JOHN W. STEPHENS, retired farmer and merchant. The ancestors of the subject of this sketch emigrated to this country from Wales quite early in the seventeenth century, and settled in Bucks county, Penn., and thence, somewhere about the middle of the century, his great-great-grandfather; John Stephens, removed to what is now Washington township, Fayette Co., Penn.; this county being a part of what was then embraced in Westmoreland county. Whether this John Stephens was born in this country, or in Wales, the writer has been unable to learn. After their removal to this part of the country, they lived for some years in a blockhouse for protection from Indians. From the record on his tombstone in the Redstone cemetery, where he and large numbers of his descendants are interred, we find he was born in July, 1714, and died in 1806, aged ninety-one years and ten months. His wife's name was Sarah, but of her maiden name and history we know nothing. They had nine children six sons and three daughters. The sons' names were John, Levi, Seth, Thomas, Isaiah and Evans. The daughters' names were Mary, Rachel and Rebecca. Of the history of the sons we know but little, except of Levi, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Two of the sons, Seth and John, removed, we learn, at an early day to Kentucky, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, a prominent figure in the political struggles preceding and during our recent great Rebellion, was a descendant of one of these sons. Of the history of two of the daughters we know more. Mary, in her fortieth year, was united in marriage to William Hogg, of Brownsville, Penn., both of whom died in their eighty-sixth year she on November 11, 1840, and he on January 27, 1841. This Mr. Hogg was a very successful business man, and became prominently known throughout this part of the State as a man of great wealth for those times. He and a few others in 1812 organized the "Monongahela Bank of Brownsville, Penn.," under "Articles of Association" which were exchanged for a "Charter" in 1814. This is thought to be the oldest bank organized west of the Alleghanies. About the same time William Hogg and his nephew, George Hogg, Dr. Wheeler and Jacob Bowman, organized the Episcopal Church of Brownsville, and erected for it a good substantial church building. Some years later (in 1830 it is thought), Bishop Chase, of Ohio, and Henry Clay, of Kentucky, visited William Hogg at Brownsville, and negotiated with him for the purchase of 8,000 acres of land in Ohio, he agreeing to sell it to them for $2.25 per acre, on condition that they would have erected thereon an "Institution of Learning;" he further stipulating to donate the one-third of the proceeds of said land sale, or $6,000 to the enterprise. This was the origin of "Kenyon College," of Gambier, Knox Co, Ohio. Rachel, another daughter, married Roland Craig, who with him settled, lived and died near West Alexander, Washington Co., Penn., leaving quite a large number of descendants. Of the other daughter, Rebecca, we know nothing, except when her father and other members of his family removed to the western part of the State. She remained in Bucks county, and (we suppose) died there. Whether she married and left children we know not. The son, Levi, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Bucks county, Penn., July 14, 1744, and died February 13, 1808, about two years after the death of his father John. Some time after his removal from the east to the western part of the State, he was married, December 4, 1775, to Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Brown, who had removed from Chester county, Penn., and become residents of what is now Perry township, Fayette Co., Penn. His wife's birth is recorded as being on March 27, 1757, and her death on March 17, 1829. Their marriage bans were performed by Esquire VanSweringer. They had eight children, seven of whom grew to manhood and womanhood; one (a son) died in infancy. The names of their children who grew to years of maturity were Nathaniel, born January 8, 1782, died May 13, 1869; Sarah, born April 17, 1786, died February 4, 1864; John, born February 23, 1788, died August 23, 1853; Levi, born September 10, 1790, died January 13, 1878; Anne (Nancy), born July 8, 1795; Elizabeth, born in January, 1798, and Thomas, born July 20, 1800. This Levi Stephens was by profession a civil engineer, and for some years was in the employ of the Government as surveyor of public lands; and by reason of the financial embarrassment following the close of the Revolutionary war, he was offered by the Government land instead of money for his services, which was accepted by him, and the larger amount of this land still remains in possession of his descendants. Nathaniel Stephens, the eldest son of Levi, and the grandfather of John W. Stephens, was married in 1799 to Hannah, daughter of Joseph Dodson, by whom he had eleven children, two of whom died in childhood, the others all living to a good old age. Their names are John D., born February 25, 1800, died December 3, 1870; Elizabeth, born September 25, 1803, died October 26, 1886; Mary, born July 4, 1805, died June 2, 1883; Nathaniel, born June 5, 1807, died August 1, 1886; Catherine, born March 4, 1809, died January 9, 1886; Joseph, born in 1813, died April 19, 1863; Levi, born August 7, 1814, still living; Hester, born June 14, 1816, still living, and Sarah A., born June 28, 1818, died March 30, 1891. Nathaniel Stephens married, for his second wife, Elizabeth Houseman (nee Hill), by whom he had one son, Joshua N. Stephens, born September 25, 1822, and died March 5, 1883. John D. Stephens, eldest son of Nathaniel and Hannah Stephens, father of the subject of this sketch, was married June 28, 1821, to Mary, daughter of John Nutt, of Chester county, Penn. She was born June 4, 1788, and died April 14, 1869. They had six children: Lee P. and Hannah (twins), born March 1, 1822; John W., born December 14, 1823; Nathaniel and Mary (twins), born September 22, 1824; and Ezra N., born September 19, 1831. Of these children, Ezra N., the youngest, died at Los Angeles, Cal., August 19, 1883, and Nathaniel died in Fayette county, Penn., in February, 1892. Lee P., Hannah and Mary still survive. J. W. Stephens, whose name appears at the opening of this sketch, was born December 14, 1823, on the banks of the Monongahela river, at Lock No. 3, in Allegheny county, Penn., on a farm then owned by his father, afterward by his father's brother, Nathaniel, and by him sold to Hon. James G. Blaine, to whose estate it still belongs. When about six or seven years of age our subject's father purchased a farm and removed to Jefferson township, Fayette Co., Penn., on which he subsequently established the Fayette Nurseries, which he continued to carry on while he lived, our subject assisting him in this business, except while absent at school. He was educated at the public schools and at Allegheny College, Meadville, Penn. In 1848 he left his father's home to engage in the foundry business with an uncle, Richard Miller, of Uniontown, Penn. While here he was married to Martha Jane Bentley, a daughter of Sheshbazzor Bentley, of Bentleyville, Washington Co., Penn. This Mr. Bentley was a descendant of an early settler in that region of country who married first a Miss Moore, a sister of Daniel Moore, a prominent citizen of Washington, Penn., and well known in his day by his connection and interest in the old stage coach lines of the National Road. Mr. Bentley's second wife (Martha Jane's mother) was a Mrs. Hannah Kenworthy (nee Hannah Cleaver). Shortly after his marriage J. W. Stephens sold out his interest in the foundry business to his uncle, and removed to Bentleyville, Penn., where he continued to reside for many years, except two years he spent on a farm purchased by him in Allegheny county, same State. While residing here, farming has been his chief pursuit, but he was also engaged for some years in merchandising. In the spring of 1889 he retired from all active business, and removed to Monongahela, where he now resides. John W. Stephens is the father of six children two of whom died in their childhood the eldest (a daughter) in her fifth, and the youngest (a son) in his third year. Four sons are living: Franklin Moore, the eldest son, born November 2, 1854, was educated in the public schools, Mt. Union College, Ohio, Washington College, Penn., and subsequently, in the spring of 1887, graduated in the medical department of the Pennsylvania University, at Philadelphia. Immediately thereafter he was offered and accepted the position of resident physician and surgeon in the Robert Packer Hospital, at Sayre, Bradford Co., Penn. Two years thereafter he was chosen general superintendent of said hospital, which position he still holds. William Pusey, the second son, born May 2, 1857, was educated in the public schools, and remained on the farm with his parents until after arriving at full age. On February 8, 1881, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth J. White, daughter of John F. White, of Bentleyville. Soon after he engaged in merchandising, first in Bentleyville, and then removed to Monongahela City, where he continued for some years in business. He is now associated with two other brothers in the lumber business. Charles Edgar, the third son, born January 27, 1860, while yet in his "teens," went into Neal Blythe & Co.'s planing mill at Monongahela City, where he learned the carpenter's trade and worked for some years as a journeyman. In 1887 he bought an interest in said mill and business, and continued therein as a partner for five years; when finding the firm was doing a losing business, he withdrew, selling out his interest to the firm at considerable sacrifice. A few months thereafter he and Thomas S. Neal, under the firm name of Neal & Stephens, entered as co-partners into the lumber business, and in a few months thereafter his brothers William P. and Henry B. purchased his partner's interest, and the firm of Stephens Bros. was formed. Henry Bentley, the fourth and youngest son, born November 19, 1862, is now the junior partner of the firm of Stephens Bros. In politics John W. Stephens has always been a Republican, joining it in its first organization, and attended its first convention, held in Pittsburgh in 1856. During the Civil war he was draft commissioner, and made the first military draft for Washington county. In 1878 he was elected a member of the State Legislature by a flattering vote, his colleagues being Hon. Findley Patterson and. Hon. John C. Messenger, Democrats. While an earnest Republican he has not been a place seeker. He and his wife have long been members of the M. E. Church. He is modest, honest, frank and manly; a self-respecting Christian gentleman, having the confidence and respect of an extensive acquaintance.

Text taken from page 17 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed March 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project. Published April 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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