JOHN STEPHENSON, an old citizen of Marion Township, departed this life on Friday, 13th instant. (The Lebanon Pioneer - Fri., Dec. 26, 1873)

Infantry - Civil War (served as a soldier in the repelling of the Morgan raid into Indiana)

Among those who came to Boone county when this section of Indiana was in its primitive wildness, infested by wild animals and nomadic bands of red men, was the Stephenson family, members of which have figured more or less conspicuously in the affairs of the locality for upwards of a century; and they have performed well their parts in the work of developing the county from a wilderness to one of the foremost agricultural sections in the great Hoosier commonwealth, so they together with other early actors in the drama which witnessed the passing of the old and the introductions of the new conditions in which are now the fine farms and thriving towns of this county, are deserving of every consideration. We of today cannot pay such sterling characters too great a meed of praise, in view of the sacrifices they made in order that their descendants and others of a later day should enjoy the blessings of life, only a few of which they were permitted to have. One of this noble band to whom we desire to call especial attention was John Stephenson, who has long been sleeping the sleep of the just but who is of that number "whose works do follow them."

Mr. Stephenson was born in Kentucky in November, 1825. He was a son of John, Sr., and Elizabeth (Stark) Stephenson, also natives of the Blue Grass state, from which they came in a very early day to what is now Marion township, Boone county, Indiana, when the subject of this memoir was a child. The elder Stephenson secured a tract of timber land, which he cleared and developed, and he also kept a tavern on the Michigan road for many years, which was a favorite stopping place for the travelers, some of them distinguished, to the middle west in those early times. His first wife, the mother of our subject, died and he married again, and our subject, not particularly fancying his step-mother, left home when a lad and worked out until his marriage in 1850.

John Stephenson grew up amid pioneer environment, worked hard when a boy and had little opportunity to secure an education. His wife, Mary Jones, was born in Rush county, Indiana, and was a daughter of John and Mary (Richardson) Jones, the father a native of Culpeper county, Virginia, and the mother was a native of Kentucky. After his marriage our subject rented a farm near Mud creek for four years, then purchased one hundred and seventy-three acres of timber land in Marion township. He soon had a space cleared and on this erected a log cabin and a barn, subsequently clearing the major portion of his farm and here he continued general farming and stock raising successfully the rest of his life, with the exception of two years spent in McLean county, Illinois, spending one year in
Bloomington and one year in Saybrook. He and his father owned a valuable tract of land there and when they returned to Boone county they sold their holdings in McLean county.

The death of John Stephenson, Jr., occurred in December, 1873, after which his widow purchased the place south of the old home farm where she lived five years, then sold out and bought eighty acres adjoining, but moved back to the old place where she lived five years and during that time had built a substantial frame dwelling and in this she has since resided comfortably and surrounded with plenty. Her son-in-law, who lives with her, operates the farm. She is now advanced in years but is comparatively well and in possession of her faculties. She has always been known to her many friends as a woman of strong character, a kind neighbor and earnest Christian, belonging to the Methodist Episcopal church for the past forty years. Mr. Stephenson was a Presbyterian and was a good man in every respect. Politically, he was a Republican. During the Civil war he served as a soldier in the repelling of the Morgan raid into Indiana.

To Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson the following children were born: James A., of Champaign, Illinois; Sarah is the wife of John A. Fancher, who lives in the Stephenson home; Grant
lives in Bison, Oklahoma; Sherman lives in Solomon, Kansas; Joseph makes his home in Dolan, South Dakota; Elenore is the wife of U. G. Wade, of Marion township, Boone county; Emery lives with his mother on the home place.
(Source: History of Boone County, Indiana, by Hon. L.M. Crist, 1914)