Sarah Tillotson was the daughter of Samuel Tillotson and Sarah Partridge, and the sister of my great-great-great-grandfather Daniel Tillotson. Sarah was born in Lee, Berkshire County, Massachusetts on March 23, 1800. Everyone called Sarah "Sally."
At the young age of seventeen Sarah became the first teacher in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio. A log cabin located on the west line of the township served as the school building. The location allowed convenient access for students from both Brunswick and Liverpool townships. Sarah had sixteen pupils in her first class.
Sarah married Cortis Stevens on June 1, 1820. Cortis was born to William Pitt Stevens and Clarissa Stevens on August 24, 1796 in Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The Stevens family, like the Tillotsons, were pioneers in Brunswick. Cortis's first name appears in a variety of spellings: Cortis, Cortez, Cortiss, and Curtis. All are varieties of Curtis, and probably "Cortis" represents the way the name was pronounced at that time.
Sarah and Cortis had four children.
Sarah Phidelia Stevens was born on August 20, 1822 in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio. Her middle name also appears as Fidelia. Sarah married Lafayette Bolles, son of Gurdon Saliston Bolles and Lois Carrier, on April 26 (or April 4), 1849 in Medina County, Ohio. Lafayette was born December 21 (or December 11), 1823 in Royalton, Fairfield County, Ohio. and died on October 21, 1899 in Nankin, Ashland County, Ohio.
In 1893 Lafayette Bolles worked as a carpenter in Nankin, Ashland County, Ohio.
Sarah and Lafayette had two children.
Sidney S. Bolles was born about 1852. Sidney's middle name was probably Stevens, his mother's maiden name. He married and had at least two children.
Grace M. Bolles was born about 1885 and died on January 2, 1963 in Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio. Grace married John V. Decker.
Clara A. Bolles was born about 1894.
In the 1910 census Sidney appears as head-of-household. His daughters Grace and Clara were living with him. He was probably already a widower by this time since his wife's name is not given.
In the 1920 census Sidney appears as a widower living with his daughter Grace and her husband John V. Decker in Orange Township, Ashland County, Ohio.
Brunelle Stevens Bolles was born on January 14, 1850.
John Campbell Stevens was born on May 15, 1824 in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio. John married Emeline M. Warner on October 15, 1847 in Berea, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Emeline was born in 1824 in Liverpool, Medina County, Ohio to Eliada Warner and Margaret A. Nichols.
John and Emeline had at least one child.
Warner Newell Stevens was born in Brunswick on February 1, 1851. Warner lived with his parents until 1886 when his uncle Leonard Warner died. Warner returned to Brunswick to care for his aged grandparents, Eliada and Margaret Warner, until they died -- Eliada on October 13, 1890 and Margaret on June 18, 1892. In November of 1892 Warner married Ora Crum of Brunswick. I do not believe they had any children. Warner Newell Stevens died April 19, 1923.
Emeline Warner Stevens died March 21, 1851 just seven weeks after her son Warner was born. Warner was cared for by family friends until John married Mary Elizabeth Ingalls on March 8, 1853 in Grafton, Lorain County, Ohio. Mary was a kind and loving mother for Warner.
John and Mary lived in various places in Ohio and Tennessee before settling in Minnesota.
James Plowden Stevens was born on September 3, 1826 in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio. Everyone called James "Plowden." He is sometimes confused with the James Plowden Stevens who was born in Shelby, Orleans County, New York in 1817, but they are not the same person.
James married twice. He first married Phebe Meachem (or Meachum) on November 18, 1848 in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio. James and Phebe had one child.
Phebe Stevens was born and died in 1849.
After Phoebe died, James married Sybil Vaughn on October 20, 1852. Sybil was born to William Marks Vaughn and Betsey Whitman on May 7, 1828. Sybil's sister Lucinda married James's cousin Samuel Curtis Tillotson. The Vaughn family had come to Ohio in 1839. James and Sybil had one child.
Lucius E. Stevens was born on July 18, 1853 and died as a young boy on April 13, 1858, at age 4.
Plowden was an excellent piano tuner.
James Plowden Stevens died March 5, 1897. His second wife Sybil Vaughn Stevens died August 13, 1911 at the home of Henry Williams Freese. James and Sybil are buried together in Westview Cemetery in Brunswick.
Silas Newell Stevens was born on December 21, 1828 in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio. Everyone called him "Newell." Silas died on April 13, 1857.
Sarah Tillotson died May 25, 1831. With four young children needing a mother, Cortis Stevens married Sarah Chadwick on April 15, 1832 in Medina County, Ohio. Cortis and Sarah had at least one child:
Cortez Stevens was born about 1833 in Medina County, Ohio, USA. He married Mary Elizabeth Wilson on February 4, 1858 in Medina County, Ohio. Mary was known as "Libbie." Cortez and Libbie had at least two children.
William Stevens died July 6, 1859.
Frank C. Stevens was born about 1861. He died suddenly at his home in Texarkana, Texas on August 12, 1908. He is buried at Garnett, Kansas.
Libbie died April 27, 1862. Cortez later married Maria N. Pierce on September 27, 1867 in Mahoning County, Ohio. They had at least one child.
Perlie Fay Stevens was born in Brunswick on April 24, 1873.
Cortez died of consumption on January 25, 1877.
Cortis and one of his wives -- presumably his second -- had another daughter, Matilda Stevens. She may be the Lydia M. Stevens named as needing guardianship during the settling of Cortis's estate. Matilda died after a week-long illness on August 4, 1904 at the Texas home of her nephew Frank C. Stevens. Emma Morton Tillotson wrote of Matilda:
Her life was a busy and useful life. Many of us well remember the handsome bonnets and hats she made, and some of us were her pupils in the school-room, she was an excellent instructor of the young, and was engaged in that work for many years.
Cortis Stevens did not long survive his first wife and did not get to see his children grow up. He died on March 5, 1835 in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio at the young age of 38. Cortis and both his wives are buried in Westview Cemetery in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio.
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Last modified by pib on December 31, 2009.