0"OSH:TJJL STEIPSIEITS. 



Joshua Stephens was born in 1793, 

 and was second child, born in Canisteo, 

 of Jedediah Stephens. He was mar- 

 ried Dec. 29, 1811, to Rhoda, daughter 

 of Uriah Stephens, who was son of the 

 first settler of Canisteo Valley. She was 

 born in 1795, and married at the age of 

 sixteen. This couple first settled by 

 themselves in 1815 on Bennett Creek, 

 then a wilderness, on two hundred acres 

 of land, the property now being owned 

 by his children, and on which three of 

 them now reside. They commenced 

 clearing their land, his wife not only 

 attending to the housework in the rude 

 log house, which now stands on the 

 place, but she often assisted him at the 

 log-pile piling brush, and in the gen- 

 eral work of preparing the land for 

 cultivation. At this time on their farm 

 were scattered Indian wigwams, so that 

 their immediate neighbors were the red 

 men of the forest. Mr. Stephens was 

 a warm friend of the Indian, and often 

 befriended them ; but other white men 

 were unfriendly, and often had quarrels 

 with them, burnt their wigwams, and 

 tried to drive them away. This so en- 

 raged the Indians that they resolved upon the death of one of their 

 persecutors. Mistaking Mr. Stephens for this man, they shot him in 

 mid-day ,• he was hunting for his oxen in the woods. His death oc- 

 curred Sept. 20, 1825. 



The mother and her four children— Elizabeth, Abigail, De Witt C, 



MRS. RHODA STEPHENS. 



and George J — were left to meet the 

 obstacles of a life in a new country as 

 best they could, but she proved herself 

 equal to the emergency. Her courage, 

 ambition, executive ability, and perse- 

 verance made her successful. With the 

 aid of her children she went on clearing 

 the land, fencing and cultivating it. 



Her eldest son, at the time of the 

 death of his father, was only seten 

 years of age, but the daughters, being 

 older, assisted the mother in her out- 

 door work until the sons were of proper 

 age to use the axe. 



The incidents, privations, and hard- 

 ships of this family would interest the 

 reader could they be narrated. The 

 mother was a model woman in all her 

 ways, and reared her children to respect 

 and honor her. She lived to care for 

 her children. Devotion to family faintly 

 expresses her love for her children. 

 She died Dec. 10, 1876, being eighty- 

 one years and eleven days old, and 

 lived upon the farm first settled upon 

 after marriage the remainder of her 

 life. The second daughter, Abigail, 

 married Henry Hamilton, of Canisteo • 

 and the oldest son, De Witt C, married Amanda Hamilton, and re- 

 sides on a part of the old homestead. The portraits of George J. 

 and his sister Elizabeth, together with their mother's, accompany this 

 sketch. They now occupy the old home. The former was born May 

 5, 1824; the latter, Nov. 2, 1812. 



ii 



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f^-^^^^l- 



GEORGE J. STEPHENS. 



ELIZABETH STEPHENS. 



