cr ft m sonry - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic District Historical ...

Gordon Warren Stevens was Born 2 Jun 1879 at Athens, Ontario, Canada. He married 27
Nov 1901 to Alice Esther Williams at the First English Lutheran Church in Syracuse,
Onondaga, New York, and died 4 Dec 1981 at the Masonic Home in Utica, NY. His father was
a blacksmith, and had a shop in Athens for many years.
Abel Stevens with sons Wilson, David Arden, and Gordon Warren Stevens.
From "THE RECORDER AND TIMES" dated Saturday,
April 22, 1933, "Old Farmersville Seen as a New World"
by Harry D. Blanchard reads: "...on that memorable
second day in Old Farmersville...came two of the
nicest-looking small boys we had ever seen. They
seemed interested in 'the new boy in the Liddie Sheldon
house', but they were shy and he was shy. We
gradually edged our way to the sleigh-tracks mid-street
and they twain likewise. The older boy shyly asked our
name and we told him. He then asked how old we were,
where we came from, how many brothers and sisters
we had, and a long list of other questions. These two boys were 'Ardie' and 'Gordie' Stevens,
younger sons of Abel Stevens and his wife, who was a member of the well known Warren
family. Abel ran a blacksmith's shop and carriage-works on Elgin Street, at the northwest
corner beyond our new home. Their residence was immediately north of the shop and there
was then a well on the street in front of the house, close to the fence. Ardie and Gordie had an
older brother, Will, who, like his father, was very fond of racehorses and often 'jockeyed' them
at the Farmersville Driving Park, which was located on the property now occupied by the
House of Industry. Gordie, or Gordon, is now the father of Warren Stevens, former flying wing
and quarter-back, the most talked of football player of the year 1931, now the well known
coach for the teams at Toronto University. Warren, it will be noted, gets his Christian name from the maiden name of his
grandmother, Mrs. Abel Stevens, who, before her marriage was Elizabeth Warren of Elgin, Ont. On his grandfather's side of the
house the descent from Deacon Abel Stevens, the Canadian U.E. Loyalist pioneer, is Warren, son of Gordon, son of Abel, son of S.
K. Stevens, son of Rev. Abel Stevens, son of Abel Stevens, U.E.L. Rev. Abel Stevens, son of the original Abel, was educated and
ordained in the State of Vermont and came to Canada with his parents, rather than take the oath of allegiance to the United States
government.
On an old map located by our faithful correspondent, Curzon Lamb, Upper Beverly Lake is given the alternative name 'Abel Lake'
after the pioneer, Elder Abel Stevens....
Well, on that second day, at the hour of high noon, we sealed our friendship with Gordie and Ardie Stevens and many a happy hour
we spent playing with them during the year following, until we moved to our new home on Main street east, this friendship being
continued for many years by our later chum, Cliff, now Dr. C. C. Nash of Kingston, as recalled to us by Cliff himself when we last
saw him. The dear mother of Gordie and Ardie Stevens was awfully good to us always; she was kindness personified and we have
many happy memories of the good times spent in her home, when it was too inclement for us boys to play out-of-doors and of the
visits of Gordie and Ardie to our own home...."
Elizabeth Warren died when my grandfather was just eight years old. It is said that she "died of a broken heart". Family lore is that
her husband had been unfaithful. Shortly thereafter, Abel Stevens moved to Syracuse, NY, following his cousin, Peter Bresee to the
Syracuse area where he had a string of race horses. The boys, Wilson, "Ardie" and Gordon stayed for a while in Athens. When their
father sent for them they arrived at the train station in Syracuse, one boy carrying the picture of his mother, and another the frame
for the picture carried around his neck. They waited some time at station until their father arrived. At first they resided in the
Syracuse suburb of Baldwinsville, later moving into downtown Syracuse.
Abel Stevens continued his profession with horses, riding, showing, shoeing and caring for horses. Regardless of how fashionably
he was dressed, he always smelled like horses, reminisces his granddaughter [my mother]. He lived in a succession of boarding
houses with his three sons. My grandfather, Gordon, only had a third grade education, obtained at the old school in Athens before
his departure for the U.S. At age 12 he worked in the Smith Corona typewriter factory in Syracuse. His father was an avid pool and
billard player, and my grandfather often found his father in the pool halls late at night.
Gordon met his future wife, Alice Esther Williams, at a church picnic. His Sunday School teacher, as well as his future in-laws, took
a liking to this shy, quiet boy whose mother had died so young, and who was left to fend for himself amid a less than normal home
life. Gordon was a self-educated man. He loved sports, and surely, if he had had the opportunity, he might have been a sports star
himself. Although small in stature, as was his son, Warren, he spent every free moment either attending sports events or listening
on the radio the football, basketball, baseball or hockey games.
Early in his married life, he and Alice lived on the north side, her parents living with them. For a while he worked on the New York
Central Railroad until his foot slipped while crossing between cars, and his foot and leg were caught in the coupling of the train. After
that near disaster, he left the railroad. Gordon's brother, "Ardie" went into the milk business, pasteurizing milk in the barn behind his
home on Hartson Street. At one or two o'clock in the morning, the milk would be delivered to the barn behind Gordon's home on
Bellevue Avenue, from which he delivered milk in a horse and wagon on Syracuse's southwest side. I remember 'Gramp' telling
about the very icy day when, as he was out of the wagon delivering to a customer, the wagon began to slip down a steep hill. The
horse bolted, and the wagon came loose and slid down the hill on its side. The horse disappeared. When 'Gramp' walked home,
there was the horse, 'Joe', in his stall in the barn. The horse knew the route so well that he found his way home alone.
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