Samuel Cummings Stevenson
Samuel Cummings Stevenson, of Grimes Postoffice, was born March 11, 1838, in the old double log cabin at the mouth of Bayou Manyoupper, below the mouth of Ohio Brush Creek, the last bayou on the trip from New Orleans to Pittsburgh. His father was Richard Stevenson, a son of John Stevenson, a native of Donegal, Ireland, who made his escape to America at the time of the Emmett Rebellion, and built the double log cabin on the site of the old stone house at Pleasant Bottoms, at mouth of Ohio Brush Creek. Richard Stevenson was born October 11, 1798, in the old cabin above mentioned on the old Stevenson farm. He married Sarah Cummings, a daughter of Captain Samuel Cummings, of Lewis County, Kentucky, opposite the Stevenson home on the Ohio. He was a boat carpenter, and for years built flatboats at the mouth of Brush Creek and cordelled them to Kenhawah Licks, where they were loaded with salt for New Orleans. He lived at the mouth of the bayou till 1838, when he built the present brick residence, now the home of the subject of this sketch. He died July 7, I855.
Samuel C. Stevenson, the subject of this sketch, followed steamboating on the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and was a captain of vessels for many years. He first married Miss Maggie Lovell, of Lewis County, Kentucky, January 31, 1866. She died September 2, 1871, and afterwards, October 15, 1873, he married Miss Joanna B. Shumaker, daughter of the late Captain J. H. Shumaker, of Mason City, W. Va., who was killed by an explosion on the steamer Brilliant, at Gallipolis Island, August 22, 1878. Captain Stevenson has "hove anchor" from Pittsburgh to the Gulf of Mexico, experiencing thrilling adventures that would fill a volume. He is now retired from the river, and enjoys life at his home on the beautiful Ohio at Pleasant Bottoms. He is the owner of Wilson's or Brush Creek Island, where persons from the surrounding towns and villages spend the heated season outing and fishing under the direction of the genial Captain.
A few years ago. a party of young men from Winchester camped at Brush Creek Island to spend some time fishing in Brush Creek and the Ohio River. Nicholas Lockwood, a member of the party, was drowned in the Ohio while bathing, and his companions made futile efforts to recover the body. Captain Stevenson was called on to assist in the search and he discovered the body of young Lockwood rolling on the bottom of the river in several feet of water—the river being low and the water clear. He dived and secured a hold on the body and by almost superhuman efforts conveyed it to the shore unassisted.
The Captain is one of the best known citizens of the county and numbers his friends by the score. In politics, he is a Democrat of the Jefferson type.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900