W. B. Stevens

William Buel Stevens was born in 1862 in the Lawnridge community of Scotland County Missouri. His father, Buel Stevens was arrested along with a group of 80 “German Methodist," charged with mutiny in 1862. Buel was one of three soldiers made examples of and sent to the federal prison in Alton, IL; but all three were returned to service after appeals after 6 months in prison. William's uncle died suddenly of heart disease at 48 and his 17 year old son died the same way a couple of years later. This would have happened in Stevens’ late teens. William Buel Stevens and his wife became sanctified and joined the Church of God Holiness. They spent a few years as traveling tent evangelists. They established two church communities. One in Queen City Missouri and 1 in Moulton Iowa. He was a minister of the gospel until death, dying a year after his wife in the early 1940s. All of their babies died before them, some as small children, one Waldo at 19, and a daughter who may have lived a little longer. This may have shaped the feelings expressed in this song.

Anonymous email 7/11/2018