Uri H. Stebbins
July 30, 1833-January 8, 1909


    Uri H. Stebbins passed away yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the home of his son, Carl G. Stebbins in Three Oaks.  His death was very sudden following an illness of less than an hour from heart disease.
    Mr. Stebbins was born in Silver Creek, Chatauqua county, New York, July 39, 1833, being thus past 75 years of age at the time of his death.
    Mr. Stebbins came to Niles with his parents when he was six years of age.  The trip overland was made in wagons.  The household goods, however, were shipped via water to Chicago and from there driven in wagons to Niles.
    For 33 years of his life Mr. Stebbins engaged in the milling business at the old brick mill on north Front, recently destroyed by fire.  Upon retiring from this business he removed to his farm east of Niles, where he lived until the death of his wife in 1904.  He then went to Three Oaks to make his home with his son.
    Mr. Stebbins is survived by one son and two daughters as follows:  Mrs. Carl J. Fox of Niles, Mrs. H.E. Lowry, Benton Harbor, and Carl G. Stebbins.  An older son, Ward A. Stebbins, passed away July 7, 1889.
    The funeral will be held at the late residence in Three Oaks Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev. Mr. Norton officiating.  The remains will be brought to Niles via the Michigan Central at 3:29 p.m. They [will] be met by St. Joseph Valley Lodge, F.&A. M., of which the deceased had been a member for over 40 years.
    The body will be laid to rest in the family lot at Silver Brook cemetery beside those of Mr. Stebbins' wife and son.
    Mr. Stebbins was a man who during his whole life stood fearless upon principles and for what he believed to be right.
    He was one of the founders of the republican party. He supported that party and its candidates always when he believed them to be right but was wholly independent and supported candidates of other parties when his own party or its candidates did not measure up the the standard he thought they should.
    He was never an office seeker nor an office holder but was content to serve in the ranks and to be one of the molders of thought and leaders of public opinion in his own quiet, unobtrusive, yet none the less effective way.
    He was a strong supporter of the late Gov. Pingree and his many reforms.  He was also a primary reformer and he looked forward to the time when he could attend the last party convention as he had attended the first under the oaks at Jackson.
    The community loses a grand old man in Mr. Stebbins, old in years, but youthful to the last in the mental figure and in the deep interest he took in public affairs.
    He represented the best type of American citizenship and was always to be found on the moral side of all questions as he undertood[sic] them.  In his private life he practiced what he preached in public and  was moral, upright, wholesome in mind and body, a splendid example for the young.

Under the Oaks at Jackson

    Up to the time of his death Mr. Stebbins enjoyed the distinction of being the only survivor of the seven Berrien county delegates who attended the famous convention at Jackson, Mich., in 1854, at which the republican party was ushered into being.  At that time Mr. Stebbins lacked two weeks of being 21 years of age but that did not disqualify him from sitting in the convention as a delegate from his county.
    At the time of holding the convention Berrien county boasted of but five, towns, Niles, Buchanan, St. Joseph, Berrien Springs, and Pipestone.  These sent a total of 40 delegates to Berrien Springs in response to a call for a meeting of those "in favor of free soil, free speech, and non extension of slavery."  To be an abolitionist in those days required courage; epithets were hurled at them; there were many in Niles and throughout the county who sympathized with the abolitionists, but who did not have the courage to come out and denounce the old parties, hence the small number of brave souls that assembled at Berrien Springs for it was a brave thing in those days to be a [illegible] called.
    At the Berrien Springs meeting delegates were appointed to attend the convention at Jackson, as follows: Frank Quinn, Samuel Griffith, and U.H. Stebbins of Niles; L.P. Alexander of Buchanan; A.H. Morrison and Warren Chapman of St. Joseph and Smith Farmer of Pipestone.  Of the seven all have now passed beyond.
    Mr. Stebbins remembered well what transpired at the Jackson convention which was the most thrilling meeting he ever attended. He remembered "Zach" Chandler as he appeared when making the opening address.  Jacob M. Howard, who was known as the greatest lawyer in the northwest, drafted resolutions and the latter and Horace Greeley christened the new party.  Walbridge of Kalamazoo, was made permanent chairman of the convention and a mighty roar when up with Kingsley S. Bingham was nominated for governor.
    Upon their return home from Jackson, the delegates held their heads high and when Governor Bingham swept the state at the November elections, the pro-slavery element in Michigan was broken forever and it became an honor to be known as a "black" republican.

(Source: Niles Daily Sun, Saturday, January 9, 1909, page 2, col. 2-3, microfilm Niles District Library)