Lorinda Stevens Sexton Steen

According to records at FamilySearch, Lorenda Stevens was born in Lima, New York, on December 26, 1809. (Some sources list her first name as Lorinda.) Page 1550 of HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE, tells us that Lorinda’s father, Thomas Stevens, settled in Berlin Heights around 1818. Thomas Stevens was an early school teacher in Berlin Heights. Lorenda’s first husband, Martin Sexton, died of milk sickness in 1841. Lorinda and Martin’s son, Merritt Sexton, served in the 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Lorinda Stevens Sexton married Charles Armstrong Steen, a native of Armagh, Ireland, in 1842. They had four children: Eliza Jane, David, Mary, and Charles F. Steen. In 1858, Charles and Lorinda Steen sold their property, and intended to move the family to Kansas, but Charles A. Steen was robbed and murdered, before the move ever took place. Lorinda was left a widow with her youngest child not even one year old. Lorinda’s elderly mother, Sally Stevens, lived with the family until her death in about 1860. In some Steen family papers, an article dated February 19, 1890, featured an obituary of Mrs. Lorinda Stevens, entitled “Another Pioneer Gone.” The article stated that Lorinda had come to Erie County in 1816, when there were only one or two buildings in Sandusky, and much of the county was “a howling wilderness. Mrs. Steen during her more than three score years and ten of residence the county witnessed a wonderful transformation.” Lorinda/Lorenda Stevens Sexton Steen is buried in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. Thanks to my oldest grandson Ty for helping me locate this tombstone at Oakland!