484 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



BIOGRAPHY. 



Alexander C, Stevenson, ( whose portrait engraving is the frontispiece of this 

 book), was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, November 21, 1802, and the eldest 

 child of James and Margaret Stevenson. His mother was a daughter of Alexan- 

 der Campbell, of that county. His paternal grandfather, Benjamin Stevenson, of 

 the Eastern shore of Maryland, was, during the war of the Eevolution, a soldier 

 of the patriot army, and soon after that conflict, removed from Maryland into Ken- 

 tucky, and settled in what afterwards became Woodford county. His son James 

 entered the United States army in the war of 1812, as a private soldier, and during 

 that struggle, endured such hardship, that he ever afterward remained an invalid. 

 Thia fact made Alexander, while yet a boy, the stay and support of the family, 

 compelling him to supervise the servants, and market the farm products. Diligence, 

 even then, characterized him, and he often arose at two o'clock in the morning to 

 be first with his products in Lexington, a market nine miles away. This training 

 and constant labor gave to him a splendid physical and intellectual manhood. 

 Eidueational advantages he had but sparingly. The common schools of Kentucky 

 at that day were but indiflerent, and seminaries and colleges were distant and ex- 

 pensive. He who there acquired letters, relied upon himself and the private tutor. 

 The latter facility he had not, and books were scarce. He therefore made nature 

 his text-book, and learned wisdom and diligence from her precepts. Himself a 

 laborer and brought in contact with slavery, the injustice of that institution made 

 strong impressions upon his mind, and determined him to seek a home in a land of 

 free institutions, where to labor was honorable. Impelled by principle, he at the 

 age of nineteen years, and in 1821, left Kentucky and came into Indiana, seeking 

 a location. Railroads there were none — clay roads were but trails, and difficult 

 even for horsemen. But these difficulties were overcome, and Alexander came into 

 what is now Parke county, Indiana, and entered lands northward from where Rock- 

 ■yille now stands. He was not disappointed with the country, and from that time 

 h.as regarded Indiana as his home. 



After satisfactorily " prospecting " the Hoosier State, he visited his family in 

 Kentucky, where he was induced to study medicine with a relative. Dr. Walker, 

 of Montgomery county, Kentucky. On completing his course with Dr. Walker, 

 Alexander entered Transylvania Medical College at Lexington, Kentucky, and 



NOTE.— Dr. Stevenson is yet living, but quite feeble. This biography was prepared by 

 M. A. Moore, of (xreencastle, April, 1885. 



Secretary. 



