Judge A. Jewell Stevenson

A. Jewell Stevenson was born in Hendricks County, Indiana on January 10, 1894.  He attended Central Normal College in Danville, the Indiana State Normal College in Terre Haute, and, following military service during World War I, Indiana University in Bloomington. He was a schoolteacher for six years and was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1920. The same year, he began practicing in Danville with Edgar M. Blessing, who later also served on the Appellate Court.

In 1923, he married Josephine McCord; they had a daughter and a son. He was Hendricks County Democratic Chairman from 1924 to 1930. In 1930, he was elected to a six-year term on the Hendricks Circuit Court. Judge Stevenson was admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court in 1936, the same year he was appointed as Chief Deputy Attorney General of Indiana. 

Governor Clifford Townsend appointed Mr. Stevenson to the Indiana Appellate Court in October 1938 to serve the remainder of Judge Posey Kime’s term. A month later Judge Stevenson was elected to the court as a Democrat; he served from October 14, 1938 to January 1, 1943. 

From 1943 to 1945, Judge Stevenson served as Director of the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions. Later he practiced law in Danville with John A. Kendall, another future judge of the Appellate Court. The two formed the firm of Stevenson, Kendall and Stevenson with Judge Stevenson’s son Allen Joe following his admission to the bar.

Judge Stevenson was a member of the American, Indiana State, and Hendricks County bar associations, a trustee of the Indiana Boys School, and a member of the state Board of Education. 

He died on August 22, 1959.

View the In Memoriam obituary for Judge A. Jewell Stevenson
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