Guide to the Thomas Stevenson Papers

Thomas Stevenson was born in 1818 in Ireland. He attended high school in Strabane, Ireland for two years before emigrating to the United States. There he met his older brother, Ross Stevenson, in New Athens, Ohio. He then attended Franklin College in New Athens and, later, Western Theological Seminary in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. After his graduation from Western in 1845 and ordination in 1846, Reverend Stevenson accepted a position as pastor in Montour, Pennsylvania. From 1854 to 1862, he was pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Spruce Creek, Pennsylvania.

Following his work with wounded and dying soldiers during the Second Battle of Bull Run in the U.S. Civil War, Reverend Stevenson was elected chaplain of the Sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves. From 1864 to 1865 he served as chaplain of the Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers. He began serving as chaplain of the One Hundred and Fourteenth Regiment United States Colored Troops in 1865. Following the Civil War, Stevenson and his regiment were stationed in Brownsville, Texas, where he died of cholera on February 10, 1867.

After his first wife, S. A. Plumer, died, Reverend Stevenson married Mary Ann McWilliams. At the time of his death, seven children survived him.