J. Morgan Stevens

John Morgan Stevens was born on May 27, 1876, in Old Augusta, Mississippi.[1][2] He was the son of Benjamin Stevens, a Captain in the Confederate States Army, and Lorena Annette (Breland) Stevens.[1] Stevens attended the public schools of Augusta, and then attended Millsaps College.[1] He graduated from the University of Mississippi with a B. A. in 1898 as the valedictorian of his class.[1]

Stevens passed the Mississippi State Bar Examination, and then moved to Lexington, Mississippi, where he formed a law firm with L. M. Southworth.[1] He moved to Hattiesburg in 1901, and formed a law partnership with his brother, H. Stuart Stevens.[1] In 1912, Stevens was appointed to be the Chancellor of Mississippi's 8th District.[1] After the Elective Judiciary Act was passed by the Mississippi Legislature in 1914, Stevens was put into an election for that office, which he won.[1] On May 27, 1915, Stevens was appointed to a full term to the Mississippi Supreme Court by Governor Earl Brewer.[1][2] Stevens resigned from the Court on September 19, 1920.[3][2] After leaving the Court, Stevens continued practicing law, joining the Wells, Stevens, and Jones law firm in Jackson, Mississippi.[2] In 1929, Stevens was chosen to be a member of a committee to recodify all of Mississippi's laws.[4] In 1930, Stevens founded a law firm, known as Stevens and Stevens, with his son, John Morgan Stevens, Jr.[2] After the younger Stevens' death in 1946, the firm became known as Stevens and Cannada.[4]

Stevens married Ethel Featherstun on June 7, 1905.[1][4] They had seven children, named John Morgan Jr. (1906 or 1907- 1946),[1][5] Emily White (Stevens) McLachlan (1908-?),[1][4][6] Joseph Johnston (1909-1911),[7] Stuart Featherstun (died 1922),[1][8] Ethelwyn Featherstun (Stevens) Hart (1915-2009),[1][4][9][10] Phineas Nicholas (1917-2016),[11][12] and Francis Bigelow (1921-2008).[4][13][12] Stevens died on November 7, 1951, at 2 PM, at the Baptist Hospital in Jackson.[2]