Lake County IN Archives Biographies.....Stephens, John 1844 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 10, 2006, 3:57 pm Author: T. H. Ball (1904) JOHN STEPHENS. John Stephens, as superintendent of the Inland Steel Company at Indiana Harbor, is a prominent factor in the industrial development and substantial growth of northwestern Indiana, and his career is one which excites the admiration and awakens the respect of all who know aught of his life history. To a student of biography there is nothing more interesting than to examine the life history of a self-made man, and to detect the elements of character which have enabled him to pass on the highway of life many of the companions of his youth who at the outset of their careers were more advantageously equipped or endowed. Mr. Stephens has through his own exertions attained an honorable position and marked prestige among the representative men of this state, and with signal consistency it may be said that he is the architect of his own fortunes, and one whose success amply justifies the application of the somewhat hackneyed but most expressive title of "a self-made man." Mr. Stephens was born in Lydney, Gloucestershire, England, December 1844, and is a son of John and Charlotte (Hawkens) Stephens, both of whom were natives of Lydney. The paternal grandfather also bore the name of John Stephens, and he too was born in Lydney. He was a mill worker, connected with the tin industry, and he died at the advanced age of ninety-two years, while his wife, Mrs. Hannah Stephens, died at the age of seventy-four years. They were the parents of three sons and four daughters. The maternal grandparents of our subject were Samuel and Sarah Hawkens, and were native residents of Lydney, where the latter died at the age of forty-two years, while the former reached the venerable age of eighty-nine years. He was a shipping contractor, loading and unloading vessels as they came into the canal and dock, or preparing them for passage at sea. To him and his wife were born a son and a daughter, the latter becoming the wife of John Stephens, the father of Mr. Stephens of this review. John Stephens, 2d, was a hammerman and lived and died in his native town of Lydney, where his death occurred in 1899, when he was seventy-seven years of age. His wife departed this life in March, 1902, when seventy-six years of age. Both were members of the Methodist church. They had but two children, the daughter, Sarah, being the wife of Lot Malsom, of Sharon, Pennsylvania. Mr. John Stephens spent the days of his boyhood and youth in Lydney, England, and acquired his education in the public schools there. When sixteen years of age he became identified with the industry which he has made his life work, securing employment in an iron foundry. There he became familiar with the business in every department, and in detail as well as principle. He worked in both the tin and sheet-iron departments, gaining a most practical and comprehensive knowledge of the trade, and thus he was well equipped for advancement along that line when he came to America. Believing that the new world offered better business advantages, Mr. Stephens, on the 22d of February, 1872, left England for America, landing in New York city on the 9th of March. The same day he went to Oxford. New Jersey, arriving there at half past six o'clock in the evening. He continued in Oxford until the following August, when he removed 10 Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, where he remained for ten months, and then located at Sharon, Pennsylvania, where he resided for eleven years, actively connected with the iron industry at that place. His next home was in Greenville, Pennsylvania, and two years later he went to Newcastle, in the same state, where he lived for five years. On the expiration of that period he returned to Sharon, where he remained for seven years longer. For eighteen years he was in the employ of P. L. Kimberly & Company, and during the last seven years with the Sharon Iron Company, being its superintendent. On leaving Pennsylvania, he removed to Muncie, Indiana, where he took charge of the plant of the Midland Steel Company, with which he was connected for six and a half years. From Muncie he came to Indiana Harbor, on the 1st of March, 1902, and in company with R. J. Beatty, John McGrath, John G. Dauks, R. W. Wick and some Chicago capitalists, including L. E. Block, P. D. Block and others, built the Inland Steel Mill, which now employs about nine hundred and fifty men, and this number will be increased as the work progresses. The output of the plant has reached very extensive proportions and it is destined to become one of the leading industrial concerns of the middle west. Throughout his business career Mr. Stephens has been connected with great productive industries, in which he has gradually worked his way upward through efficiency, skill and practical knowledge, until he stands today as one of the foremost representatives of the iron industry in Indiana. Moreover, throughout the entire period of his business career he has ever sustained a reputation which is unassailable, and while fully guarding the interests of his company he has also been most just and fair in his dealings with those who have worked under him, and no better proof of both statements can be given than the fact that he has received from both employers and fellow-employes substantial tokens of their trust and esteem for him. When Mr. Stephens left Newcastle, Pennsylvania, the employes of the mill there made him a present of a handsome gold watch and chain, a set of gold cuff buttons and a pair of fancy slippers, while the company gave him a purse of twenty-seven dollars and a rocking chair. When he left Sharon, Pennsylvania, the employes gave him a full set of the Encyclopedia Britannica and a rocking chair for himself and one for his wife. When he left Muncie the employes gave him a three-hundred-dollar silver set, and these tokens of kindly regard and good will he justly prizes highly. On the 14th of October, 1865, Mr. Stephens was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Jones, a daughter of Herbert and Hannah Jones, and to them have been born the following children, five sons and five daughters: Emily, Caroline Charlotte, Frederick J. H., Lillie Hannah, Minnie Maude, William Charles, Francis Eusebius, Mabel, Harold and Clairmont. Emily is now the wife of Edwin Hoke, of Indiana Harbor, and they have two children, Emma and Beulah. Frederick J. H. Stephens married Miss Laura Halstock, of Muncie, Indiana. Lillie Hannah is the wife of Walter Dang, of Indiana Harbor. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens are prominent, influential and active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is serving as a member of the board of trustees and also as superintendent of the Sunday school. He is a local minister, having been licensed to preach thirty-four years ago. Politically he is a Republican. He built in 1902 the largest residence in Indiana Harbor, on the lake front. Possessing strong domestic tastes, his interest largely centers in his family, and he counts no sacrifice on his part too great that will enhance the welfare or promote the happiness of his wife and children. The church, too, claims considerable of his attention, and while in his business career he has steadily advanced, he has always found time to discharge his duties to his fellow-men and his obligations of citizenship. Additional Comments: Extracted from: ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Genealogy and Biography OF LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA, WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 1834—1904 A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. REV. T. H. BALL OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO NEW YORK THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1904 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/lake/bios/stephens445gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/ File size: 8.2 Kb