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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