Stevens, Elizabeth Caldwell, 1841-

Elizabeth Caldwell Stevens was born in Boston, Mass., in 1841, one of five children of George Washington and Elizabeth Caldwell (Palmer) Light. Her father was a writer and publisher active in reform circles and after his wife's death in 1852 he married Mary Ann Dexter Valentine, who was probably the widow of Nathaniel P. Rogers, editor of a New Hampshire anti-slavery newspaper, Herald of Freedom. Elizabeth's sister Charlotte married Charles Valentine and had one son, Robert Grosvenor Valentine. Charlotte was an invalid and Elizabeth became increasingly involved in raising her nephew following Valentine's desertion of his family. In 1886 Elizabeth married William Burdick Stevens, a banker who died six years later.