My Genealogy Hound

George K. Stephens, a well-known liveryman and farmer of Jackson County, was born in Madison County, Tenn., in 1840, and is a son of Isaac and Mary J. (York) Stephens, of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively, the father dying in the latter State in 1859. After his death the family moved to Jackson County, Ark., and located in Bird Township, where they resided until the mother’s death, in 1882. George was reared principally in Tennessee, and came to Jackson County, Ark., when nineteen years of age. In 1861, when the Civil War called so many thousands of young men from home and family to face the fate that awaited them from cold steel or leaden bullet, he never hesitated a moment, but gallantly went forth to bear arms and battle for the Confederacy. He became a member of the First Arkansas Regiment, and the first that left the State, and was mustered in at Lynchburg, Va. His first battle was at Manassas, and, after that engagement was over, he was discharged, and returned to his home. He soon enlisted again, however, and joined Hooker’s cavalry company, but was afterward dismounted and put into the Thirty-second Arkansas regiment, in which body he served until the close of the war. Mr. Stephens took part in a number of battles, and, at the evacuation of Little Rock, was captured and confined for two months in that city. He was then taken to Pleasant Hill, and exchanged, and, in a battle some time afterward, received a wound in his left hand from a rifle ball. After the war he returned home and resumed his farm work, now owning between 3,000 and 4,000 acres of valuable land, with about 900 acres under cultivation. In 1869 he embarked in the livery business at Jacksonport, and continued there until 1880, when he removed to Newport, where he has been ever since, and has established a lucrative trade. He was married, in 1866, to Miss Mary Stewart, by whom he has had five children: Isaac W. (who has charge of the livery business), Mary A. (wife of Judge M. M. Stuckey), Florence M., Fannie G. and Sarah. Mr. Stephens lost his first wife, and, in 1878, was married to Miss Alice York, by whom he has had three children: Stella, Guy and Lydia. He is a Mason, and a very popular man in both business and social circles.