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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company. These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary. Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more. There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.
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PROF. HENRY MATTHEW STEPHENS, A. M., B. S., Professor of Biology at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Cumberland county, has been connected with that institution as one of the instructors since 1892. He has filled his present chair since 1899.
Mr. Stephens comes of a race which has given Pennsylvania many of her best citizens, being a great-great-grandson of Rev. Matthew Stephens, a Presbyterian minister, and Scotch native of the North of Ireland, who came to America at an early day and made his home in Huntingdon county, Pa., where he passed the remainder of his life. William Stephens, son of the emigrant, was born in Huntingdon county, and he and his wife Hannah had a son Matthew, the Professor’s grandfather, who was likewise born in Huntingdon county. He married Ann Gilliland, of that county, whose mother was an Alexander. Matthew Stephens died at the age of ninety years, in 1893, at Neosho, Missouri.
William Alexander Stephens, D. D., father of Henry Matthew, was born on a farm in Huntingdon county, Pa., in 1835, and was reared at the place of his birth. He received his early education in the district schools, prepared for college in Bedford county. Pa., and entered Dickinson College in 1859. At the outbreak of the Civil war he left college to enter the Union service, being a member for a time of a regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers. At the close of his term of enlistment he commenced to read law in the office of John Scott, of Huntingdon, who was afterward attorney for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and in due time he was admitted to the Bar in Huntingdon county. Going West to the State of Missouri, he located at Neosho for practice, but after a few years decided to enter the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and completed his preparation within a short time. His first pastorate was at Carthage, Mo., and he also served charges at Sedalia and Butler, in that State. Then he was transferred to Ennisville, Pa., in his native county, and he subsequently was located at various places in Pennsylvania — Jersey Shore, Renovo, Shamokin, Clearfield, and Bellefonte. For a term of six years he was presiding elder of the Williamsport district. Dr. Stephens was married, in Huntingdon, to Miss Letitia M. Africa, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Zimmerman) Africa, and they are the parents of two children, Henry Matthew and Walter C., the latter a resident of Clearfield, Pennsylvania.
Henry Matthew Stephens was born Jan. 4, 1868, in Neosho, Mo., and came East with the family in 1877 to Ennisville, Pa. His preliminary training was obtained in the public schools of the various places in which his father was located, at the high school of Renovo, and at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Pa., from which latter institution he graduated in 1888. Then he entered Dickinson College, whence he graduated in 1892, and the same year he commenced his professional work, being elected as instructor in physiology and hygiene in his Alma Mater. He continued as such until 1895, in which year he was made adjunct professor in that branch, which position he filled until 1897, when he was made adjunct professor of biology. In 1899 he became professor of biology, and has continued to fill that chair to the present time, having proved an acceptable addition to the Faculty. His studies did not cease after graduation. In 1894 he went to Leipsic, Germany, to further his knowledge in the line of his specialties, was subsequently a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, and in 1897, 1898 and 1899 studied at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, on Long Island. Thus it will be seen that he had a thorough and elaborate preparation for the work he has undertaken, and that he has a gift for teaching is proved by his success with the pupils who have come under his care.
Prof. Stephens was married in Carlisle, in 1900, to Miss Elizabeth Young Stuart, of that city, daughter of William P. and Elizabeth Graham (Young) Stuart, the former of whom is deceased. One child has come of this union, William Stuart, born Jan. 24, 1904. The Professor and his wife attend the M. E. Church, and fraternally he is connected with the Phi Delta Theta and the Phi Beta Kappa, the latter being an honor fraternity. In politics, he is independent, acting as his conscience and principles dictate.
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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company.
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