Arthur Hatch Sturdevant carried on the Sturdevant tradition of craftsmanship and carpentry as Master Carpenter for the Rock Island Line Railroad. He was the youngest son of Eli and joined his brother John and sister Angeline in the migration of the Sturdevants westward from Connecticut in the 20th century.
According to the Betts manuscript of "Reminiscences Stories and Traditions", Eli's two youngest children, which would be Helen and Arthur, traveled with Eli to Little Rock, Arkansas. There is some question on the dates. Olive Betts states that Eli went there in 1902, but we know that Arthur married Gertrude Vass in 1900. The Vass family was from New York, and Gertrude's mother, Mary Jane Stone, lived in New Milford, CT after 1900. We don't know as yet where Arthur and Gertrude were married, but these facts would suggest that they met and married in Connecticut. Perhaps the two of them traveled with Eli to Little Rock, and Arthur signed on with the railroad there and was assigned to El Reno, Oklahoma where he and Gertrude lived and their children were born and raised.
Arthur
Gertrude and Arthur
Gertrude Gordon Vass was born 7/18/1881 and died in El Reno 9/4/1940. Arthur and Gertrude are both buried in El Reno. They had 5 children:
Jesse Edwin Sturdevant b. 6/9/1904
Kenneth Harold Sturdevant b.11/11/1906
Arthur Gordon Sturdevant b. 3/23/1909
Mary Helen Sturdevant b. 12/10/1911
Robert Malcom Sturdevant b. 7/23/1916