Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020

Wilfred “Fred” Stevens was born in Shakopee on March 16, 1874.

Fred attended German Lutheran School in Shakopee, and then the Union School. While attending school, he learned the intricacies of the printing business in the print shop of his father, Charles Stevens, publisher of the Shakopee Courier.

Fred started learning languages when he was ten years old. He used to follow people in Shakopee who spoke German, French, and Italian, and made them talk to him. He did the same thing with the Dakota Indians in Shakopee.

In 1894, Fred went to Washington, D.C. and took a position in the government printing office. Since he was in school in Shakopee, Fred was very interested in languages, and when he moved to D.C., he continued his studies. Fred was then recruited into the War Department, where he was a librarian and translator in the office of the Adjutant General.

Around 1929, his annual accomplishments came to light. It was found he had a passion for nature, and often wandered barefoot through the countryside, indulging in his hobby as a naturalist. “People sought him out in his office on the fifth floor of the old State War and Navy Building. There at a desk littered with strangely lettered manuscripts and dictionaries in many tongues, they found Mr. Stevens, a mild, bearded, preoccupied man” said R.M. Ring.

After seven years at the War Department, Fred was transferred to the department of state, where he worked as a translator until 1924. He retired, then returned in 1930 to work one more year.

Fred was able to translate over thirty different languages. Though many people would be amazed by this, Fred minimized this. “If I can translate thirty languages, what is that? There are about 3,300 languages in all, so you see that thirty languages is not even a drop in the bucket.”

The languages at Fred’s command, including several that he spoke with fluency, included English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Rumanian, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Sioux, Russian, Polish, Bohemian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Greek, Hungarian, Finnish, Latvian, Armenian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Esperanto, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and Latin.

Although he was recognized as the outstanding linguist of the United States, and one of the greatest in the world, he worked as a translator for an annual salary of less than $3,000!

Fred learned more languages by going among the people, including people in Washington, D.C. “They are general and affable, answering all my questions in their own language, so that I get a clearer idea of the spoken language than any book could give me.” They were often amused by Fred’s pigeon speaking but always were polite and gave great help.

In the Washington Daily News, Rodney Dutcher noted that Fred “rides to work every day on a bicycle, lives largely on the fruit known as the pawpaw, thrives on a diet which cost 25 cents a day and became an accomplished horticulturist while carrying around at least 100,000 words in his head. This is more than Woodrow Wilson knew, for his vocabulary had been estimated at 62,000.”

Fred responded to that article, which was published in the Shakopee Argus, by saying that he was not dwelling in a tree, that he did not feed on pawpaws, and he lives on “at least $100 a month on an average for the last thirty years, or perhaps nearly $200 counting fads and follies.”

William Hinds noted, “It is open to you to introduce to Shakopee, the greatest man born there, and, to my notion, the most conspicuous linguist known to Western Hemisphere, and you may include the world.”

Wilfred “Fred” Stevens died in 1939 at age 65.