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The Stephens Family A Genealogy of the Descendants of Joshua Stevens   By:

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THE STEPHENS FAMILY

A Genealogy of the Descendants of Joshua Stevens

Written by Bascom Asbury Cecil Stephens, Los Angeles, California, A. D. 1892

Printed, with a few additions, by Alonzo Smith Bower, Lima, Ohio, A. D. 1910

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 principal 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'BIVENS. 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'Bivens. 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... Continue reading book >>




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