Edwin Augustus Stevens Jr.

{{Short description|US army officer, marine engineer, & naval architect (1858-1918)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Edwin Augustus Stevens Jr.

| image =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1858|03|14}}

| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1918|03|08|1858|03|14}}

| death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.

| occupation =

| education = St. Paul's School

| alma_mater = {{ubl | Princeton University | Stevens Institute of Technology }}

| father = Edwin Augustus Stevens

| mother = Martha Bayard Dod

| spouse = {{marriage|Emily Contee Lewis|October 28, 1879}}

| children = 8

| relations = Richard Stevens (brother)
See Stevens Family

}}

Edwin Augustus Stevens Jr. (March 14, 1858 – March 8, 1918) was an army officer, marine engineer, and naval architect. He was among the founders of Cox & Stevens in 1905, which became an influential and successful New York design firm.{{cite book|title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography|date=1894|publisher=J.T. White|page=342|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U14oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA342|accessdate=23 September 2017|language=en}}

Early life

Stevens was born in Philadelphia in 1858, the son of Martha Bayard Dod (1831–1899) and Edwin Augustus Stevens (1795–1868), a well-known designer and founder of the Stevens Institute of Technology, and nephew of John Cox Stevens, founder of the New York Yacht Club and a driving force in the design of the yacht America and the competition for the America's Cup.

He attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and then entered Princeton University, graduating with an A.B. degree in 1879. He then enrolled at the Stevens Institute of Technology, graduating as an engineer.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9800E0D6133BEE3ABC4153DFB5668383609EDE "Col. E.A. Stevens of Hoboken is Dead"]. The New York Times, March 9, 1918. Accessed August 9, 2008.

Career

His most notable personal achievement was the propeller driven double ended ferry, which is the most typical vehicle ferry in use today. The significance of his design was a shaft which could control propellers at both ends of the craft. Among the advantages was superior braking of the vessels, since paddle wheel propulsion systems could not effectively be reversed to slow the craft. Prior to propeller drives, double ended ferries had less usable width because of side wheel propulsion.

Cox & Stevens began in 1905 as a yacht design and commercial brokerage in New York City. The original principal partners were Daniel H. Cox, Irving Cox, and Edwin Augustus Stevens Jr. The firm continued under various names until the 1970s.

Personal life

On October 28, 1879, he married Emily Contee Lewis (1857–1931) of Virginia. She was the great-granddaughter of Lawrence Lewis (1767-1839), George Washington's nephew, and Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, Washington's adopted daughter and step-granddaughter. Together, they had eight children:

John Stevens VI (1881–1932), who died unmarried.
Edwin Augustus Stevens III (1882–1954), who died unmarried.{{cite news|title=E. A. STEVENS 3D, ENGINEER, 72, DIES; Specialist in the Design of Propellers for Ships Led W.S.A. Unit in War|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/12/02/archives/e-a-stevens-8d-en6ineer-2-dies-bpeolalist-in-the-design-of.html|accessdate=23 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=2 December 1954}}
Washington Lewis Stevens (1883–1946), who married Nannie Nye Jackson in 1905.{{cite book|last1=Glenn|first1=Justin|title=The Washingtons: A Family History: Volume 4 (Part One): Generation Eight of the Presidential Branch|date=2014|publisher=Savas Publishing|isbn=9781940669298|page=353|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ELGoBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT353|accessdate=23 September 2017|language=en}}{{cite news|title=Divorce of Washington L. Stevens Revealed As Former Wife Prepares to Wed H. P. Nash|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C07E0D81231EF33A2575BC2A9609C946395D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=23 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=28 June 1922}}
Bayard Stevens (1885–1927){{cite news|title=Bayard Stevens|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0DE1DF163EE733A25754C1A9679D946695D6CF&legacy=true|accessdate=23 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=17 November 1927}}
Martha Bayard Stevens (1886–1888), who died young.
Basil Martiau Stevens (1888–1957),{{cite news|title=BASIL M. STEVENS, LAWYER, 68, DIES; Former U.S. Commissioner in Jersey Was Descendant of Washington Family|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/09/archives/basil-m-stevens-lawyer-68-dies-former-us-commissioner-in-jersey-was.html|accessdate=23 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=9 November 1957}} who married Helen Conro Ward (1891–1943)
Lawrence Lewis Stevens (1889–1958), who became an actuary and who married Anne D. Malpass (1890–1974).{{cite book|last1=Glenn|first1=Justin|title=The Washingtons: A Family History: Volume 5 (Part One): Generation Nine of the Presidential Branch|date=2014|publisher=Savas Publishing|isbn=9781940669304|page=156|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WQNtBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA156|accessdate=23 September 2017|language=en}}
Emily Custis Lewis Stevens (1896–1963), who died unmarried.Sorley, Merrow Egerton. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wCowEcMe3BcC Lewis of Warner Hall] (1935, reprinted 1979), pp. 217-21.

Stevens died in 1918, six days before his 60th birthday, in Washington, D.C., where he was serving as a shipyard inspector under appointment by President Woodrow Wilson.

References

External links

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Category:1858 births

Category:1918 deaths

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:People from Hoboken, New Jersey

Category:American naval architects

Category:America's Cup yacht designers

Category:Members of the New York Yacht Club