The Stephens Family Part 1

The Stephens Family.

by Bascom Asbury Cecil Stephens.

JOSHUA STEPHENS, (6), the ancestor of this STEPHENS Family, was born, according to the family tradition, in what is now the County of Berkes, in the State of Pennsylvania, of Welsh parents, A. D. 1733. According to the recollection of C. C. Stephens, (176) his grandfather, E. D.

Stephens, (16), son of this Joshua Stephens, (6), stated to him in an interview at Hardin, Ohio, about 1860, that Joshua Stephens's father's name was also Joshua Stephens, (3), which would make him the senior; that Joshua Stephens, Senior, with two brothers, David, (5), and Ebenezer, (4), came over from Wales. Of these three last named persons nothing further is known at the present writing, than the foregoing statement.

That there was a large Welsh immigration into the present territory of Berkes County prior to 1733, the birth year of Joshua Stephens, Jr., (6), is a fact well corroborated by the (Stot.) history of Pennsylvania.

EXPLANATION

The princ.i.p.al abbreviations used in these pages are:

b. standing for born.

m. standing for married.

d. standing for died.

y. standing for young.

For convenience and distinction, as in all genealogical works, each name is given a number separately. Without this it would be difficult to tell which Joshua Stephens is meant, for there are many of that name, as also others. The numbers are also valuable for tracing out any particular pedigree; for instance, suppose that William Stephens, of Camp Verde, should desire to know the full line of his paternal ancestry, he would find his name on page (41) 56, where his number is given as 275: then looking up the left-hand column of figures he will find No. 275 on page (21) 27, where he will find the date of his birth, and that his father is Samuel Stephens, No. 76; thence, running up the column to No. 76, which he will find on page (11) 12, he will find that Samuel was the son of Charles Stephens, No. 19; the latter figure is found on page (8) 8, where Charles is shown to be the son of David Stephens, No. 10; the last figure is to be found on page (7) 7, showing that David was the son of Joshua Stephens, No. 6; he is the son of Joshua Stephens, No. 3. His pedigree is:

Joshua Stephens, (3), father of Joshua Stephens, (6), father of David Stephens, (10), father of Charles Stephens, (19), father of Samuel Stephens, (76), father of Williams Stephens, (275), father of

The name STEPHENS is of Greek derivation, and means a "crown". Just how it came to be adopted by the ancester of this family is unknown. The Welsh seldom used surnames at that period, one name usually sufficing; the son taking his father's name with the Welsh suffix "AP," meaning "son of"; thus STEPHENS AP EVANS, meaning Stephens the son of Evans, while the latter would be Evans Ap somebody else. W. H. Stephens, (41), son of the aforesaid E. D. Stephens, (16), once told the writer that the old family name was STEPHENSHIP. In a conversation between the writer, (182), and Rev. M. A. Jordan, a stepson of Col. John Stephens, (15), a brother of E. D. Stephens, (16), Mr. Jordan said that, according to his information, the original family name was STEPHENs...o...b..VENS. Mr. Gilbert Cope, an eminent genealogist, living at West Chester, Pennsylvania, clears these discrepancies by stating that the name was STEPHENS AP EVANS; that is, Stephens the son of Evans. It is thus easy to see how easily one confused it into Stephenship, and the other into Stephens...o...b..vens. Accordingly, it must be true that Joshua Stephens, Senior, (3), and perhaps his brothers, David, (5), and Ebenezer, (4), adopted the permanent surname of Stephens. In fact, a family tradition is that the emigrant ancester did adopt this name of Stephens. The father of Joshua Stephens, Sr., (3), who, it is supposed, remained in Wales, may have been named Stephens, (2), and his father's name may have been Evans, (1); indeed, this theory is reasonable both from tradition and the etymology as given in the foregoing. EVANS is a Welsh form of JOHN, a Greek word of Hebrew derivation, meaning "the grace of G.o.d."

This tradition is further strengthened by another: that the immigrant ancestors of the family, sometime after their arrival in Pennsylvania, fell heir to their father's estate in Wales. In court they were required to give additional evidence as to their ident.i.ty by reason of their having changed their names, before their shares of the estate were distributed to them. Through these official channels should be found the missing links, which will connect the American Lines with the Welsh, and extend the genealogical tree across the Atlantic Ocean. By these means only can the family seat, ancestry, arms and name be discovered, for the item of the estate witnesses the fact that it was of no "common origin."

The indifference of the Welsh in the use of surnames is well shown by the transcript of some doc.u.ments of an estate of an old Stephens in Pennsylvania, in the possession of the writer, wherein two brothers are named, one "Evans Stephens" and the other "Stephens Evans."

Searches in the offices of the Register of Wills, and the old Probate Courts of Pennsylvania, and the Doctors' Commons and the Herold's College, of London, as well as of the files of old Pennsylvania newspapers, and the archives of the various historical societies of Pennsylvania should throw more light on the early history of these immigrant ancesters, and possibly discover collateral branches which are now seemingly hopelessly lost. Such searches require the expenditure of more time and money than the writer now (1892) has, and if never done by him, it is to be hoped that some family historian will come to the front with the necessary abilities.

The family history, then, really begins thus:

FIRST GENERATION

1. EVANS AP ----, (1), a member of that ancient race, the Welsh, the lineal descendants of that most ancient race, the Kelts, who inhabited western Europe from time immemorial, lived in Wales, the territory reserved for this branch of the Aryan family. He had a son:

SECOND GENERATION

2. STEPHENS AP EVANS, (2), who lived and died in Wales, and was the owner of considerable estate. The liberal terms of Penn's grant in America attracted the attention of his three sons:

THIRD GENERATION

3. JOSHUA AP STEPHENS AP EVANS, (3), the immigrant ancestor of this family.

4. EBENEZER AP STEPHENS AP EVANS, (4).

5. DAVID AP STEPHENS AP EVANS, (5).

Who left their native home in Wales, and embarking in a sailing vessel, after a voyage of something like thirty days, landed at Philadelphia; this sometime prior to the year 1733. The three brothers selected lands in what is now Berkes County, which was not set off from Philadelphia County until 1752. There are traces of them in Union Township, where a David Stephens held land in 1728; he was probably (5), (This from a letter I have from the secretary of the Pennsylvania Historical Society). In 1752, a "David Stephens, Jr.," died in Britain Township, Bucks County, not far from Union, who had a brother Samuel, and a "Cousin John," (probably 7), which fits our history. (From doc.u.ments in my posession from Register of Wills, Philadelphia). His father, David Stephens, Sr., was probably (5). Nothing would be more natural than that David Stephens, (5), should have a son named for him, and that that son should seek lands over in Bucks, and that the family name of John should descend, as it has through many generations in our own lines, to his.

David's brother Joshua had a son John, (7). It was while the three brothers, Joshua, Ebenezer and David, were living under the jurisdiction of Philadelphia County, that they received their shares of the Welsh estate. Hence, searches for this should be confined to records prior to 1752, the time Berkes was set off from Philadelphia.

FOURTH GENERATION

JOSHUA STEPHENS, Sr., (3), the name now being changed, lived in what is now Berkes County, and probably in Union Township, near the David Stephens above mentioned. His children were:

6. JOSHUA, born in 1733, the immediate ancester of the family, and with whom the certain history of the family begins.

7. JOHN } } 8. STEPHENS } Of these two brothers nothing is further known than that from a family tradition they "went South", whatever that means: "South" being an indefinite term from a standpoint in Berkes County. John was a tory during the Revolution. The existence of Stephens depends upon the testimony of Joshua Bowen Stephens of Hardin, Ohio, in a conversation with me there in 1886. To these three brothers Dr. John Wesley Stephens of State Line, Indiana, added a sister, in a letter to me, (182):

9. HETTY "who married a rich man named Humphrey, had liveried servants," etc. If so, they probably lived in Philadelphia.

JOSHUA STEPHENS, Jr., (6), was the founder of that particular line of the family of which we have any definite knowledge. His father was Joshua Stephens, (3), the immigrant ancestor, who settled in what is now Berkes County, Pennsylvania.

Berkes was then a "howling wilderness" full of Indians and wild beasts.

It was here in 1733, that Joshua Stephens, Jr., was born. Neighbors were like Angel's visits, "few and far between". In Amity Township on the east lived Mordecai Lincoln, in A. D. 1725, the ancestor of the ill.u.s.trious President. In Exeter Township to the north-east lived George Boone, in A. D. 1717, the ancestor of Daniel Boone, the celebrated pioneer of Kentucky. Our family tradition is that the Stephens and the Boones were intermarried, and it is known that the Boones and Lincolns formed such alliances. (See Century Magazine for November, 1886). Joshua became an expert in the use of the rifle. His early life was spent on his father's farm and in hunting, in which he became very proficient and for which he acquired considerable notoriety. Schools were scarce in those days and his literary education was probably poor. No writings of his are known to be in existence to-day. To his out-door life must be attributed the cause of his longevity, extending to a period of ninety years. He did not marry until he was 38 years of age. In 1771 he married Priscilla Humphreys. The fact that she was a member of the Seventh-day Baptist Church, who were then quite numerous in Chester County to the South of Berkes, and that his son E. D. Stephens was born in Chester, suggests that at an early date in his life Joshua left Berkes and settled in Chester, which he did at any rate, and lived not far from Valley Forge. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War he identified himself with the patriot cause, and, according to the statement of his son, E. D. Stephens, was commissioned Captain of a Company of sharpshooters. During the famine of the American army in the winter of 1777-8 at Valley Forge, he hauled corn to relieve their distress. On one occasion he obtained a furlough to return home during harvest. With a Quaker and his brother John he was in the orchard gathering apples. The Quaker was up in the apple tree, picking fruit, and improved the opportunity to expostulate with Joshua over the wickedness of war, and arguing that Joshua should stay at home like his brother John, the tory.

In the midst of his argument the Quaker fell out of the tree, and striking the ground violently, broke his neck, and was picked up dead.

This was regarded as an act of Divine Judgment in favor of the war, and probably went far toward encouraging the despairing hearts of the patriots about them.

A few years after the war he moved with his family to a place "near the Warm Springs, Virginia," said E. D. Stephens. Whether this was the Warm Springs in Bath County, is hard to determine. "And then in a few years"

said the same person, "to near LEXINGTON, (Carlisle) Kentucky." These residences are indefinitely located. "The Warm Springs" may have been in what is now KENAWHA County, West Virginia for there are such there, and according to Mr. Jordan, above quoted, they lived "near a river, in the vicinity of the residence of Daniel Boone," who lived in KENAWHA. (See Hale's "Trans-Allegheny Pioneers"). It was while here, said Jordan, that Boone was a frequent visitor to the place of Joshua, whom he invariably greeted as "Cousin." Just what the relationship was is unknown, but it undoubtedly existed. One evening Boone came to the Stephens' place, weary, and said "Twenty-one less." They understood from this laconic remark, that he referred to the number of Indians he had killed that day.

Joshua was accompanied or followed to "near Lexington" by two of his brothers-in-law, Joshua and Jonathan Humphreys. Here two of his sons left to find homes for themselves--David Humphreys, (10), who settled in Evansville, Indiana, and Silas, (14), who settled in Nashville, Tenn.

Katie, (12), a daughter died in Kentucky at a tender age.

It was while in Kentucky that he knocked a Dutchman down for insulting his daughter Hannah, and dislocated his (Stephen's) thumb.

It must have been about 1798 when he decided to remove to near Chillicothe, Ohio, for that year his son, E. D. Stephens was fourteen years old, and was apprenticed to a tanner, which naturally was on his mother's death. This occured while they were on the Pickaway Plains, in Ohio. As they were travelling, the women of the party took off their shoes to walk on the cool gra.s.s on account of the heat. His wife was bitten by a copper-head snake, and shortly died, her body turning to the color of the snake.