Metcalfe County, Missouri Stephens Families

I really enjoy reading Randy Seaver’s blog at http://www.geneamusings.com.  I find it educational as well as entertaining!  Last May, Randy posted a list of databases at Ancestry.com that don’t have name indexes.  http://www.geneamusings.com/2010/05/finding-ancestrycom-databases-without.html There very first database on the list was the Missouri Still Birth & Miscellaneous Records, 1805-2002.  Because I haven’t had alot of luck finding records in Missouri, I thought I’d give it a try.  I used it to look for all Stephens families in Ripley County between 1950 and 1860.  Taking that information and combining it with census records, I thought I might be able to find a family with a Lucy Stephens of the correct age to match the Lucy who married Andrew Stephens in 1858.  Although I didn’t find a family with a Lucy, I thought I’d post what I did gather in case it helps someone else.  And who knows, these families just might be related…I just haven’t made the connection yet.

Ripley County is on the Southern edge of Missouri directly north of Arkansas.  It borders Clay Co, Arkansas, and Missouri Counties Butler, Clay , Carter, Randolph and Oregon Counties.

According to her gravestone, Lucy was born 16 Dec. 1842.  At the time of the 1850 census, she would have been about 8 years old and should show up in the census.

1850 Ripley Co. Census
Washington Stephens – age 73, born in Virginia

Juda Stephens – age 65, born in NC

Jackson Stephens – age 24, Tenn

Marshal Stephens – age 22, Tenn

George Stephens – age 17, Tenn

1851 “I do certify that I did solemnize the rights of marriage between Jackson Stephens and Elizabeth York on the 22^th day of June 1851 Griffin Eldridge JP (the images do NOT look like Eldridge, but web site http://tmsnyder.tripod.com/Ripley.htm_ has a list of JPs and ministers)  Recorded this 1 day of July  (Ancestry, Missouri Marriage Records, Ripley Co, Image 1)

1851 “Martial” Stephens and Samantha Smelser married 1851, returned Oct. 1851

“I do certify that I did celebrate the rights of matrimony between Martiel Stephens and Samantha Smelser in year 1851 Griffin Eldridge Recorded this October 1851 A. Dearmon JP Clerk. (Ancestry, Missouri Marriage Records, Ripley Co, Image 1)

1852 George Stephens and Sarian Kinsy – 10 Sept. 1852

“Be it remembered that I have this day solemnized the rights of matrimony between George Stephens and Sarian Kinsy the the 7^th day of Sept. A.D. 1852.  Recorded this the 10^th Sept. 1852. (Psonn?) W. Pennington minister the gospel. (Image 4)

1853 George Washington Stephens died intestate.  Marshal Stephens named administrator.  George Stephens mentioned, but difficult to read.  (Missouri Still Birth & Miscellaneous Records, 1805-2002 Image 534)

1853 William Stephens died intestate.  Marshal Stephens named administrator. (Missouri Still Birth & Miscellaneous Records, 1805-2002 Image 535)

1860 Ripley Co, Census

Marshal Stephens – age 30, Tenn

S. Stephens – age 25, Ark (Samantha Smelser)

S. Stephens – age 7, Missouri (m)

E. Stephens – age 3, Missouri (f)

Isaac Stephens – age 8/12, Missouri

Newton Smelser – age 18, Ark

M. Williams – age 12, Missouri (f)

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1850 Ripley Co, Census

ZW Stephens – age 24, born in Missouri  (Zebedee – son of George Washington and  Juda?)

Malissa M Stephens – age 25, Tenn

Wm T Stephens – age 3, Missouri

Selianne Stephens – age 1, Missouri

James C Stephens – age 2/12, Missouri

1860 Ripley Co, Census

Z.W. Stephens – age 35, Missouri

M.M. Stephens – age 36, Tenn (Mary Melissa Wood)

W.J. Stephens – age 13, Missouri (male)

S.A. Stephens – age 12, Missouri (f)

J.C. Stephens – age 11, Missouri (m)

S.T. Stephens – age 10, Missouri (f)

M.J. Stephens – age 6, Missouri (f)

M.E. Stephens – age 4, Missouri (f)

N.E. Stephens – age 2, Missouri (f)

(living near Pyburn family)

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1850 Ripley Co, Census

Robert Stephens – age 43, born in Tenn

Susan Stephens – age 41, Virginia

James Stephens – age 16, Tenn

Eliza Stephens – age 12, Georgia

George W.F. Stephens – age 6, Missouri

Wm L Russell – age 28, Tenn

Emaline Stephens – age 21, Tenn

John B Patterson – age 23, Tenn

John A York – age 21, Tenn

1856 I Joseph (Thomaseh?) a justice of the peace do certify that I did solemnize the rights of matrimony between James M Stephens and Lena Buckaloo on the 17^th day of January A.D. 1856 (Image 6)

1860 Ripley Co, Census

Susan Stephens – age 46, born in Va

J. M. Stephens – age 25, Tenn (head)

Emerline Stephens – age 25, Tenn

G.W. Stephens – age 17, Missouri

Robert Stephens – age 6, Texas

E Piburn – age 13, Missouri (female)

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1850 Ripley Co, Census

Benjamin Stephens – age 40, born in Tenn

Elizabeth Stephens – age 40, Tenn

Emaline Stephens – age 20, Tenn

Lucresa Stephens – age 16, Tenn

Orlena Stephens – age 14, Georgia

George W Stephens – age 9, Georgia

Wm L Stephens – age 7, Alabama

Basil Stephens – age 5, Missouri

Marshal Stephens – age 4, Missouri

1860 Ripley Co, Census

Wm Stephens – age 28, born in Tenn

Marinda Stephens – age 23, Tenn

George W Stephens – age 3, Missouri

Cintha Stephens – age 1, Missouri

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1858 This is to certify that I the undersigned a Justice of the Peace within and for the county of Ripley in the state of Missouri did in and at said county of Ripley solemnize the rites of matrimony between Andrew J Stephens and Lucy Stephens on the 25^th day  of April 1858 Given under my hand on the 27^th day of May AD 1858.  Paulsen M Smelser Justice of the Peace.  (Book C pg 56)  NOTE: Ancestry has this indexed as 1881.  (Image 8 )

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A Family for Lucy Stephens?

My search for Stephens answers continues!

Last week, I decided I’d try to see if there was any way for me to determine which Stephens branch Lucy Stephens – wife of Andrew Stephens – belonged to.  I have very little to work with:

1)  According to Lucy’s tombstone (Bernard Cemetery in Russell County, Kentucky) she was born 16 Dec, 1842 and died 14 June 1928.
2)  According to every census record I have found, she was born in Kentucky.
3)  The marriage of Andrew Stephens and Lucy Stephens took place in Ripley Co, Missouri on 25 Apr 1858.
4)  Lucy and Andrew lived with Andrew’s family for the 1860 census in Franklin Co, Alabama along with their 1 yr. old daughter, Nancy E.
5)  In the 1860 census, Nancy’s birthplace is listed as Missouri.  Ripley County seems likely, but birth records for that year don’t seem to exist.  (I have not been to Ripley County to research for myself)
6)  By 1861, the death of 1 year 10 month old Nancy is found in Metcalfe Co, Kentucky on June 9.  Her place of birth is listed as Missouri.
7)  Also in 1861, birth of first son, W.D. (William Dudley) is found in Metcalfe Co, Kentucky on Oct. 13.
8 ) Another birth for Andrew and Lucy is found in Metcalfe Co, Kentucky (although I have no source) in 1864 for Mary Elizabeth in September.
9) I cannot find the 1870 census for this family.
10)  Every other census after this shows the family in Russell County, Kentucky.

I thought I’d try to understand why Andrew and Lucy were married in Ripley County, Missouri.  Because Andrew’s family was not in the area during this time, I thought that might mean that Lucy’s family came from this area.  I did research on all Stephens families in Ripley County during this time and could find no connection.  (I’ll post these findings at a later date.)  Metcalfe Co, Kentucky was formed in 1860, so I turned to the parent counties and did a search for an 1850 census showing a Lucy at about the correct age.  In Adair County, I found 1 likely family.  The head of the home was Mary Stephens age 40.  Three children lived in her home –  Eliz. age 19, Lucy age 8 and A.J. age 3.  Could this be the family I was looking for?  How could I confirm this?

I began by looking at all marriage, birth and death records that I could find for Adair County to see if there was a Stephens married to a Mary around this time frame and I couldn’t find anything.  I then began looking at the tax records for Adair County, since my library has these on microfilm.  Beginning with 1850, I looked for a Mary Stephens who might be paying taxes on land left by a deceased husband.  No Mary was listed through 1858, the last year for the microfilm.

Working backward through the tax records from 1850, I found one person who could potentially be Lucy’s father.  Elijah Stephens appears in the Adair County taxes from 1844 through 1850 and then disappears.  There is no Elijah Stephens in the Adair County census for 1840 or 1850.  I have ordered the Court Orders film for Adair County to see if I can find a clue there.

An 1830 Russell County census for Elijah Stephens shows that he was between 30 and 39 years old and his (probable) wife was between 20 and 29.  They had 5 children at the time.  By 1840 census, he listed his age as between 40-49 and his wife was between 30-39.  This could result in a 40 year old Mary Stephens by 1850.  In 1840, there were 8 children and one of the females was between 5-9 years old, which could be the 19 year old Elizabeth in the 1850 census.  Even if the age of Elizabeth was off in 1850, there is an older female and a younger female in the 1840 census that could still account for a 19 year old Elizabeth in 1850.  Could this be the correct family?

I decided to see if I could find a clue in the Stephens family deeds that I have scanned.  I looked through the cross-reference for Russell County deeds and did find a couple for an Elijah Stephens.  Since I don’t have a collection of Adair County Deeds yet, I thought it would be worth looking at the Russell County deeds because there are only a couple for Elijah.  I only had to look at 2 deeds before I found that I could rule out Elijah as being the husband of Lucy’s mother.  In one deed, Elijah Stephens of Adair County is purchasing land from a Russell County resident.  In the 2nd deed, Elijah and his wife Dicy/Diza (I’ve seen it both ways) were selling land to John Stephens.  Looking at my Adair County tax records, I could see that Dicy Stephens began taking care of the taxes the year after Elijah disappeared from the tax lists.  I’ll still be on the lookout for Elijah Stephens in the Court Order records that I’ve ordered, but I won’t be expecting a connection between him and Lucy’s mother, Mary.

Looking at the surrounding families in the census, I found that Mary and her children lived next to Sherwood Stephens and his family.  I have decided to follow Sherwood to see what I could discover.  More on that next time…

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Ripley County, Missouri – Stephens Families

As stated this morning, I’m trying to gather all Stephens information that I can for Ripley County, Missouri between 1850 and 1860 in order to try to discover the roots for Andrew Stephens’ wife – Lucy Stephens.  I did find an additional marriage resource for Andrew and Lucy which I’d never found before because the index on Ancestry has the marriage listed as 1881 instead of 1858, so that was a pleasant surprise.  But I found no other clues at all in Ripley Co.  Here’s a list of what I did find.  These are notes as I typed them to myself, so citations are not “proper”.

Since this was a one day project, I concentrated on available records through Ancestry.  I’m grateful to Randy Seaver for posting a list of unindexed databased on Ancestry. http://www.geneamusings.com/2010/05/finding-ancestrycom-databases-without.html The very first database he listed was for Missouri – which inspired me to start this search.  I found a few items on there by searching Ripley County.   I also used federal census records and looked at birth, marriage and death records for Ripley County.  Only marriage records were available for the 1850-1860 time period.  I did a Google search for a list of the Justice of the Peace names because some of the records were very difficult to read.  That web site was http://tmsnyder.tripod.com/Ripley.htm_ and I also read there:

Ripley county was formed in 1833. Book “B” [1833-1852], the oldest book of marriage to be found in court house in Doniphan, Missouri  is in poor condition. The index is missing and the book is crumbling away. Book “C” beginning in 1853 has the following notation on the inside cover “The wreckage of this old marriage record has been collected and restored in so far as possible. Rebound and the last pages replaced and restored from the books own table of contents….”

According to her gravestone, Lucy was born 16 Dec. 1842.  At the time of the 1850 census, she would have been about 8 years old and should show up in the census.  I tried to find as much information as possible on each family that appears in the 1850 census through the 1860 census.  Ripley County is on the border of Missouri and Arkansas.  Quite a few people list below were from Arkansas.  (I did a quick search for Lucy Stephens in 1850 in Arkansas, but didn’t see anything that jumped out at me.)

Family 1:

1850       Ripley Co. Census

Washington Stephens – age 73, born in Virginia
Juda Stephens – age 65, born in NC
Jackson Stephens – age 24, Tenn
Marshal Stephens – age 22, Tenn
George Stephens – age 17, Tenn

1851 “I do certify that I did solemnize the rights of marriage between Jackson Stephens and Elizabeth York on the 22th day of June 1851 Griffin Eldridge JP (the images do NOT look like Eldridge, but web site  http://tmsnyder.tripod.com/Ripley.htm_ has a list of JPs and ministers) Recorded this 1 day of July  (Ancestry, Missouri Marriage Records, Ripley Co, Image 1)

1851 Martial Stephens and Samantha Smelser married 1851, returned Oct. 1851. “I do certify that I did celebrate the rights of matrimony between Martiel Stephens and Samantha Smelser in year 1851 Griffin Eldridge Recorded this October 1851 A. Dearmon JP Clerk. (Ancestry, Missouri Marriage Records, Ripley Co, Image 1)

1852 George Stephens and Sarian Kinsy – 10 Sept. 1852 “Be it remembered that I have this day solemnized the rights of matrimony between George Stephens and Sarian Kinsy the the 7th day of Sept. A.D. 1852.  Recorded this
the 10th Sept. 1852. (Psonn?) W. Pennington minister the gospel. (Image 4)

1853 George Washington Stephens died intestate.  Marshal Stephens named administrator.  George Stephsns mentioned, but difficult to read.  (Missouri Still Birth & Miscellaneous Records, 1805-2002 Image 534)

1853 William Stephens died intestate.  Marshal Stephens named administrator. (Missouri Still Birth & Miscellaneous Records, 1805-2002 Image 535)

1860       Ripley Co, Census

Marshal Stephens – age 30, Tenn
S. Stephens – age 25, Ark (Samantha Smelser)
S. Stephens – age 7, Missouri (m)
E. Stephens – age 3, Missouri (f)
Isaac Stephens – age 8/12, Missouri
Newton Smelser – age 18, Ark
M. Williams – age 12, Missouri (f)

Family 2:

1850       Ripley Co, Census

ZW Stephens – age 24, born in Missouri  (Zebedee – son of George Washington and  Juda?)
Malissa M Stephens – age 25, Tenn
Wm T Stephens – age 3, Missouri
Selianne Stephens – age 1, Missouri
James C Stephens – age 2/12, Missouri

1860       Ripley Co, Census

Z.W. Stephens – age 35, Missouri
M.M. Stephens – age 36, Tenn (Mary Melissa Wood)
W.J. Stephens – age 13, Missouri (male)
S.A. Stephens – age 12, Missouri (f)
J.C. Stephens – age 11, Missouri (m)
S.T. Stephens – age 10, Missouri (f)
M.J. Stephens – age 6, Missouri (f)
M.E. Stephens – age 4, Missouri (f)
N.E. Stephens – age 2, Missouri (f)
(living near Pyburn family)

Family 3:

1850       Ripley Co, Census

Robert Stephens – age 43, born in Tenn
Susan Stephens – age 41, Virginia
James Stephens – age 16, Tenn
Eliza Stephens – age 12, Georgia
George W.F. Stephens – age 6, Missouri
Wm L Russell – age 28, Tenn
Emaline Stephens – age 21, Tenn
John B Patterson – age 23, Tenn
John A York – age 21, Tenn

1856 I Joseph (Thomaseh?) a justice of the peace do certify that I did solemnize the rights of matrimony between James M Stephens and Lena Buckaloo on the 17^th day of January A.D. 1856 (Image 6)

1860       Ripley Co, Census

Susan Stephens – age 46, born in Va
J. M. Stephens – age 25, Tenn (head)
Emerline Stephens – age 25, Tenn
G.W. Stephens – age 17, Missouri
Robert Stephens – age 6, Texas
E Piburn – age 13, Missouri (female)

Family 4:

1850       Ripley Co, Census

Benjamin Stephens – age 40, born in Tenn
Elizabeth Stephens – age 40, Tenn
Emaline Stephens – age 20, Tenn
Lucresa Stephens – age 16, Tenn
Orlena Stephens – age 14, Georgia
George W Stephens – age 9, Georgia
Wm L Stephens – age 7, Alabama
Basil Stephens – age 5, Missouri
Marshal Stephens – age 4, Missouri

Family 5:

1860       Ripley Co, Census

Wm Stephens – age 28, born in Tenn
Marinda Stephens – age 23, Tenn
George W Stephens – age 3, Missouri
Cintha Stephens – age 1, Missouri

My family:

1858 This is to certify that I the undersigned a Justice of the Peace within and for the county of Ripley in the state of Missouri did in and at said county of Ripley solemnize the rites of matrimony between Andrew J Stephens and Lucy Stephens on the 25th day of April 1858.  Given under my hand on the 27th day of May AD 1858.  Paulsen M Smelser Justice of the Peace.  (Book C pg 56) NOTE:  Ancestry has this indexed as 1881, which is why I had never found it before.  (Image 8 )

I wish I had a great list of research ideas to follow up on, but I’m at the proverbial brick wall.  When did Andrew arrive in Missouri? Why did Andrew go to Missouri where he married Lucy?  Was she related in some way?  To do a generic search for a Lucy Stephens of this age turns up a few listings in 1850, but without some clue to follow up, it’s just a list of names.  Perhaps it’s time to start another Excel file to keep track of possibilities, but I’d really prefer to find a cousin to work together with on this!

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