My Genealogy Hound

T. S. Stephens, the popular and efficient sheriff and collector of Jackson County, was born in Madison County, Tenn., on the 30th of April, 1849, and is a son of Isaac and Mary J. (York) Stephens, of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. The parents were married in Jackson, Tenn., and resided in that city until the father’s death occurred, in 1851. The mother was again married, her second husband being Alexander Claridge, and shortly afterward moved to Jackson County, Ark. Four children were born by her first marriage, three of them yet living: George K., Fannie, widow of Elsie Brown, and Theophilus S., and by her second husband one child was born, John H. The elder Stephens was a shoe maker by trade, and followed that vocation all his life, while the husband of his widow, Mr. Claridge, was a school-teacher, who taught for some time at the West Union College, near Cuba. The latter gentleman died at Sulphur Rock, Independence County, about the year 1869, and his wife survived him until 1882, dying in the town of Newport. T. S. Stephens was only eight years old when he moved to Arkansas with his mother, and received the greater portion of his education in Independence County. He remained on the farm and cultivated the soil, an occupation he seemed to take delight in, until his twentieth year, when he made a visit to Jacksonport. While at that place he met and was introduced to several business men, and the idea of a commercial life then seemed to enter his mind. The consequence was that he remained at Jacksonport and went into one of the grocery firms, where he clerked for several years. In political life he was always very active, and after a few years’ residence in that city he was elected constable, and filled the office for two terms, in the meanwhile terminating his engagement with the grocery firm, and carrying on a livery business of his own. His integrity and the manner in which he conducted himself while in office won the support of almost every citizen, and in 1882 he was elected sheriff and collector, the office he fills at present, and to which he has been re-elected four terms. Mr. Stephens owns about 1,200 acres of good land, and has some 500 acres under cultivation, the soil being adapted to almost any kind of growth, and also good for grazing purposes. On March 4, 1884, he met and won Miss Belle Taylor for his bride, who died in November of the same year. His second wife was Miss Emma Kellogg, whom he married on July 15, 1885. This union gave them four children, of whom three are yet living: George K., Ralph C. and Mary J. Both Mr. and Mrs. Stephens are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while Mr. Stephens belongs to the Masonic fraternity, I. O. O. F. Lodge and Encampment, Knights of Pythias, Knights of Honor and Legion of Honor. He is prominent in political affairs, and a popular man among all classes of society, his position being such that he is brought in contact with many different phases of life while in the discharge of his duties.