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1907 Past and Present Biographies
James H. StephensonHe is a son of William G. Stephenson, who is now living retired in the village of Churdan. The father was born in Jackson county, Ohio, and has been a resident of Greene county since 1856, in which year he came to Iowa with his step-father and mother, Stephen and Mary (Groves) Mormon. The family home was established in Cedar township upon a tract of raw prairie land of eighty acres, and William G. Stephenson worked by the month and engaged in trapping until after the outbreak of the Civil war, when he enlisted for service in the Union army, joining Company E, of the Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry, on the 15th of August, 1861. He served with that command until the spring of 1865, doing guard duty most of the time, and when the war ended he returned to Iowa, where he began farming on his own account. As the years passed he purchased four hundred and forty acres of land in Cedar township, making improvements upon the place and developing a fine property, whereon he lived until about ten years ago, when he took up his abode in Churdan, where he now resides. He was married in this county in 1865 to Elizabeth Cochran, who was born in Ohio in 1846, and came to this county in 1863 with her parents, Joseph and Margaret (Camelin) Cochran, who settled in Kendrick township. The parents are earnest and active members of the Methodist church and Mr. Stephenson is prominent in republican circles. Unto him and his wife have been born four children: James H.; Mrs. Margaret Toyne; Mrs. Mary Lock, of Churdan; and Altha, who died at the age of twenty years. James H. Stephenson was reared upon the old homestead farm, and at the usual age he became a public-school student, acquiring therein a good English education. Throughout his entire life he has carried on farming and is engaged quite extensively in raising Duroc Jersey hogs and this branch of his business is proving quite profitable. He also raises large crops and his farm products find a ready sale on the market. On the 14th of February, 1898, Mr. Stephenson was married to Miss Frances Bolton, who was born in Canada on the 12th of September, 1875, and is a daughter of W. H. and Elizabeth (Harvey) Bolton. Her father was born March 10, 1841, near Oxford, Canada, and the mother’s birth occurred on the 12th of September, 1846. They werer msrried in Vienna, Canada, in 1865, and came to Greene county in 1876, settling in Scranton township. Mr. Bolton now owns two hundred acres of rich and productive land on section 33, Cedar township, and is classed with the enterprising agriculturists of the community. Unto him and his wife have been born eight children: Albert E., who is living in Carroll county; Mrs. Luella Powers, who resides in Oklahoma; Leander W. and Harvey, who are living with their parents in Churdan; Mrs. Stephenson; Mrs. Abbie B. Sayers, who is located in Kendrick township; and Myrtle and Franklin, at home. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson have been born two children, Mildred A. and Elvin W. The parents are members of the United Brethren church and are interested in all that pertains to the material, intellectual and moral development of the community. Mr. Stephenson has spent his entire life in this locality and that he has many good qualities is indicated by by the fact that many of his staunchest friends are those who have known him from his boyhood days to the present time. |
Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead," by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver, Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.  Site Terms, Conditions & Disclaimer |