens, Frederick Charles Stevens, Robert Sproule Stevens, and the collector himself, Robert Croll Stevens. In addition, published and unpublished materials relating to members of the immediate families of these men has been carefully sought and included.

Scrapbooks of Robert Hastings Stevens (1802-1889), and "Letters to the Editor," 1880-1885; scrapbooks of Frederick Plummer Stevens (1810-1866); Albert Gallatin Stevens (1818-1872); and Albert Clark Stevens (1854-1919), University of Michigan scrapbook of Albert C. Stevens, 1872-1874, and newspaper clippings, 1874-1894. Letterbook of F.P. and A.G. Stevens, 1853-1855; deed, Otho Stevens to Daniel Stevens, 1764; letters to Sarah Caroline Greene Stevens and her daughter, Cora Caroline Stevens Reynolds, 1853-1890; Albert Gallatin Stevens and Sarah Greene Stevens vs. J.W. Clark, depositions and correspondence re the settlement of the Stephen B. Greene estate, ca. 1830-1860; photographs; diplomas; "Stevens Notes," family history compiled by Winifred Lovering Holman, 1951; printed genealogy, 1891; and genealogical chart, ca. 1960. Also, correspondence and other papers relating to Robert S. Stevens' work as manager of the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway and the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, and to his investments in Kansas lands. Also, 88 letters to Cora Stevens Reynolds (1850-1870), and letters to Cora's daughter, Doris Reynolds. Additional material includes a diary from 1861 kept by Alden S. Stevens, and photographs, abstracts, transcripts, and other papers.

The first series is the Alden Sprague Stevens Generation. Alden Sprague Stevens (Series I-A), born November 9th 1795, is the oldest major member of the collection. He was the eldest of nine sons of Archelaus Stevens, a New Hampshire farmer. Alden married Ascha Floyd Smith Stevens (Series I-B) in 1818. Alden was a teacher and a Deputy Sheriff, Crier of the Court, Deputy US Marshall, and judge of Genesee County (1835-1840). Alden helped get a charter for the continuation of a railroad from Batavia to Buffalo in 1836. He was Superintendant of Common Schools, and started the second Teacher's Institute in the United States. He was president of the Attica Collegiate Institute for 12 years. In 1857, Buchanan appointed him Special Agent for Indian Affairs, and he enumerated the Indians in Kansas. His lectures show that he was in favor of educating both sexes, and that he was pro-temperance and anti-corporal punishment. Three of Alden's brothers are included in this series: Robert Hastings Stevens (Series I-C), a lawyer from Buffalo, Frederick Plummer Stevens (Series I-D), who was mayor of Buffalo and shared a law practice with his brother Albert Gallatin Stevens (Series I-E). Albert's wife, Sarah Caroline Greene Stevens (Series I-F), is also included.

The second series is the Robert [Wadleigh] Smith Stevens Generation. It includes his elder sister Caroline Eliza Floyd Stevens Briggs and her husband Rufus Briggs (Series II-A). The largest amount of material belongs to Robert [Wadleigh] Smith Stevens (Series II-B). Though Robert dropped the name Wadleigh, the name or initial is often used in this collection to help distinguish him from the many other Roberts in the Stevens family. Robert had an illustrious career as a railroad builder and manager. He grew up in Attica, NY, where his father was an educator and also a railroad supporter. After working for an election campaign and helping Buchanan become President of the United States, Robert went west to Lecompton, Kansas, where after being financially ruined, he was appointed General Manager and supervised construction of the MK & T; Railroad (aka the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad; aka the Katy). He was renowned for the speed of the construction, and was able to repay all his debts and, in fact, accumulate a fortune. He and went next to St. Louis, Missouri, where he managed the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway. He is also known for building state housing for Native Americans unsettled by US expansion. After retiring from the railroad business, he became a United States Congressman representing New York, and was a personal friend of President Grant. Also included are Robert's wife, Mary Proctor Smith Stevens (Series II-C), and two children of Albert Gallatin and Sarah Caroline Greene Stevens: Albert Clark Stevens (Series II-D) and his sister Cora Caroline Stevens Reynolds (Series II-E), who married John Reynolds.

The third series is the Frederick Charles Stevens Generation. Frederick Charles Stevens (Series III-A), son of Robert W. and Mary Proctor Smith Stevens, was born Charles Frederick. He was a businessman involved in everything from his father's railroads to banking to farming, importing and raising horses and cattle. He went to Cornell University, but did not graduate. He became a New York State senator, then a New York State Superintendent of Public Works, and then a Cornell trustee. He married Isabel "Belle" C. Stevens and was given the Maplewood Farm in Attica, NY as a wedding present from his father. Frederick was not particularly successful as a businessman in his lifetime, and the family did not consider him to be very accomplished. However, a contemporary author recognized his importation of Holstein cows as having had a far-reaching effect on cow and dairy farming in North America. Doris Reynolds May (Series III-B) is the daughter of Cora Caroline Stevens and John Reynolds. Not included in this series are the papers of Robert Hastings Stevens, M.D. (born 1907), son of Albert Clark Stevens. Like the donor, "Dr. Bob" is a genealogist, and his materials, which contain correspondence with the genealogist Winifred Lovering Holman, are in Series VI-B (the genealogy series).

The fourth series is the Robert Sproule Stevens Generation. It contains material on Robert Sproule Stevens (Series IV-A), son of Frederick and Belle, who was the Dean of Cornell's Law School from the late thirties until the mid-fifties. He was a Harvard graduate who taught corporation law especially well. He was on presidential assigment during WWII, in commissions on Uniform State Laws, Lend-Lease, and Foreign Economic Administration and lived in Washington, D.C. from 1942-45. Helen Pauline Croll Stevens (Series IV-B), who went by Pauline, was Robert's first wife. She grew up outside of Boston and had an outgoing twin sister, Grace. Pauline liked children, writing, and painting, and she joined her sister in theatrical activities. She toured Europe as a teen, and met Robert Sproule when he and his family went to their summer home in Manchester, MA, right across the street from Pauline's house. Pauline kept a diary as an adolescent, and also as the new mother of Robert Croll Stevens, and has many drawings, paintings, postcard and photograph albums. Pauline died in 1936, when her son was only 12. She had been taking medication which had been affecting her adversely, and she was depressed; one day she fell out of a window to her death. Robert Croll went away to Hackley almost immediately, and Robert Sproule did eventually marry again, to a childhood friend from Rochester, Eva Loomis Howe Stevens (Series IV-C), a vivacious and social woman who was able to bring her husband out of his shell. She took charge of entertaining her husband's colleagues and students at their house in Cayuga Heights, and became beloved in the law school. She was involved with philanthropy with the George Junior Republic, where they named a house after her. She got along very well with Robert Croll. Also included in the series are Robert Sproule's older sisters, Helen Lee Stevens Gregory (Series IV-D), who married George Gregory, and Marian Stevens (IV-E), whose materials include sketches, paintings, and other artwork.

The fifth series is the Robert Croll Stevens Generation. Robert Croll Stevens (Series V-A), the donor of the collection, was born January 3rd, 1924. He grew up in Ithaca and attended Harvard. He worked in Rochester as a purchasing agent for Stromberg-Carlson, and retired early to become an author. He has several published volumes on his family's history (which are catalogued in this collection as Series X). The series also contains some material belonging to his wife, Jane Eleanor Knauss Stevens (Series V-B). Born September 7th, 1925, Jane grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY and attended Cornell. Her brother Bill, who was friends with Robert Croll from their years at Phillips Academy, also went to Cornell and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering (1945). After Jane graduated in from Cornell in 1945, she worked for a year in her father and uncles' meat packing business. She came back to Cornell to become the only female in the first class of thirty-three students in the School of Business and Public Administration (now the Johnson Graduate School of Management), and was the first woman to receive an MBA from Cornell, in 1948. Her brother Bill was also in that first class and graduated with an MBA in 1948. Jane met Robert Croll when he came to Cornell to visit her brother Bill while they were in graduate school. Jane and Robert were married in the summer of 1948, and she became a professional volunteer. She has been active in Rochester Republican party activities, child abuse awareness, public radio and television, and Cornell alumni activities. The couple has three daughters and one son.

Other materials include Robert Croll Stevens' and Dr. Robert Hasting Stevens' research about the family's genealogy (Series VI), maps and regional history (Series VII), photographs and postcard collections (Series VIII), audio/visual materials (Series IX), and books on family history (Series X). Transcriptions of much of the correspondence have been undertaken and are available for researchers (Series XI). Published materials have been separated from the collection and are listed in Appendix A.