The Stevens family is of English origin and in 1620 were living in Cornwall and Berkshire counties, England. Nathaniel Gove Stevens, born September 14, 1786, is descended from a member of this family who emigrated to America and was one of the first settlers in Warwick, Massachusetts. His father, also named Nathaniel Gove Stevens, was born April 7, 1752; married Lois Stowe, of Marlboro, Massachusetts, born 1752, died 1813; children as follows: Lois, Abel, Simon, Anna, Nathaniel Gove, Jr., Samuel. Besides being a prosperous farmer, Nathaniel Gove, Jr., successfully managed a saw mill and tan yard. He rafted lumber down the Connecticut river. In religion he was a Unitarian. He married Nancy Stoughton. Children: Nathaniel Edwin, Sarah, married a Mr. McClenathan, Lois C., Charles, Mariah, Timothy Gilbert, Samuel Stoughton.
(II) Samuel Stoughton, son of Nathaniel Gove and Nancy (Stoughton) Stevens, was born at Warwick, Franklin county, Massachusetts, August 25, 1829. He acquired his education in the schools of his native village. In 1848 he went on a raft to South Hadley Falls. He journeyed from there to Hartford, Connecticut, and other places, seeking a shop to learn the machinists' trade. In Worcester, Massachusetts, he engaged with the firm of Goddard & Rice, tool makers, and manufacturers of paper machinery, his only remuneration being board and lodging. He remained until the expiration of his apprenticeship, when he accepted a position with Severance & Tourtlotte, who with others, had established a works for building paper machinery, taking the position of foreman. He remained with this firm three years in Hartford, Connecticut. From there he went to Troy, New York, to set up a machine which he had superintended in building for A. W. Orr & Company, with whom he remained five years. In 1858, in connection with the Orrs, he purchased the North Hoosick mill, which had been partly fitted up for making wrapping paper. He completed this mill to make hanging paper, and in a short time brought the production from one ton per day to that of two tons. He remained with the Orrs for about twelve years. In 1869, after the death of Alexander Orr and William O. Cunningham, he, with George S. Thompson, bought out the interest of the Orrs and continued the business under the firm name of Stevens & Thompson. In 1874 Stevens & Thompson in connection with R. H. Thompson, leased the Walloomsac Paper Mill, formerly owned and managed by Austin and Pratt. After running this mill for a term of six years they purchased the property from Henry Smith, of New York, and immediately commenced enlarging the plant. This in connection with the North Hoosick mill brought the production up to considerable over twenty tons per day.
Mr. Stevens, assisted by his son Frank L. Stevens, had exclusive charge of the mechanical departments. He had made several valuable inventions for which he had secured patents. The first, for a continuous process of the treatment of paper stock in the form of old papers, by which the stock is not handled from the time it is put into the cluster until it comes out on the machine in the form of paper. Another is a variable speed device for paper machines. His third invention is a centrifugal continuous process pulp dryer. In recent years he had introduced into this line several specialities of paper, the manufacturing of which his younger son, Fred N. Stevens, has full charge. Samuel S. Stevens married Marcia Maria Lamberton, of Ware, Massachusetts, daughter of Gideon Lamberton, born in Ware, 1798, died at the same place in 1892. He was a prosperous farmer, a Republican in politics and a member of the Presbyterian church. He married in Ware and had three children:
- Alfred, born in Ware, died in Oregon, not married.
- Melzar, died in Gilbertville, Massachusetts, married and had two children:
- Walter, died at age of twenty-four at North Hoosick about 1884;
- Clara, married Fred Barlow and had two children: Marian, Stanley.
- Marcia Maria, born July 18, 1830, died in North Hoosick, May 17, 1904.
Children of Samuel Stoughton and Marcia Maria (Lamberton) Stevens:
- Anna Maria, married Hiland Carpenter, of North Hoosick, New York; four children: Warwick, Harold, Samuel (deceased); and Marcia.
- Lois, married Arthur Bolton Cobden, cashier of People's Bank of Lansingburg; one child,
- Allen Stevens, born September 22, 1892.
- Frank Lamberton, see forward.
- Fred Nathaniel, see forward.
(III) Captain Frank Lamberton, eldest son of Samuel Stoughton and Marcia Maria (Lamberton) Stevens, was born October 28, 1864. He was educated at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and early began his career in the paper making industry. He entered the mills of Stevens & Thompson in 1884, and continued until the incorporation in 1903, when he was elected vice-president, an office which he still holds. He is also vice-president of the Walloomsac Paper Company, a corporation in which he has been interested since 1900, when he purchased in connection with his brother, Fred N., the interest formerly held by his father, Samuel Stoughton Stevens. Frank L. has always been closely associated with the practical side of paper making, and was his father's assistant in the exclusive charge of the mechanical department of the mills. To a thoroughly practical knowledge of paper making he adds executive ability of a high order, which is recognized by his associates in the various corporations in which he holds official positions. He is president of the Noble & Wood Machine Company, of Hoosick Falls, New York; vice-president of The Stevens & Thompson Paper Company of Middle Falls, New York, and a director of the First National Bank, Hoosick Falls, New York. He served in the National Guard, New York, and during the Spanish-American war was captain in the Second Regiment of Infantry. He was captain of the Thirty-second Separate Company, New York National Guard, with which he had served sixteen years. He is a Republican in politics and in 1904-05 represented his district in the New York State assembly. Mr. Stevens is a member of Van Rensselaer Lodge, No. 400, Free and Accepted Masons, of Hoosick Falls, New York; Raymond Chapter, No. 248, Royal Arch Masons, of Hoosick Falls, Hoosick Falls Lodge, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and exalted ruler (1910) of that body. He is a member of the Hoosick Club, the Pafraets Dael Club of Troy, and the Army and Navy Club of New York. He married, February 20, 1884, Frederica, daughter of Joseph Carl and Katherine (Schaffer) Wallich, of Detroit, Michigan. Joseph Carl Wallich was born at Trier-on-the-Rhine, Germany, in 1833. He learned the trade of cabinetmaker, which then included pianos and weaving machinery, the latter an important branch. He came to the United States in 1851, locating first at Cleveland, later in Berea, Ohio. During the civil war he was selected as carpenter to an engineering corps, his ability in construction being well known to the officer in charge. In 1862 he settled in Detroit, where he purchased a residence, now 405 Cass avenue, then far in the country surrounded by woods. He became a prominent contractor and builder, completing several important government contracts including the post office and Marine Hospital buildings. He was deeply interested in the study of anthropology and was deeply versed in his favorite study. He was a source of wonder to the professional men with whom he conversed. His last words expressed his life ambition "Ein guter erieirchterungs sim." (A good, well-enlightened perception.) He was at different times a member of the Concordia and Harmonic Singing Societies, and was affiliated with Zion Lodge, No. 1, Free and Accepted Masons. He married, at Berea, Ohio, Katherine Schaffer. Children:
- Charles W., of Detroit, Michigan;
- Claud, superintendent of fisheries at Yes Bay, Alaska;
- Frederica, married Frank L. Stevens;
- Julia Minetta, married Fred N. Stevens, of whom further;
- Lilly, married Gustav R. Schimmel, of Detroit;
- Wilhimina, of New York City, unmarried;
- Julius of Buffalo, New York;
- Catherine, married George R. Doemling, of Detroit.
Mr. Wallich died at Detroit, Michigan, at the age of seventy-three years. The children of Frank L. and Frederica (Wallich) Stevens:
- Lois, born December 18, 1892;
- Christian, June 30, 1897;
- Samuel Stoughton, September 2, 1901.
(III) Fred Nathaniel, son of Samuel Stoughton and Marcia Maria (Lamberton) Stevens, was born at North Hoosick, January 3, 1868. He was educated in the public schools of the district and at private schools, Peekskill Military Academy, Graylock Institute, South Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williston Seminary at East Hampton, Massachusetts, Boston Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts, one year. He entered the paper manufacturing business with his father in the firm of Stevens & Thompson. In 1900 he, with his brother, Frank L., bought out his father's interest in the Walloomsac Paper Company. They successfully operated as a firm until 1906, when they incorporated, with Fred N. Stevens as secretary. The business of this corporation is the manufacture of wall paper. Mr. Stevens is also secretary of Stevens & Thompson, Incorporated, manufacturers of wall, filter, manilla, and tissue paper. The corporations are well managed and successful and add materially to the prosperity of the villages in which their works and offices are located, Walloomsac and North Hoosick. Mr. Stevens is a director of the People's Bank of Hoosick Falls, New York, president of the Hudson Valley Humane Society (Hoosick branch), member of the Church of Christ (Scientist), member of the board of governors of the Hoosick Club. In politics a Republican and fraternally an "Elk." He married, January 27, 1892, Julia Minetta Wallich, born in Detroit, Michigan, daughter of Joseph Carl Wallich, who was born at Trier-on-the-Rhine, Germany, 1833. Children:
- Frederick Wallich, born October 12, 1892, died February 28, 1901;
- Carl Wallich, born June 24, 1894, entered Culver Military Academy, Culver, Indiana, for 1910-11;
- Marcia Lamberton.