Eugene B. Stevens

EUGENE B. STEVENS, a gentleman widely known in the financial circles of Labette county, Kansas, is cashier and manager of the First National Bank of Parsons. He was born at Sturgeon Bay, Door county, Wisconsin, in 1857, and is a son of Ezra B. and Mary F. (Cahoon) Stevens.

Ezra B. Stevens was born in New Hampshire, and came to Kansas in 1868, in charge of bridges and buildings of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company. He made his home in Parsons until his death in 1874, at the age of sixty-two years. He was the first elected mayor of Parsons, after the city was organized, and was one of the charter stockholders of the First National Bank, organized in 1872. He served as a director of the latter until his death. He married Mary F. Cahoon, a native of Vermont, who now resides in Parsons, and they became the parents of three children, as follows: Eugene B., Ida M. (Karr), and Mabel (Black).

Eugene B. Stevens received his primary education in Buffalo, New York, to which place his parents moved in 1865. He journeyed to Kansas in 1868, locating at Junction City, where he continued to live and where he went to school until 1871. In that year, at the age of fourteen, he became a resident of Parsons. After finishing his schooling, he was given a position with the First National Bank in 1877. He was made assistant cashier of the bank in February, 1881, and cashier in July, 1890. He has served in the latter capacity ever since, and has been very successful in his work. He was also a member and director of the Parsons Town Company.

In 1883 Mr. Stevens was united in marriage with Mary Barton, a daughter of James and Susanna Barton, of Parsons, who were formerly residents of Peru, Illinois. They have three children: Mary, Gertrude, and Ida. Fraternally, he is a Mason, having taken the Scottish Rite degree, and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a Republican, in politics, and was honored by election to the office of mayor of Parsons, serving from 1895 to 1897.