How the Stephensons Came to Live in Kansas

The Stephensons first appeared in America in the colony of Virginia. Later, they moved to Kentucky and served valiantly in the Revolutionary War. A Stephenson set out for Washington County, Indiana, just a year after it became a state. Several generations of Stephensons farmed in Indiana until William Francis Stephenson moved to Hazelton, Kansas, in 1890 with his family. He bought a section of land from his father, Nelson Stephenson, who had registered it under the Homestead Act. Here is W. F. "Frank" Stephenson and his family.

Back row are Ernest Everett and Paris Edgar Stephenson. They died at the ages of 22, and 21 respectively. In front of them are (from left) Elsie Mayme, Charles Sylvester (Phyllis' father), William Francis holding Trullia O'Peach (who died in Hazelton at age 28), and Martha Jane "Mattie" (Ashings) Stephenson holding Olive Myrl. This photo was taken in Hazelton, Kansas.

I am grateful to Olive Myrl Stephenson Meyer for writing an extensive genealogy from which I have taken many facts. She states that the family moved back to Bedford, Indiana, about 1900 because of his mother's health. About 1905, they returned to Hazelton. Here is the family homestead in Hazelton.

This last photo is of W. F. "Frank" Stephenson and his sons, Ernest Everett, Paris Edgar, and Charles Sylvester. Note that the father and two eldest sons have blue eyes, and Charles has brown eyes.