Stevens, John, 1918-

Epithet: Marshal of the Royal Hall

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000362.0x000231

Epithet: alias Stephens

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000362.0x000258

Epithet: of Add MS 33978

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000362.0x000233

Epithet: of Add MS 36054

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000362.0x000234

Epithet: merchant, of London

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000362.0x000232

Epithet: FRS

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000362.0x00022f

Epithet: Captain; RN; of the ' Chestnut.'

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000362.0x00022e

Epithet: Spanish Scholar and Translator

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000362.0x000235

John Stevens (1798-1877) was an editor, a Baptist missionary, and a college professor. Born in Townsend, Massachusetts, as the eldest son of Solomon and Elizabeth (Sanders) Stevens, he graduated from Middlebury College in 1821 and taught as principal of an academy in Montpelier, Vermont, for one year. Then, Stevens studied theology at Andover and newton seminaries and changed his religious faith from Congregationalist to Baptist. He returned to Middlebury as a tutor in classics and in 1828 became principal of an academy in South Reading, Massachusetts.

In 1831, John Stevens came to Cincinnati, Ohio, to become the first editor of the Baptist Weekly Journal of the Mississippi Valey, later the Journal and Messenger. Thereafter, Stevens involved himself in other editorial enterprises, including the Cross and Baptist Journal and The Macedonian. He also served as an agent of the American Baptist Missionary Union from 1843-1858.

Throughout his career, Stevens promoted Baptist education. An early member of the Ohio Baptist Education Society in 1831, John Stevens also served as secretary of the Western Baptist Education Society. This organization, together with the Fairmount Land Company, sponsored and financed the Fairmount Theological Seminary near Cincinnati. Later, Stevens joined the Fairmount faculty.

But it was at Granville, Ohio, where John Stevens contributed most to Baptist education. In 1838 he became vice-president and professor of philosophy at the Granville Literary and Theological Institute (later Denison University), serving until 1843. From 1859 to 1875, Stevens was professor of Latin and Greek. Until his death in 1877, he was active in educational and missionary work at Granville, for which purpose the Society for Religious Inquiry was formed. In these activities, Stevens worked closely with John Pratt, first president of Granville and professor of Greek and Latin from 1837-1859.

The children of John Stevens were also prominent Baptists. In 1836 the Baptist editor married Mary Arnold, and their son, William Arnold Stevens (born 1839), became a professor first at Denison University and then, in 1877, at Rochester Theological Seminary. Another son, George Stevens (1841-1917), was chairman of the Cincinnati Baptist Social Union, clerk of the Miami Baptist Association, and a prominent bookseller and historian in Cincinnati and Granville.

From the guide to the John Stevens Papers, 1813-1909, (Western Reserve Historical Society)