My Genealogy Hound

STEPHENSON, JOHN S., far., Sec. 7; P. O. West Point; grandson of Edward Stephenson, who, in his early life settled at what is now the populous city of Cincinnati, Ohio, at that time consisting of a fort erected as a protection to the white settlers against the Indians; in that fort, John S., Sr., the father of John S., Jr., was born; during the year 1800, when but 4 or 5 years of age, his father died, soon after which his mother (the grandmother of John S., Jr.), returned to Wood Co., Va., their former home. Having reached manhood’s estate, John S. soon returned to Hamilton Co., Ohio, thence to Dearborn Co., Ind., where he married Elizabeth Archibald, who was born near Boston, Mass., in 1801; they settled in Indiana, and after residing for a time in Hamilton Co., Ohio, in 1837, they became pioneers of Henry Co., Iowa., first settling in Baltimore Tp. for three years, thence to Jackson Tp., where, in 1846, he was elected to the State Legislature, and again in 1847; in 1855, he returned to Baltimore Tp., where, in 1865, he died; the mother is still a resident of that township; they had seven children, five sons and two daughters; John S., Jr., the youngest of the sons, was born in Hamilton Co., Ohio, in 1834, consequently being 3 years of age on the removal of his parents to Henry Co.; being 16 years of age before the erection of the first schoolhouse in his district; his means for education were somewhat limited; was employed on his father’s farm until he reached the age of 26, when he married Annie E., daughter of Calvin J. Price, who was born in Smithfield, N. C., in 1801; afterward a resident of Tennessee; thence to Cairo, Ill., where he married Mary Conley, and in 1836 they were among the first settlers of West Point, this county, where he did the first mercantile business, and erected and kept the first hotel; during the first year of his residence there his wife died, and in August, 1838, he married Frances Longford, born in Newcastle, Ky., in 1819, at that time a resident of Clarke Co., Mo. Mr. Price was a member of the first Territorial Legislature, and subsequently elected several times, and was a member of that honorable body at his death, which occurred in 1860. Mrs. Price is now a resident of Lowell, Henry Co.; of seven children born of this marriage but four are now living, Mrs. Stephenson being the second born in Pleasant Ridge Tp., in 1841, and the only one of the family now residing in Lee Co.; soon after their marriage, they settled on the farm they now occupy, consisting of 168 acres of land, valued at $50 per acre; they have four children — John C., born Jan. 23, 1863; Frances L., born Oct. 18, 1864; Edmund A., born Nov. 16, 1867, and Clyde L.. born March 28, 1872. Democratic in politics; a member of Leaf Lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 57, at Lowell.