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         DAVID STEPHENS, one of the highly respected and enterprising farmers of Louisa County, now residing on section 3, Port Louisa Township, was born in Canada, and is the fourth in a family of thirteen children born to Rosswell and Abigail (Pool) Stephens, ten of whom grew to manhood and womanhood. His father was a native of Massachusetts, and his mother of Vermont. His grandfather on his father’s side served in the Revolutionary War, and his grandfather on his mother’s side in the War of 1812. His father’s occupation was that of farming, and his death occurred in April, 1886, at the age of eighty years. The mother still survives her husband, and is residing in Canada. They were both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Our subject spent his boyhood days upon his father’s farm, but at the age of twenty years, in 1857, he came to Louisa County, Iowa, where he engaged in the manufacture of brick, making the brick for the Grand View school-house. After following this occupation for a year, he went to Atchison, Kan., where he operated a brickyard until the spring of 1860, when he went to Colorado with a mule team, and there engaged in mining on the headwaters of the Colorado River. Remaining in that State until the spring of 1861, Mr. Stephens then returned to Grand View, Iowa, from which place he started, equipped with a mule team, for the gold fields of California. It was until the following . . .

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. . . July before his journey across the plains was completed. He engaged in mining in California until 1865, when he once more returned to this county, purchasing 160 acres of raw land on section 3, Port Louisa Township, where he still resides. From time to time he has added to his original possessions, until he now has 263 acres of finely improved land, upon which a fine residence has been erected at a cost of $2,000. His barns and out-buildings are models of convenience, and everything about the farm denotes the thrift and enterprise of this owner.

In 1866 Mr. Stephens became acquainted with Miss Ruth McChesney, a native of Illinois, and a daughter of J. T. S. and Rebecca (Clark) McChesney, who came to Louisa County with her parents in 1860. Her father located in Jefferson Township, where he purchased 1,800 acres of land. On that farm Miss Ruth grew to womanhood, and in the district schools of the neighborhood received her education. In December, 1867, her marriage with Mr. Stephens was celebrated, and to them have been born two sons and five daughters, Lydia, the eldest daughter, now being the wife of George Edmondson. The other children—Jennie, Jesse, Lillian, Nellie, Chester and Fern—are yet residing with their parents. Mr. Stephens is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and is a stalwart Republican, a strong supporter of the principles of that party. He is an energetic, systematic farmer, one who receives the respect of all with whom he comes in contact.