Legislator Details
Portrait of William N. Stevens scanned from Beakes (W) p.176.
Vital Records Information:
Marital Information:
Married Jan Y. Forbes on March 4, 1834 in New York.
Number of Children: 0
Background
Education:
Biographical Sketch:
Notable Facts:
William Nelson Stevens, was a native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and at the age of fifteen years went to New York city, where he learned the trade of carpenter and joiner. In 1833, before his twentieth birthday, he came to Plymouth, Michigan, working for a few years at his trade. Early in 1834 he returned to New York, and March 4, I834, was married to Jane Y. Forbes, returning to Plymouth with his bride soon after his marriage. While Michigan was still a territory he took up the work of collecting and conveyancing. When Michigan became a state he was elected a justice of the peace, and was re-elected several times. continuing in the office until he removed to Whitmore Lake in 1847, where, for many years, he kept a general store. He was commissioned by Governor Mason first lieutenant in the Plymouth Rangers at the time of the "Toledo war." He was a member of the legislature in I86I-2, and clerk of Washtenaw county in I873-4. He died in Ann Arbor, November 26, 1904.