Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
David Barker Stevenson fonds
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1824-1857 (Creation)
- Creator
- Stevenson, David Barker
Physical description area
Physical description
0.12 m of textual records
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
David Barker Stevenson was a businessman, justice of the peace, office holder, and politician. He was born November 17, 1801 in Clinton (Hyde Park), N.Y., son of Timothy Stevenson and Phoebe Barker. On December 14, 1830 he married Agnes Rebecca Dougall of Hallowell (Picton), Upper Canada, and they had one daughter. He died on March 3, 1859 in Picton.
Stevenson emigrated to Canada in 1824 and took up residence in the village of Hallowell in Prince Edward County where his Barker relatives had previously emigrated. He did business as a general merchant in grain, timber and other commodities. Stevenson had a varied career of public service, at municipal, county and provincial levels. He was a member of Picton's first elected town council (1850) and continued to serve on that body until 1854, at which time he was elected Mayor. He was also a member of the first Municipal Council of Prince Edward District, Warden of the District and, following the Municipal Reform Bill, Warden of the County in 1851-1853. A Conservative in politics, Stevenson was elected member for Prince Edward in the Provincial Parliament in 1848 and twice re-elected. He was defeated in the general election of 1857. Other positions held by Steveson include the presidency of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, orgainzed at Picton in 1836, and the secretaryship of the Prince Edward County Agricultural Society.
Stevenson's early religious sympathies lay with the Society of Friends, but a few years after his arrival in Hallowell he joined the Church of England, being listed among those renting pews in the new Church of St. Mary Magdalene in 1830.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of personal and business correspondence, will and probate, and a collection of James Dougall letters. Most of the correspondence is arranged chronologically, and is concerned with Stevenson's business affairs and banking transactions. One letter from J. P. Downes, a fellow townsman and militia officer, deals with alarums and excursions on the troubled Niagara frontier in the autumn of 1839. Stevenson's activities on behalf of his constituents are reflected in letters concerning Picton harbour improvement, a pension for a veteran of 1837 and the appointment of a postmaster at Bloomfield. Also included are photocopies of general and business correspondence that are held privately, but were copied and included in this fonds.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Photocopied material donated by James Eadie in 1987.
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
2131.2
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Open
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Public domain