Elizabeth Stevens was born in London, London, England to Samuel Stevens and Sarah Smith. She married Joseph Stevenson in London 20 June 1812.
Five years later and with two children, they moved to the Colony of Gibraltar, Spain, where Joseph was a master cooper in charge of the barrels of munitions and provisions for the English government which they kept in case of attack. Her daughter, Mary, remembers Elizabeth going upstairs in their home in Gibraltar and reaching out and wrapping papers around the grapes to keep the birds from eating them.
In 1828 they moved to America living first in Brooklyn, New York, then Albany, New York. About 1830 they moved to Michigan, first Detroit and then Pontiac, where they purchased a farm. Joseph died two years later in 1832 at the age of 44.
The following year missionaries came to their area in Michigan. When the deacon of the Presbyterian Church was baptized it caused quite a stir. His farm adjoined the Stevensons and his wife went to Elizabeth and said she thought he was losing his mind. Elizabeth wisely asked if the deacon continued to pray. His wife said he was more devoted than ever, she considered the religion just a delusion. Elizabeth said, "Well, let us wait and see what will follow. If it is of God, it will stand. If not it will fall."
Before the end of the year Elizabeth Stevenson was baptized. The following year the Prophet Joseph Smith and others visited the area preaching the gospel. He visited the home of Elizabeth Stevenson and her family and ate dinner. While there he borrowed a large Book of Martyrs which he took home with him promising to return it when the Stevensons met with him in Missouri. He said, "Mother Stevenson, I have seen those martyrs by aid of the Urim and Thummim." He also told them, "There are thousands of good people in England and those old countries who are waiting for the fullness of the gospel, and it will not be long before they will flock to Zion, for Ephraim dwells largely in those parts."
Elizabeth moved her family to Missouri in 1835, she sold some of her land and took her three youngest children with her. In Clay County, Missouri, she purchased a home which she later lost in the mobbings the Saints endured. They were driven from there to Quincy, Illinois and first lived in a town called Montrose, Iowa, across the river from Nauvoo, in a room adjoining Brigham Young's.
From there they moved to a settlement called Clarksville, near a town called Charlestown. Each of the children found work to help support the family. Soon after Elizabeth was called upon to take care of the children of Sister Morris Phelps while she and her brother, John W. Clark, went back to Missouri to get her husband and the others out of jail.
Elizabeth was a good seamstress and often helped the Prophet's wife and other church leaders. When the Prophet Joseph was assassinated, her daughter Mary said, "She walked the door yard in lamentation. "
In 1846 she joined the exodus of the Saints from Nauvoo. She camped at Winter Quarters and in 1847 crossed the plains to Utah.
She died 20 Mar 1873 at the age of 84 years, 7 months and 9 days in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery. Her children are William, Joseph, Henry 'D', Edward, Elizabeth, Mary and James.
