Version 6.01

11 February 2025

David March © 2014

SIMON "ALVA" STEVENS

Simon "Alva" (Samuel?) Stevens was born on 31 May 1882 in South Carolina, USA to Leonard Stevens and ?? Boyd. We know that Simon married a Pearl Eva in 1907. Our research has led us to believe that she was Pearl Eva Taylor who was born in Dec 1890 in South Carolina to William Taylor (1872-1895?) and Ida Roseanna Elrod (1874-1926). Her mother later married Warren Thomas Timms (1871-1931) in 1897 and had two sons, Irving Thomas (1897-1958) and Andrew (1899-1926). In 1910, the Stevens family was in Hillsborough, Florida. Alva and Eva had two children born in the USA, Cullen (b 1910) and Warren (b 1912). On 9 July 1917, the Stevens family entered Canada at Emerson, Manitoba. They had previously lived in Tampa, Florida and were destined for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In 1917 they were listed in the Saskatoon Henderson Directory at 529 Ave H S and in 1918, at 806 Broadway. In those years, Samuel A or Simon A Stevens, respectively, was a machinist at Alford's Planing Mill.

We are not sure if the name Samuel was a misprint in the directory or a name sometimes used by Alva.

A daughter, Hazel, was born in Saskatchewan in 1919. From 1919 to 1920 the Stevens lived at 723 Main St and in 1921 and 1922, they were at 712 Dufferin Ave. During all of this time Alva worked at Alford's. In 1924 there was a "Record of Aliens pre-examined in Canada" that was created in Winnipeg, Manitoba that possibly indicated that the children were returning to Tampa, Florida to live with their grandmother Eva Timms. Possibly the name Ida was misunderstood as Eva or the name of the mother was confused with the grandmother's name when this record was created. This record was very difficult to decypher. Census records had Warren living with his grandfather, Warren Timms, and uncle, Irving, in Tampa in 1930 and back living with his mother in Tampa in 1935. Alva died on 30 September 1952 in Ventura, California.

There is some considerable doubt that Alva was the quilt signer. Any time that his initials were seen in a document, he used the initials S A and not just A. Also, he often used the name S Alva, but not just Alva. In the 1918 Henderson Directory there was a listing for A Stevens, a dispatcher for the Canadian National Railway (CNR), living at 733 6th Ave. This was the only year this person was listed, so it was impossible to find out anything more. It is, perhaps, more probable that this person was the quilt signer as he/she definitely used the name A Stevens.

The family tree for Simon "Alva" Stevens can be found on Ancestry under the title 3rd Ave Stevens 1 Tree.