My Genealogy Hound

Stephen J. Courdin, mayor of Monett, Mo., was born in Uruguay, South America, in 1862, and is the only child born to the union of Stephen and Annie (Planchon) Courdin. Stephen Courdin was born in the province of Turin, Italy, in 1831, and when a young man he, in company with two other men, went to Uruguay, South America, and established a colony. He was one of the founders of the Waldensian Church in that country. There he married and resided until 1875, when he went to New York, whence he came to Barry County, Mo. Here, purchasing a farm of 200 acres, he located and passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1880. Annie Planchon was also a native of Italy. She died in 1862, after which Mr. Courdin married Maggie Ponlet, also a native of Italy. She is now living in Barry County, in her forty-second year. To this marriage were born seven children: Magdaline, David P., Catherine, Maggie, Mary, Susie and Johnnie. Stephen Courdin was a stone mason by trade. Stephen J. Courdin was educated in South America and Missouri, being thirteen years of age when his father removed to Barry County. In 1876 he went to Europe, and spent the summer traveling through England, Holland, France and Italy. In the fall he left Italy and spent two months on the Mediterranean Sea, during which time he visited nearly every important seaport on its coast. Leaving Gibralter in November, he landed in New York, and returned to Barry County, but in the spring of 1882 he went to the Pacific coast, and spent two years traveling through California and the other States and Territories, after which he again returned to Barry County, where he was engaged in farming until the fall of 1886, when he located in Monett. He worked for L. Sawyer & Co. till the fall of 1887, when he began shipping produce on his own account. In May, 1888, when the city of Monett was organized, he was elected mayor, which position he still holds. He has also served as justice of the peace of Capp’s Creek Township since November, 1887, and has adjusted his decisions with judicial fairness. He is a promising young man, and is a stanch Republican.