NATHAN H. STEVENS, a well-to-do farmer of Berlin Township, Green Lake County, residing on section 2, was born in Knox County, Ohio, Sept. 17, 1819, and is a son of William and Miranda (Hall) Stevens. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, but in his youth removed to Knox County, Ohio, where he became acquainted with and married Miss Hall, a lady of English descent. After residing in Knox County awhile, they removed to Seneca County, N. Y., where Mr. Stevens cleared and developed a farm in the midst of the wild forests. He was a shoemaker by trade and followed that business conjointly with farming. In 1830, he emigrated to the West, locating in Michigan, where he again opened up a farm. From Michigan he went to La Porte County, Ind., and in 1846 came to Green Lake County, Wis., locating on a part of the farm where our subject now resides, having entered the land from the government. He lived to the advanced age of eighty-four years and his wife died at the extreme old age of ninety-three. Politically, he was a Whig in early life but subsequently became a Republican, and his wife was a member of the Baptist Church.
Our subject was the second of a family of eight children, six sons and two daughters, of whom seven are yet living. He received his education in the district schools of the neighborhood, and upon his father's farm was reared to manhood, remaining at home until attaining his majority, when he started out in life for himself. He first ran a threshing machine, and on the removal of the family to this county entered 60 acres of land from the government, eighty of which he still owns. While in Indiana, he had become acquainted with Miss Elizabeth Slye, who removed from that State to Michigan. The friendship of the young couple ripened into love and in 1848, Mr. Stevens went to the latter State, returning to Wisconsin with her as a bride. Their union was celebrated October 11, and seven children came to gladden the pioneer home by their presence: Alice, the eldest, is now the wife of H. G. Pierce and has three children; Winfield S., died at the age of thirty-two years; Elverteene G., is the wife of J. Campbell, by whom she has one daugher; Clark M. and Elizabeth M. are still at home and two children died in infancy. The mother was born Sept. 17, 1828, and died on the 11th of May, 1860.
Mr. Stevens is numbered among the early settlers of the county, having made his home in the town of Berlin. He has made farming his occupation and by industry, judicious management and perseverance has accumulated considerable property, his landed possessions aggregating 690 acres, 230 of which are situated in this county, and 460 in adjoining counties. His life has ever been such as to command the respect and confidence of those with whom he has come in contact. His record as a temperance man is one of which he may well be proud, he having never used tobacco or whiskey and but very little tea or coffee. Politically he was a Whig in former years but since the rise of the Republican party has affiliated with that organization. He has never aspired to official positions, and is one of the valued citizens of the community, universally esteemed.
[From "Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin," 1890, Pages 440-441]