The Stephenson Family

Front matter

The Stephenson Family

By J. C. Stephenson

Dedication

To Martha Ann Tyler, nee Stephenson, of Mount Hope, Alabama, a grandmother and great-grandmother, and Margaret Melissa Bell, nee Lewis, of Rodman, South Carolina, a young mother, both direct descendants of Henry Stephenson, of Roxburgh County, Scotland, and Robert Stephenson, of County Antrim, Ireland, and William Stephenson, a Revolutionary soldier, of Chester County, South Carolina, 1776—the former through Hugh W. Stephenson, of Maury County, Tennessee, and Rev. John Campbell Stephenson, of Mount Hope, Alabama, and the latter through Daniel Green Stephenson (called "Stinson"), of Chester County, South Carolina, and Eliza C. Lewis, nee Stephenson, of Rodman, South Carolina, this little Book is respectfully dedicated.

Preface

Want of a knowledge of the history of my ancestors and their families induces me to write this genealogical sketch. I am of the opinion that many of us do not know the names of all our parents' brothers and sisters, to say nothing of our grandparents' brothers and sisters. This ought not to be the case. If some one of the Stephenson family, one hundred and twenty-five years ago, had written something similar to this little work, it would now be of very great interest to generations of descendants. If I had now a written statement in regard to the life, manners, customs, names and place of residence of my ancestors and their kin, it would afford me a source of information which is forever lost.

It is not necessary that such a statement should be printed, but written in order to preserve the chirography of the writer. The paper might be pasted in this history, or placed in the family Bible with the family records. Thus it could be preserved for ages. Every day that passes, the paper will be one day older, and the older the paper becomes the more value is attached to it. The paper never dies. But the older it becomes the more lively it grows in interest. I suspect this booklet will be read a hundred years hence.

It will be impossible in a book of this size to mention even the names of all the relatives with whom I am personally acquainted. But I would advise that each relative paste some blank leaves in his book, on which he can write the names, and such family history as he may wish.

His writing, with what the book contains, will make the genealogical sketch of his own family tolerably complete.

I hope that some one of the relatives will , revise and enlarge this little Book, give a fuller history of the various families; also give a history of the country which the ancestors occupied and of the times in which they lived. A very extensive and interesting Book could be written on this line.

The Plan of the Work.

The ancestors, or parent stock, will be considered, then their children and grandchildren in rotation, down to the present time, in like manner with the rest. But the European relatives will not be so considered.

J. C. Stephenson,

336 McCallie Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

January, 1906.

Section 1

I, J. C. Stephenson, the fifth son and the sixth child of William Watson Stephenson and his wife, Melinda Johnston, late residents of Lawrence County, Alabama, am about to write a short genealogical sketch of my ancestors; also of some of their descendants. This is made at Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the year 1905, after the writer had passed his eighty-third birthday. But it is not to be inferred that he was at the time of writing eighty-three years old.

To trace the genealogy of ancestors long since dead, without records, is an undertaking attended by many difficulties and some uncertainties. Young people do not care for nor appreciate the importance of genealogical history, but when the young have become old, they in vain seek such history. But the sources of information from which they might have obtained such history have been removed. Old people after death, tell no history, unless it be found on their tombstones. Would that I had made inquiry when I might have done so with much profit in knowledge.

As far back as we can trace our forefathers is to Henry Stephenson, a shepherd, who was born about the year 1698. The first part of the eighteenth century, he lived at Ricalton, in the parish of Oxnam, Roxburgh County, Scotland, six miles from the city of Jedburgh. There are some conflicting accounts as to the members of his family. But all accounts agree that he reared six children, and that Robert was the oldest, and Henry, born 1745, was the youngest son. One account is that Henry Stephenson reared six sons. Robert, the date of whose birth is not known, nor is there any record to be found by which the date of his birth can be ascertained, was the oldest. The names of the next four sons of Henry Stephenson are not known, nor the dates of their birth. But the sixth son of Henry Stephenson was born at Bloody Laws and baptized February 27, 1745, in Oxnam church. The family were Presbyterians. The son, Henry, remained in Scotland. He was a tailor. From circumstances it is indicated that Robert, Henry's oldest son, was born about the year 1723. Another account is that Henry Stephenson reared four sons and two daughters. This account makes Robert the oldest, and Henry the youngest of the sons of Henry Stephenson of Ricalton, Scotland. This account makes Robert the oldest son and gives the date of Henry's baptism the same as the other account. But it says there were two sisters and four brothers, and it gives their names and the dates of their births except in the case of Robert. This account makes Jane, the second child, born 1736. It is generally believed the first account is the correct one. There is also an account of a John Stephenson, who reared a family about the same time and in the same county. The names of John's children are common to the Stephenson name then and now. He most likely was a brother to Henry.

There has been much search made in Ayrshire and Roxburgh Counties, Scotland, the former home of the Stephensons, for the history of the ancestors of George Stephenson, since he became celebrated as the builder and promoter of the first locomotive engine and railroad in the world. But meager results have followed the investigations. Robert Stephenson, Henry's son, will be designated as Robert Stephenson, 1st, and his son, Robert, as Robert Stephenson, 2d.

One noted characteristic of the Stephenson family is a lack of clannishness. They are possessed of an independent pioneering spirit. They have no desire for fame. The young men leave home when they become of age and "paddle their own canoes," neglecting their old homes and associates in too great a degree. Robert Stephenson, 1st, seems to have been that sort of a man, and his children possessed of the same disposition. The same traits attach to their descendants in America to this day. When Robert, 1st, grew to manhood he disappeared. He is next found near Ballymoney, in County Antrim, in the north part of Ireland. This was about 1743. He was then a young married man, and living on a small farm.

Circumstances indicate that the second son of Henry Stephenson, the shepherd, was James Stephenson, and that he settled on a little farm, near to his older brother, Robert, 1st, in Ireland. He reared a family there. James' descendants went to America about the year 1785. They settled in Fairfield County, South Carolina, near where their kinspeople had settled in 1772. There was a descendant of this James Stephenson, by name Robert Stephenson, living near Winnsboro, South Carolina. He was a very tall and strong man. He was six feet and nine inches high, and known as the strongest man in the country. He was a quiet, peaceable man. He was known in his neighborhood as Long Robert Stevenson. He was an exemplary man, and a very highly esteemed citizen. One of his sons, Robert Milton Stevenson, is an Associate Reformed Presbyterian minister. He lives with his gentle, affectionate wife and interesting children at Clover, in the northern part of York County, South Carolina. He has in his charge three churches. He is a man of splendid Christian character, a good pastor, and a very excellent man in his calling, standing high in his church, as well as in his community and State.

The name Stephenson originally was spelled with "ph," but sometimes "v" is used and sometimes it is spelled "Stee'nson" and sometimes "Stinson." All these variations are used for and by different families of the same name and origin. The Stephensons on Rocky Creek, in Chester County, were known as Stinsons. Stinson is the Scottish vernacular for Stephenson. William Stephenson, my great-grandfather, and his brother, Capt. James Stephenson, were enrolled in the Colonial army from South Carolina as William and James Stinson. But the proper and original spelling was Stephenson.

Robert Stephenson, 1st, reared a family of five children, three sons and two daughters, at Ballymoney, Ireland. William, the oldest, my great-grandfather, was born about 1744; James was born 1746; Elizabeth was born 1748; Nancy was born 1750, and Robert was born 1752. The early history of this family is not well known by historians, prior to the year 1773. But after George Stephenson, the son of Robert, 2nd, invented the locomotive and promoted its usefulness, 1814 to 1830, the history was sought for, but without much result.

When the children of Robert Stephenson, 1st, grew up they joined the branch of the Presbyterian Church called "Covenanters." The Covenanters were those "who during the seventeenth century bound themselves to establish and maintain the Presbyterian doc- trine and polity, to the exclusion of Prelacy and Popery." They were sworn enemies of Catholicism. Their conflicts with the Catholics sometimes resulted in death.

During the year 1772 a great calamity happened to the Stephenson family in Ireland. The Stephensons now living in South Carolina have a tradition that Robert Stephenson, 1st, the Scotchman, had a younger brother, named James, living near him. James' daughter, Margaret, married a Mr. Beck. It is supposed Mr. Beck got into trouble with some Catholics. Robert, 1st, and James, in order to raise money to help Mr. Beck, mortgaged their land and thereby lost it. The families were thus financially broken up.

Prior to this financial misfortune, William, oldest son of Robert Stephenson, 1st, had married Miss R. Green Beattie; James was married, and Elizabeth had married Alexander Brady. During the year 1772 the Rev. William Martin, the pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Ballymoney, raised a company of colonists to go to North America. Mr. Martin was a Covenanter. William and James Stephenson, their families, and Alexander Brady and his wife, Elizabeth, joined the colony. About the time they were to sail Nancy, their sister, married William Anderson, and they, too, joined the emigrants. They sailed for North America in 1772. They settled on Rocky Creek, near the falls of the Catawba River, in Chester County, South Carolina. Mr. Anderson seems to have been a man of some means; the Stephensons were not then possessed of means.

Section 2

The children of Robert Stephenson, 1st, William, James, Elizabeth and Nancy, will be, hereafter, referred to as the Four who came to America, and their brother Robert as Robert, 2nd. Robert Stephenson, 1st, was living in Ireland during the year 1772. Robert Stephenson, 2nd, who was afterwards known as "Old Robert" of Wylam, and his father, Robert, 1st, went to Northumberland County, England. This Robert Stephenson, 2nd, became the father of George Stephenson, the celebrated engineer of railroad fame. Robert Stephenson, 2nd, was first found by historians in 1774 working in a coal mine at Wylam, eight miles west of Newcastle-on-the-Tyne. History says his father was a Scotchman, and that he came across the border in the capacity of a hireling to a gentleman. But history tells very little about him. It does not even give his name. Nor does history tell the nativity of Robert Stephenson, 2nd, the father of George, who afterwards became famous. It is assumed by some that Robert, 1st, son of Henry Stephenson, the shepherd, near Jedburgh, Scotland, went direct from Scotland to England, and became the father of George Stephenson, the railroad promoter. This assumption is erroneous. As has been previously stated, Robert Stephenson, 2nd, was born of Scotch parents in Antrim County, Ireland, about the year 1752. A close observance of his history will show that he could not have been Robert Stephenson, 1st, the oldest son of Henry Stephenson, the shepherd. We learn from history that when Robert Stephenson, 2nd, went to England, he was a young man. He went to Wylam about the year 1773. He married Miss Mabel Carr in the early part of 1778. He and his wife were young people when they married. They seemed to have been about the same age. He and his wife reared a family of six children. James, the oldest, was born March, 1779, and George, the engineer, in June, 1781. The assumption that Robert, 1st, the oldest son of Henry Stephenson, the shepherd, was the father of George, the engineer, would make him (Robert, 1st) between forty-four and forty-five years of age at the time of Miss Carr's marriage, in 1778. The assumption is not reasonable. Again history relates that the father of Robert, 2nd, was a Scotchman and came into England in the employ of a gentleman. Henry Stephenson, the shepherd, at the time the father of Robert Stephenson went across the border into England as an employe to a gentleman, would have been not less than seventy-five years old.

It could not, in reason, have been Henry, the shepherd, who crossed the border at his then advanced age. Nor is it supposable that he would have left his other children in Scotland, and have followed Robert, the eldest, to England. The father of Robert, 2nd, who crossed the border was Robert Stephenson, 1st, the son of Henry, the shepherd, when he was fifty years old. The story as told by the Stephensons in South Carolina, in regard to their ancestors losing their property in Ballymoney corroborates the story as told by the niece of George Stephenson in England, in giving the reason why her great-grandfather, Robert Stephen- son, 1st, with the means to use in making his journey to England in search of work. The two stories told by parties of the same name and religion, who never even heard of each other, tend to establish the theory that the families who went from Ballymoney to South Carolina, and to England are one and the same family, centering in one common parent, Henry Stephenson, the shepherd, of Scotland. The history as related by Miss Stephenson, the daughter of John Stephenson, who was the fourth son of Robert Stephenson, 2nd, is found on page 104 of Samuel Smiles' History of George Stephenson, and his son, Robert, two engineers. It is as follows: "A tradition exists in the family that Robert Stephenson's father came across the border on the loss of considerable property. Miss Stephenson, the daughter of Robert’s third son, John, has stated that suit was commenced for the recovery of the property, but was dropped for want of the requisite means to prosecute it." The foregoing data have been obtained after much research.

There are some disconnected links in the chain of history here given. But it is believed to be correct as given. Should any one be able to suggest an error, I will gladly make the correction. My grandfather, Hugh W. Stephenson, was eight years old when the family sailed for America. He died in Alabama, 1841, when I was eighteen years old. We have no further account of Robert Stephenson, 1st.

Robert Stephenson, 2d, married to Miss Mabel Carr in the early part of 1778, at Wylam. They reared four sons and two daughters. James, the oldest, was born in March, 1779; the second, George, the engineer, was born in June, 1781; Ellen, Robert, John and Ann, born in 1792, were the other children. They all mar- ried. George was married three times, but reared only one child to maturity; Robert, who was as fine an engineer as his father. He was a well educated man, a member of Parliament, and a man of much wealth. He married, but died in 1859, childless. There is not a single descendant of George Stephenson now living. The only living grandchild of Robert, 2d, is George Robert Stephenson, of Cheltenham, England. He is a son of Robert, the third son of old Robert, 2d, of Wylam. Ann, the youngest child, married John Nixon and reared a family in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Her descendants are numerous.

The reason that historians were thrown off the trail of the ancestors of George Stephenson is due to the fact that they followed the clew, that Robert Stephenson, the father of the railroad promoter, went direct from Scotland to England, which was not the fact. Robert Stephenson, 2d, was born in North Ireland, in 1752. My first information as to the time of his birth was that he was born in 1748. But from information recently obtained, I find it was his sister, Elizabeth, who was born in 1748, and Robert was born in 1752. He was born of Scottish parents. George Robert Stephenson, of Cheltenham, England, now (1905) over 86 years old, is very conservative and cautious. In a letter to me, dated February, 1905, referring to my statement of the early history of the Stephensons, as above given, he says, "Your own version of the story, namely, that Robert had brothers and sisters, who emigrated to South Carolina, is quite feasible. Our own account is that Robert had brothers and, perhaps, sisters; and it is certainly odd that nothing should be known about them; but if all, or most, of them went to the States, such disappearance is easily accounted for." If historians had known that the brothers and sisters of Robert Stephenson, 2d, had gone to North America, they might casily have obtained all the data they desired.

Now (1905), of the Four who came to America, there are only a very few grandchildren living. Those living are Mrs. Hephzibah, the relict of Dr. William J. Stephenson, Rossville, South Carolina. She is the daughter of James Furgeson and his wife, Mary Stephenson. She is a very amiable Christian lady, living on her farm in contentment with her son, William Stephenson. Mrs. Ruth B. Cowan, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, is the relict of William Cowan. She is the daughter of John Brady, and the granddaughter of Alex Brady and his wife, Elizabeth Stephenson, one of the Four. Mrs. Jane Agnes Campbell, Richburg, South Carolina, is the widow of James Campbell, and daughter of John Westbrook and his wife, Catharine Stephenson, and granddaughter of William Stephenson, called "Stinson," one of the Four. She lives happily on a farm with her daughter and son-in, law, Mary Frances and W. C. Garrison. Burdette Furgeson, son of John Furgeson and his wife, Nancy Stephenson, and grandson of William Stephenson, one of the Four, lives with Stephen Furgeson on a farm near Richburg, South Carolina.

William Stephenson was commonly called "Stinson," the Scottish vernacular for Stephenson. He was my great-grandfather; that is, he was the father of my grandfather, Hugh W. Stephenson. He was the oldest son of Robert Stephenson, 1st, a Scotchman, who reared a family in County Antrim, Ireland. He was born in 1744; was twice married. He first married Miss R. Green Beattie, in 1764. Of this union there were born seven children, five sons and two daughters: Hugh W. Stephenson, born January 25, 1765, in Ireland, was the oldest. Then John, Robert, James, William, Elizabeth and Nancy were born. Elizabeth and Nancy were twins, born in 1787, in South Carolina. His wife died the day the twins were born.

In 1789 he, William Stephenson, married Miss Elizabeth Wylie. Of this union there were born four children, two sons and two daughters. Samuel, who was born in 1790, was the oldest of the children of the second marriage. Then were born Mary, in 1792; Daniel Green, in 1794, and Catharine, in 1796.

William Stephenson, commonly called "Stinson," was a man of strong convictions and great decision of character. He joined the army as a whig soldier in the Revolutionary War and made a brave and gallant warrior. His life was a very tempestuous one. Before he left Ireland he had trouble with the Catholics. The Presbyterians and Catholics were deadly enemies; so much so that their conflicts were sometimes attended by death. He came to America, where he hoped to enjoy religious liberty. But he had only fairly entered into its enjoyment when the tocsin of the war of the Revolution was sounded. Previous to this time he had moved from Chester County to York, and settled in the vicinity of King's Mountain.

Section 3

Anyone who understands the meaning of Presbyterianism would know where to find such a man. He joined Captain Barber's company. Whenever there was a fight to be made with the British and Tories, he was ready. He and Ben Rowan, a daring and gallant soldier, would, by permission of their officers, take a squad of resolute men and raid into the Whig-deserted country on Rocky Creek, in Chester County, South Carolina, and inquire of the widows and wives of Whig soldiers for the names of any Tories who had been depredating among them. When they had learned the names of such Tories, they would say, "We will send them up to a higher court for trial," meaning they would hang them. Many soldiers on both sides were hung in Chester and York counties. I saw during the past summer, a few miles south of Richburg, the spot where a brave young man, Joseph Stroud, son of William Stroud, was hung for fighting for liberty. The British pinned a card to his clothing warning the country that if anyone took down the corpse the same would suffer a like penalty. At night a young lady of the neighborhood took with her a negro man and took down young Stroud's body and decently buried it. Honor to the memory of that brave, noble young lady. I felt like I was on sacred ground when contemplating the situation. The Strouds, descendants of this young man's family, are living in that neighborhood to this day.

On these raids, William Stephenson would visit his sister, Nancy, near where Rossville now stands. She was the widow of William Anderson, a brave and generous soldier, who fell in defense of liberty. He was fond of telling the thrilling incidents of the war to his grandchildren. He was particularly fond of relating the daring and reckless deeds of the men during the Battle of King's Mountain. William Stephenson was a very resourceful man, full of energy and perseverance. Some years after the close of the war he removed from York County to the Rocky Creek country, in Chester County. He was a farmer, owned land and negroes, and did a general merchandising business. He hauled his goods in wagons from Charleston, one hundred and seventy-five miles. Country merchants could make more money merchandising before railroads were built than now. I was, in July, 1905, on his old plantation. The land is known as the "Stinson" land to-day. He died in 1809. His last wife died in 1811. He is buried between his two wives. Rude granite headstones mark their resting place near the great falls of the Catawba River, in the Old Burnt Church Cemetery, where William Anderson, his brother-in-law, a brave and talented soldier, who was killed by the Tories, is buried, as well as other relatives. This cemetery has been the burying-ground for the relatives for the last six generations. This is a most appropriate place for the remains of so high spirited, reckless and brave a trooper to rest—a beautiful country cemetery, enclosed with granite walls, which is due to the generosity and magnanimity of another brother-in-law, Daniel Green.

The rushing, foaming, mighty waters of the Catawba, as they pass over the falls, resemble the roar of the thunder and the noise of battle raging between contending hosts. When the air is in proper condition the mist and spray generated by great waves lashing themselves into foaming fury, like the smoke of battle ascend in curling columns heavenward.

"To this grandeur and solemn scene is not wanting a dirge of nature's own music, the ceaseless roar of the great falls of the Catawba."

The wildness of the deep and noes cliffs, the grandeur of the falls, and the picturesque scenery around combine to render the spot a place of reverential awe and of splendid beauty. Yea, this is surely a peculiarly fit "place for the rest of those whose spirits were tried amid the fierce conflicts of political opinion and human passion, wilder than the strife of the boiling waters."

I will now speak of each child of William Stephenson, one of the Four, and the descendants of these children, respectively. Hugh W. Stephenson, who was born in Ireland, January 25, 1765, was the oldest. He came to America with his parents when he was seven years old. He was a farmer, five feet, nine inches high; his weight was 155 pounds; his eyes were blue; his hair was light or whitish; his beard was sandy; his complexion was florid; his skin was thin; he had even tempered, mild disposition; he was very domestic and industrious; he was kind and gentle in his manners, and he was a very affectionate and thoughtful husband. He was a consistent member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, at Rock Spring Church, Lawrence County, Alabama.

There is no difference now between the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. But when the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized, many Presbyterians believed that a certain part of the human family was foreordained to eternal damnation, regardless of their life and character. Those who dissented from that hard doctrine, and preached the doctrine that "whosoever will" may be saved, came, in course of time, to be called Cumberland Presbyterians. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized by those holding the broader doctrine, in Dickson County, Tennessee, February 4, 1810. The Presbyterians, U. S. A., have changed their Confession of Faith so as to meet the objections of the Cumberland Presbyterians, who are now going to unite with the mother church.

Hugh W. Stephenson married his cousin, Margaret, daughter of Capt. James Stephenson, one of the Four. She, Margaret, was born in Ireland, November 28, 1770, and married in York County, South Carolina, October 16, 1787.

The following are the children of Hugh W. and Margaret Stephenson:

Ann, born July 13, 1788, in South Carolina.

William Watson, born October 28, 1790, in South Carolina.

Elizabeth, born August 13, 1792, in South Carolina.

Mary M., born February 9, 1795, in Tennessee.

John Campbell, born August 28, 1797, in Tennessee.

Pleasant Wright, born June 9, 1800, in Tennessee.

Hodge Lawson, born June 30, 1802, in Tennessee.

Sally R., born August 12, 1807, in Tennessee.

Finis Ewing, born November 2, 1811, in Tennessee.

In 1794 Hugh W. Stephenson moved from York County, South Carolina, to Smith County, Tennessee; thence in 1806 to Maury County, Tennessee; and in 1819 all the family, married and single, moved to Lawrence County, Alabama. They bought land and settled near where the town of Mount Hope now is, about thirty miles south of the foot of the Muscle Shoals, on Tennessee River. The Stephensons reared large and respectable families in the Mount Hope country. About the year 1840 there were more voters of the Stephenson family about Mount Hope than of any two family names in the country. But now, 1905, there are very few, there being only six. These Stephensons, like their ancestors, are a pioneering people, energetic, industrious, sober, church-going. As the country began to show age, they went in search of new and richer lands. Some went to Mississippi; some to West Tennessee; some to Louisiana; some to Arkansas; some to Texas, and some to California. When the war between North and South came on, they all went in the Confederate army. There never was a deserter nor a coward of the name.

Ann, oldest daughter of Hugh W. Stephenson, was twice married. She first married William Campbell, in 1810. Of this union there were born three daughters, Eliza, Margaret (Pug) and Mary Ann. Mr. Campbell died and Ann, the widow, married Noble Osborn, in 1826, in Alabama. Of this union a son, Nelson, was born, in 1827. Mr. Osborn moved to Mississippi in 1840. Eliza, the oldest daughter of Ann, married Joseph Caruth. They reared a family at Memphis, Tennessee. Their descendants are living in Memphis now. The second daughter, Margaret, commonly called "Pug," married Stephen Threilkill. They reared a family in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. The third daughter, Mary Ann, called "Polly Ann," married Mr. Weatherall. They reared a family of much respectability, on a farm eight miles below Memphis, Tennessee. Some of their descendants are living on the farm at this time. Albert Stephenson, son of P. W. Stephenson, married one of the daughters and reared a nice family south of Memphis.

The second child of Hugh W. Stephenson was William Watson Stephenson, my father. He was named in honor of William Watson, whose name is carved on the marble monument on King's Mountain, as one who fell on that great and notable day. My great-grandfather was in that battle. His home and family were within three miles of the battle ground. His fifteen-year-old son, Hugh W., did not belong to the army, but when he heard the raging of the battle he ran away from his mother and took an active part in the fight. One of his neighbors, William Watson, was killed. It so impressed Hugh W. that he named his first son in honor of Mr. Watson.