John Austin Stevens

John Austin Stevens, Sr. (January 22, 1795 – October 19, 1874) was a prominent American banker who was the son of Revolutionary War General Ebenezer Stevens and father of Sons of the Revolution founder John Austin Stevens. Early life Stevens was born on January 22, 1795, in New York City. He was the youngest of four sons of American Revolutionary War soldier and merchant Ebenezer Stevens, and his father's second wife, Lucretia (née Ledyard) Sands Stevens (1756-1846), herself the widow of Richardson Sands (brother of Joshua and Comfort Sands). His brother was Alexander Hodgdon Stevens, a surgeon who served as the second President of the American Medical Association from 1848 to 1849. He graduated from Yale University in 1813, where he was a member of Brothers in Unity and the Linonian Society, one of the university's oldest secret societies. Career After graduating from college, Stevens entered mercantile life, and became a partner in his father's business in 1818. He was for many years secretary of the New York Chamber of Commerce, and one of the organizers and the first president of the Merchants' Exchange. From its first establishment in 1839 until 1866, he was president of the Bank of Commerce. He was a Whig in politics, but an earnest advocate of low tariffs.