Helen "Nelly" Clarissa Stevens, the daughter of Mary Underhill (1803-1875) and James Stevens (1799-1849) was born in Whitehall, New York, on June 28, 1828. She attended Castleton (Vt.) Seminary in 1848 and Burlington (Vt.) Female Seminary in 1850. In 1855, she secured a teaching position from a wealthy family in Beach Grove, Mississippi (near Vicksburg). A year later, she married John R. Casselman, also from Whitehall, and they moved to LaGrange, Texas, where they started a school. Nelly Stevens and John Casselman had two children: Edward (born in 1857) and Frank (born on October 16, 1858). Nelly Stevens died August 18, 1860, perhaps from tuberculosis. John Casselman remained in the South during the Civil War and was not heard from by the Stevens family after 1869. Mary Cushan Underhill (1803-1875), Nelly Stevens' mother, was born in Dorset, Vermont, the daughter of Clarissa (Baldwin) and John Underhill. She married James J. Stevens, a lawyer in Whitehall, New York in 1823. After his death in 1849, she married Asa B. Moore of Dorset, Vermont. She was in Texas when Nelly died and brought her grandsons North with her. Nelly's older sister, Frances "Fanny" Mary Stevens, was born July 28, 1826; she married Allan Howland.
From the description of Helen (Nelly) Stevens papers, 1821-1984. (Vermont Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 727142599
