taken from NZETC the article was written about 1895
Councillor James Stevens, who was born in Wellington in 1852, is the third son of the late Mr. Charles Stevens, who came to the Colony in 1840.
Mr. Stevens was educated at the Porirua Private School and, till 1881, worked at varions callings, principally at mill work. Coming to the Wairarapa, he established the Carterton mill, which he has worked with great success, having cut up the bush on some 1200 acres of land.

Councillor Stevens has another mill at Masterton which has been in full swing since 1895, and employs about thirty hands.

Mr. Stevens is a member of the Masonic Lodge in Carterton. He is a member of the Taratahi-Carterton Road Board, and has a seat on the Carterton School Committee. In sporting, Mr. Stevens belongs to the Taratahi Jockey Club, and takes great interest in local cricket. He is a director of the Dalefield Dairy Factory.
Mr. Stevens is married, and has seven children.

James Charles William Thompson STEVENS married Jane Eliza SPACKMAN in 1875
their known children
1876 - William James Thompson Stevens
- nothing known

1877 - Mabel Jane Rebecca Stevens
- Mabel married William John O'MURA in 1903

1881 - Grace Evelyne Stevens
- Grace married Henry Robert BARRETT in 1907

1883 - Maud Ethel Stevens
- Maud married Frederick Alfred MILLER in 1911

1885 - Olive May Stevens
- Olive married Alexander Robert HISLOP in 1909

1887 - Alice Ivy Stevens
- nothing known

1893 - Eva Mildred Stevens
- Eva arried George Felgate PENLINGTON in 1917