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• familyserch.org ID: L1Q9-57L
• Created: 22 Jul 2020

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Buried:
findagrave.com memorial # 13319127

Lois married Carmie Joseph Brown on 3 Jun 1954 in Friends Church Cemetery, Galveston County, Texas, USA. Carmie was born on 6 Jul 1933 in Alvin, Brazoria County, Texas, United States; died on 7 Nov 2016 in Manvel, Brazoria County, Texas, United States; was buried in Friends Church Cemetery, Galveston County, Texas, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Carl Joseph Brown was born on 16 May 1959 in Houston, Harris County, Texas, United States; died on 10 Jun 1967 in Houston, Harris County, Texas, United States; was buried in Friends Church Cemetery, Galveston County, Texas, USA.

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• familyserch.org ID: KC4K-8QL
• Created: 22 Jul 2020

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Buried:
findagrave.com memorial # 13319215

William + Mildred Florence Bales. Mildred (daughter of Edward S. Bales and Myra Zue Stevenson) was born on 11 Sep 1912; died on 25 Dec 2002; was buried in Friends Church Cemetery, Galveston County, Texas, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: L27K-8B4
• Created: 22 Jul 2020

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Buried:
findagrave.com memorial # 7481770

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• familyserch.org ID: 9XJN-XG4
• Created: 15 Aug 2013

Notes:

Find A Grave Memorial# 13319083

Buried:
findagrave.com memorial # 13319083

Edward married Myra Zue Stevenson on 02 Aug 1906. Myra (daughter of Lowry David Stevenson and Lula Jane Jones) was born on 21 May 1889 in Cape Girardeau County, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, USA; died on 04 Dec 1978 in Friendswood, Galveston County, Texas, USA; was buried in Friends Church Cemetery, Galveston County, Texas, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: L8QP-9PW
• Created: 15 Aug 2013

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Find A Grave Memorial# 13319086

Buried:
findagrave.com memorial # 13319086

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• familyserch.org ID: L2T8-BJZ
• Created: 09 Aug 2018

Notes:

Dan Stevenson
1523 W. Second
Freeport, TX 77541

June 2, 1989

Dear Kinsman,

Genealogy is a never-ending sequence of puzzles and solutions~ so I thought I’d send some information I have accumulated since the 1988 gathering.

Stevensons arrived in the colonies as early as 1690, so that by the first U.S. census, Stevenson was one of the country’s most common surnames.

The common ancestors of our Texas branch of the Stevensons are the early settlers of Friendswood, Lowry David Stevenson and his wife Lula Jane Jones Stevenson, my great-grandparents. Taken from various sources their story is as follows:

Both Lowry David and Lula Jane were born in Missouri. He on May 19, 1858 and she on Aug. 25, 1861. They were married circa 1881 in Missouri.

Their first two children were born in Missouri. Guy W. Stevenson, born April 1883 and Zue M. Stevenson was born May 21,1890.

Soon after Zue’s birth the family of four moved to Cowley County, Kansas. Earl Vincent Stevenson was born November 23, 1891 in Rock, Kansas (in northern Cowley County). The Stevensons moved to Texas circa 1896. Vern Stevenson, son of Guy Stevenson retellsthe Stevenson trek to Texas.

“They came to Montgomery County, Texas from Winfield Kansas (the county seat of Cowley County) in two covered wagons. My father (Guy would have been about 13) was old enough to drive one of the teams. They had two geese who walked all the way. The last night the geese walked into the campfire and burned their feet a little and had to ride the rest of the way.”

April 25, 1898 their fourth child, Leslie Ward, was born a native Texan.

“Lulu didn’t like it there (in Montgomery County); it was a rough lumbering town, but they had a fine crop of cantaloupes. Believe they stayed there about two years. One day a stranger came walking down the railroad track and Lowry invited him in for dinner. He said, (You have a fine family Mr. Stevenson. Why don’t you visit Friendswood and see what you think. That is a settlement of Quakers and would be a much better place for your children. Frank J. Brown was an envisionary Friend who left Kansas seeking a promised land in southern Texas (a close friend had talked him out of Oregon). On his way south he passed thru Estacada, Crosby County. Brown had been a member of Estacado Meeting but was still looking for his promised land. It is interesting to note that soon after his transfer of membership from Faivriew, Kansas to Estacada Texas 2/18/89 in the minutes of the Estacado Meeting ”Considered changing Estacado Monthly Meeting from Iowa Yearly Meeting to Kansas Yearly Meeting, but the subje

F. J. Brown and T. H. Lewis secured from J.C. League (League City), a 1538 acre tract of land on Clear Creek. In July of 1895 they (Friends who had left Kansas with Brown and those who had joined him in Estacado) started building their homes. F. J. Brown,A.W. Lewis, and Nancy Lewis were appointed a committee to visit Friends in this vicinity and impress upon them the importance of having their membership rights transferred to Friendswood. Many did and Friendswood was underway. The first official changeover of the Meeting of Estacado to Friendswood was April 18, 1896. (Note: June 19, 1897 “The matter of changing from Iowa Yearly Meeting to Kansas Yearly Meeting came up for discussion and this meeting united in directing the clerk to make application for transfer.”) Friendswood was no more than four years old when the Stevensons arrived

February 17,1900 L.D. Stevenson with wife Lula and son Guy were recieved into membership. (taken from the minutes of the Friendswood Monthly Meetings).

July 7, 1900 Leslie Ward Stevenson their youngest died.

Edith Brown McGinnis, daughter of Frank J. Brown, told of the tragic part the 1900 Storm played in the Stevenson’s early history in her book THE PROMISED LAND.

“The Stevensons had only recently moved to Friendswood. Their fragile house was blown to splinters with them in it. Miraculously they had all escaped serious injury. As the storm let up they all got together and made their way to the Browns. They were allhalf frozen and besides themselves with fright. Mary Jane (Brown) dragged her children out of the only warm bed, and put Mrs. Stevenson and her little ones in their place.

Provisions were low and the Brown’s had intended going to town this day to lay in a supply of groceries. Mary Jane had put the last flour into the large batch of bread she was baking when the trees struck the kitchen. This bread, still in the oven and soaked with water, was all they had to eat. After a fire was finally kindled the bread was dried out for breakfast.

The Stevenson family who were the guests of the Browns for several weeks consisted of Laurie (sic) Lulu and their children Guy, Zue and Vincent. Guy was about sixteen years of age and Zue and Vincent about ten and eight respectively. With this crowd of hungry people the water soaked bread did not last long, and Mary Jane was put to it to get anything for them to eat until the Red Cross sent in aid. Laurie went to League City and got his share of this; for they had lost clothes, house, furniture, and everything
they had in the world.”

My grandfather Paul Rafael Stevenson was Lowry and Lula’s last child. He was born in Friendswood Feb. 9, 1901.

The Friends Academy and Church played quite a role in the Stevenson family history during this time. Here is a small historical sketch and description of the Academy as written in the 1920-21 catalog:

The old saying: “It is an ill wind that blows no one good,” for the great Galveston storm of September 8th, 1900, blew down the pines out of which the Academy building was erected. The logs were sawed into lumber, and the building put up almost entirely by members of the colony with no financial compensation whatsoever, for the people had a mind to work. Friendswood Academy was a part of the original plan of the founders of Friendswood. (Before moving to Friendswood the Estacado Meeting had built an Academy in Estacado, which was then sold when they relocated to Friendswood.) Its construction was begun in 1901 by the Friends of Friendswood Monthly Meeting and its management has been under their control ever since. Friendswood Academy is the only Friends’ school in the State of Texas. Friendswood is the ideal location for a school because Friends have always endeavored to give their children a guarded Christian education, it is removed from the debasing influences and temptations so common to cit

A member of the Stevenson family was on the Board of Trustees from the first board until the Academy closed in 1928, first Lowry David Stevenson then his son Guy.

Earl Vincent Stevenson and Zue M. Stevenson Bales were both Principles. In fact Earl Vincent was Principle while his future wife
Mary was a student.

Zue Bales was the last teacher at the Academy in 1928 when she wrote:

“As the faithful old Academy building was demolished and hauled away, so went· the dreams of our founding fathers; for they visualized as a permanent part of our community an Institution of higher learning where the Bible would be supreme and the young people would be trained for Christian service. This can never be the primary purpose in a tax-supported~ state controlled school. However, it is gratifying that so our young people choose to go to school to Christian Colleges and Seminaries to prepare for Christian leadership.”

According to Vern Stevenson, Lowry was also Friendswood’s first notary and carried the mail. Railroads and waterways were the arteries of business during those years. The Friends self-imposed isolation had its drawbacks, produce, supplies and mail had to be shuttled back and forth to the nearest railroad at Webster, or sent downstream. He writes:

“Lowry carried the mail from Webster with a spring wagon with compartments in the dashboard so that he could sort mail on the way home and put mail in the Star Route boxes along the way. We (the Guy Stevenson family) lived about four miles west of Friendswood.

When my mother, (Emma B.Miles Stevenson, daughter of Jessie Miles) would meet my Grandfather Lowry on the road he would stop, pullout his leather wallet, fish out an Indian Head penny for
me and say “Here’s a penny to the boy some candy.” It bought
as much candy as any boy should have, maybe more.
Grandpa wore a goatee and I thought he was Santa Claus.”

Francis A. Wright, a visiting Friend on church business describes Friendswood and it’s surroundings Jan.13,1910:

“Clear Lake shaped like a horseshoe some three miles long and a
mile wide from which runs Clear Creek, which is navigable for launches and barges as far up as Friendswood.

Outside the business of selling real estate~ the principal industries at present seem to be rice culture and growing of figs and oranges. Much of the country is still open prairie, but we saw large numbers of orange and fig groves, recently planted (In the 1910 census Lowry shows his land to be a fruit farm), and a few older orange orchards, which were yielding a crop worth from $600-$800 per acre. The principal orange grown is the “Satsuma”, a Japanese variety, which when budded on the “Trifoliata” stockwill stand considerable cold, owing to the habit of the latter becoming dormant in the winter. The Satsuma is a small orange, very sweet, and as it ripens about two months ahead of the earliest California varieties, it commands a ready sale at good prices. The trees come to full bearing in about four years with the first fruit appearing on some trees as early as the first year. The figs are known as seedless, and while there is little sale for them raw, there is a constantly growing demand for

The severity of the late freeze of 1912 on the early bearing Satsuma is evident in the May 18,1912 report of the Friendswood Academy Board:

“Owing to freezes and bad weather conditions~ the orchards and nurseries in this country are badly injured and in some cases destroyed. A considerable number of patrons of the Academy are not able to meet their obligations at present, leaving the board without sufficient funds to pay their teachers.” (After considerable discussion the board was authorized to borrow the money to payoff the indebtedness)

An even greater disaster, The 1915 Storm, was soon to strike: “Owing to the destructive hurricane on the 15th and 16th of this month and all the members have suffered great loss of buildings and crops and some stock and that the Academy building is damaged so much that it is unfit for use of meeting and school, F.J.Brown and Rachel Middleton appointed to act with the trustees to ascertain the amount necessary to repair the loss and are directed to appeal to Friends in other places for help to repair Friendswood Academy Building.”(The destructive force of this hurricane must have been tremendous to so wreck a building
constructed in the wake of the 1900 Storm.)

Vern recalls the circumstances of his Grandfather’s death, late March 1918:

“One day Lowry drove a little mule to Webster. Lowry was standing up in the wagon with his back to the tailgate. When the train came puffing in, “Rabbit” the little mule shied and Grandpa fell backward to the ground on his head. Though he said he could drive home all right, the people said maybe he was hurt more than he thought. While someone drove the springboard home Grandpa was taken home in a Model T. My father stayed with his father all that night. When he came home that next morning looking awfully sad, he said that Grandpa had died during the night.”

I will end here hoping that you have enjoyed these stories of our past if they were unknown to you.

I look forward to seeing you all again.

Your Kinsman,
Dan Stevenson



Find A Grave Memorial# 13319420

Stevensons arrived in Friendswood with a little help
An 'angel' pointed the way
KELLY ADAMS, Chronicle correspondent
Published 5:30 am CDT, Thursday, September 6, 2001


Following is one in an ongoing series examining the story behind the names at prominent venues and facilities in the Clear Lake/Bay Area.
The names of a middle school and a park are only the more apparent reminders of the deep roots the Stevenson family sank into Friendswood over the past century.
Through the years, Stevensons have served in local positions including election judge, tax assessor, teacher, justice of the peace, notary public, Democratic precinct chairman and board member for the Quaker Academy.
But the Stevensons' role in the community wouldn't have happened were it not for advice from someone whom family members came to believe was an angel.
The first Stevensons -- Lowry, Lucinda and their children Guy, Vincent, Zue and a baby, Ward -- came to Texas from Missouri by wagon in the late 1800s.
To make room for the family's possessions in the wagon, the children walked.
The family first settled in a rough mill town in Montgomery County until a stranger, who stopped by the family's home seeking food and water, recommended the new Quaker settlement of Friendswood as a nice place to live.
"The family always considered that he was an angel who had come to warn them that they were in the wrong place, and that they needed to come to a better place to raise their children," said Marjorie Brown, granddaughter of Zue Stevenson Bales.
In 1899, four years after Friendswood was founded, the family boarded a train to Pearland and then walked to the small community.
When they arrived, the Stevensons were not Quakers, who also are known as Friends. But that changed since Friends had the only church in the area.
Friendswood Friends Church has had a lasting influence on the family, Brown said.
The first year in Friendswood brought hard times. Scorching temperatures destroyed the crops, the Stevensons' baby died and the family lost its home to the 1900 Galveston hurricane.
"Zue Bales remembered going into the garden and hanging onto the fence line, and she said the fact that her dress got caught on the barbed-wire fence was the only thing that kept her from blowing away," said Joycina Baker, author of Friendswood: A Settlement of Friendly Folk.
However, the family decided to rebuild. In 1908, Lowry Stevenson bought 10 acres for $250 and started raising figs, which were grown on the land until the 1950s.
Around that time, Friendswood was the fig capital of the Gulf Coast, Baker said.
Besides farming, Stevenson held many positions in the growing town. He was on the board of the Quaker Academy, Friendswood's first official school, which opened in 1902.
"He was an educated man and was important in building that part of the community when it was getting started," Baker said.
In addition, Stevenson was the town's first justice of the peace and notary public. At the time, taking on many jobs was a way of helping the developing area.
"The community was so tiny," Baker said. "When the community was started, there were about 25 people here. They all had their own niche. It took everybody to make the colony work."
Stevenson also served as the community's first election judge until he died in 1918 at age 59. Son Vincent then assumed the position.
Vincent Stevenson also was the first tax assessor for the Friendswood school district as well as a Democratic precinct chairman.
He was an enterprising man who would drive into town for neighbors and bring back supplies for a small fee. Stevenson also was athletic and built the first tennis courts in Friendswood for his family on the Stevenson property.
His sister, Zue Stevenson Bales, was respected as an educator. After attending the academy, she taught at the school and later became principal.
After the death of her husband, Edward Bales, she spent many years as a missionary in Mexico and Central America. She died at age 89 in 1978.
Today, the Zue Stevenson Bales Middle School, 302 Laurel Drive, honors her role in the community. Her descendants still live in Friendswood.
Known for her strong mind and will, Bales also had a giving nature even when she relied on her family for money in her later years.
It was the generosity of the third generation of Stevensons that made Stevenson Park off FM 518 available to the public.
In 1973, five years after his death, the children of Vincent Stevenson sold the city 10.5 acres and donated another two on the condition that a park be built and named after the family.

https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/baytown-news/article/Stevensons-arrived-in-Friendswood-with-a-little-2021346.php




THE GREAT GALVESTON STORM

The terrible hurricane struck Galveston September 8, 1900. This flood an wind almost destroyed Galveston and left Friendswood a wreck....
The Stevenson's had only recently moved to Friendswood and thier frail house was blown to splinters with them in it. Miraculously they had all escaped serious injury. As the storm let up they all got together and made their way to the Browns. They were all half frozen and besides themselves with fright. Mary Jane dragged her children out of the only warm bed and put Mrs. Stevenson and her little ones in their place...
The Stevenson family who were the storm guest of the Browns for several weeks consisted of Laurie [Lowry] and Lulu and their children Guy, Zue and Vincent. Guy was about sixteen years of age and Zue and Vincent about ten and eight respectively.


This is a part of the lives of the founding families of Friendswood found in The Promised Land
by Edith B McGinnnis.

Buried:
Friends Church Cemetery

Lowry married Lula Jane Jones on 22 Dec 1880 in , Bond County, Illinois, USA. Lula was born on 25 Aug 1861 in , , Missouri, USA; died on 23 Jun 1943 in Friendswood, Galveston County, Texas, USA; was buried in Friendswood, Galveston County, Texas, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: LR4D-QW5
• Created: 15 Aug 2013

Notes:

1926 Houston City Directory: Lulu Stevenson (widow Lowrie) 2111 Lubbock.

Find A Grave Memorial# 13319422

Buried:
Friends Church Cemetery