Yolo-Placer County CA Archives Biographies.....Stephens, Joseph J. 1836 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 14, 2006, 1:09 pm Author: Tom Gregory (1913) JOSEPH J. STEPHENS Among Yolo county's pioneers is Joseph J. Stephens, an honored and progressive citizen of Woodland. For the past fifty-seven years he has contributed his quota of energy and practical assistance to the gradual improvement and development of Yolo county, and now, in the afternoon of his life, while still retaining his ever alert interest in the welfare of the community, his chief pleasure is found in his beautiful home at Elm and Lincoln streets, where he has provided for himself and family all the comforts and luxuries of the modern day. Born near Bunceton, Cooper county, Mo., October 25, 1836, Mr. Stephens was the son of James Madison and Mary Ann (Adams) Stephens, highly respected farmers, and upon the home place received the training which was later to prepare him for his own battles in a new land. Educated in a private school, he gained much that the majority of young people in that day failed to receive, thus further equipping him for life's responsibilities. From his brother, Lawrence D., who had gone to California in 1852, he received such encouraging reports of the opportunities to be acquired in the new land, that he determined to seek his fortune here, there being an added reason for his enthusiasm in gaining an immediate start in life, inasmuch as he had found in Miss Elizabeth Davis, daughter of John Davis, of Tennessee, the one girl who he believed should grace his home. Leaving his home April 9, 1854, in company with his uncle, John D. Adams, he assisted in the care of the cattle which they drove across the plains, and arrived in Yolo county some months later, having walked most of the way. By most economical measures he succeeded in the course of the next two years in saving a sufficient sum with which to make the return trip to claim his sweetheart, and in 1856, in company with twenty of his countrymen who yearned for a sight of their own land he made the journey to Cooper county via Panama and New Orleans, passing through St. Louis. Soon after his arrival home occurred his marriage, and the following year, 1867, the happy couple started for the land where the young husband had already gained a foothold for the home which they were so eager to build. Their progress was necessarily slow, owing to the fact that they drove a large herd of cattle, the nucleus of the holdings which Mr. Stephens later controlled, but at length the journey was finished and at once, associated with his brother, Lawrence D., Mr. Stephens engaged in the stock-raising industry in Yolo county, the unlimited range existing at that period affording them ample pasturage for their herds and flocks. Later they bought five hundred and twenty acres near Cottonwood (now Madison) upon which they continued their business until 1864, when the dry season compelled them to take their cattle to the Coast Range mountains, while their sheep they drove to Placer county among the low hills where good pasturage was to be obtained. The winter proved so severe, however, being not only cold but rainy as well, that their efforts to save their stock proved unavailing, and by the following May, 1865, when they returned to Yolo county, but one cow and twenty-four sheep remained. In 1866 Mr. Stephens took charge of the interests of his brother Lawrence, who had gone to the mines, where he remained about a year. Upon his return in 1867, they again joined forces in general farming and stock-raising, and in 1873 they became active in the grain and warehouse business, continuing to retain their previous interests. In 1876 the brothers erected in Woodland a grain warehouse, which filled a long-felt need in that community and which was at all times taxed to its capacity. Afterward they built the first warehouses at Madison and Esparto and engaged in the grain business there for many years. In 1881, associated with J. H. Harlan, the brothers purchased three thousand acres of land, twelve miles south of Fresno, which they stocked and farmed. In 1882 Lawrence Stephens relinquished his duties on the ranch to serve as teller and acting president of the Bank of Woodland, which left J. J. Stephens to superintend their large landed and grain interests, until they dissolved partnership. He is now superintending his own farms and other interests. Early in life J. J. Stephens joined the Masonic order, the principles of which are in keeping with his own high principles, not only of thought, but of action. Besides his home in Woodland, he owns the old home place of two hundred and forty acres, near Madison, Yolo county, and an eight-hundred-acre ranch in Fresno county, upon which are raised alfalfa and grain, as well as high grade stock, forty-five acres of the property being devoted to grapes. Though retaining oversight of his interests, Mr. Stephens finds at this period of his life more leisure than he has ever known before, which he employs in maintaining an insight into current topics, especially political issues. Mr. Stephens' first wife was born in Cooper county, Mo., March 5, 1837, and passed away in Woodland August 25, 1891. His second marriage, in Woodland in April, 1894, united him with Miss Sallie L. Lucas, born in Andrew county, Mo., whose father, George J. Lucas, was born in Greencastle, Ind., and served in the Civil war, holding a commission as captain in a Missouri regiment. His wife was Sarah Thomas, of Kentucky, and they came to Yolo county in 1868. Following are the children in Mr. Stephens' family, all born on the old home: Mary F., now Mrs. E. B. Butler of San Francisco; Lewis Oliver, the first mayor of Fresno, Cal., and now a prominent business man of that city; William A., who served as county recorder of Yolo, and who resides at Selma, Cal.; Charles, a farmer, whose home is in Hanford, Kings county, Cal.; James M.? who died at the age of eleven years; Isabelle, who died in infancy; Kate N., now Mrs. W. A. Porter, whose home is in Berkeley; and Bettie Ora, who is Mrs. J. W. Hawkins, and resides in Modesto, Cal. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens are members of the Christian Church in Woodland. Politically he is a Democrat. It is fitting here to relate that at a reunion of his family, on Mr. Stephens' seventy-fourth birthday, twenty-six of the twenty-eight descendants were present for a week's visit at his residence in Woodland, the time being made the most memorable of his life. A retrospection of his fifty-eight years in California gives him the distinction and pleasure of having taken a very prominent and active part in the development and upbuilding of Yolo county. His life has been an open book, and he is much loved and revered by his many friends and acquaintances, who admire him for his kindness and charities toward others. Additional Comments: Extracted from HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA WITH Biographical Sketches OF The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present HISTORY BY TOM GREGORY AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913] File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/yolo/bios/stephens167gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 7.7 Kb