Untitled Document

DAVID A. STURTEVANT.

David A. Sturtevant, who has risen from a humble clerkship to rank with the successful and leading merchants of Winnebago county, conducting a well equipped store in Roscoe, was born in Oneida county, New York, in 1825. His father, Cephas Sturtevant, was a native of Massachusetts and never came to the west but retained his residence in New York up to the time of his death. He was a mason, following that trade as a means of livelihood throughout his active business career and passing away in Madison county, New York, at the advanced age of eighty years. He married Elizabeth Lawrence, also a native of Massachusetts and they became the parents of ten children who reached mature years, David A. Sturtevant being the ninth in order of birth and the only son now living. He has one surviving sister. Susan Pearl. a resident of Rockford.

David A. Sturtevant spent the days of his boyhood and youth in New York, acquiring his education in the public schools and in the fall of 1846 he came west to Illinois induced to this step by the fact that he had a sister living in Roscoe. He had previously learned the shoemaker's trade in the east and he resumed work in that line on arriving in Roscoe. For ten years he followed his chosen vocation and was then obliged to relinquish work on the bench because of ill health. He rented land in Roscoe township and for five or six years carried on general agricultural pursuits, after which he spent one year in California, working in the mines. It was in 1857 that he crossed the plains to the Pacific coast, attracted by the discoveries of gold in that far western country. Upon his return to Roscoe in 1859 he again resumed shoemaking. to which he devoted his energies until after the outbreak of the civil war.

Mr. Sturtevant had been an interested witness of events in the south, had noted the growing feeling of unrest and had resolved that if an attempt was made at secession he would strike a blow in defense of the Union. Accordingly he became a member of Compan y H. Second Regiment of Illinois Light Artillery. His old friend. Dr. Ransom. of Roscoe township. who was a surgeon in the army. secured his detail for dut y at the hospital but ill health eventually forced Mr. Sturtevant to retire from the army and he returned to Roscoe. where the following year he secured a clerkship in the store of A. D. Lawrence, his brother-in-law. who was proprietor of a drygoods establishment. He remained as a salesman there for three years. at the end of which time Arr. Lawrence removed to Iowa and Mr. Sturtevant purchased the store. which he has since conducted. He has one of the oldest concerns of the village both as regards years and in the length of his continuous connection with mercantile interests. He has a well appointed establishment. haying closely studied the needs and wishes of the public and by reason of his fair dealing, his earnest desire to please his patrons and his en terprising methods, he has won a creditable measure of success.

Mr. Sturtevant has been married twice. He first wedded Susan M. Wood and they had two children, Frank and Hattie. The former married Bertha Eakin, of Illinois, and has three children, Bert, Louisa and Lenore. Hattie is the wife of George Wiggins. In 1863 Mr. Sturtevant was again married, his second union being with Harriet E. Lawrence, a native of New York, a daughter of Judge L. W. Lawrence, of Belvidere, Illinois, who went to that town in an early day. They have three children: Maude, Blanche, the wife of Giles Baldwin ; and Marie, who married Fred Blackington and has three children, Ralph, Letta and Feme.

Mr. Sturtevant and his family are members of the Methodist church and are people of the highest respectability, their lives being permeated by principles which work for good citizenship and for upright character. In his political views Mr. Sturtevant has been a stalwart republican since the organization of the party and for three years served as tax collector of Roscoe township. In 1881 he was appointed postmaster of Roscoe by President Garfield and was retired by President Cleveland in 1883, but when the republicans again came in power he was appointed by President Harrison and continued in office altogether for seven years. He has been notary public for twenty years. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity of Roscoe and is one of the most respected, influential and prominent citizens of the village. There is indeed much that is commendable in his life record and he is justly entitled to the confidence and respect so uniformly tendered him.

History of Winnebago County-1877

Illinois Ancestors