San Joaquin County
Biographies
CHRISTOPHER S. STEPHENS
CHRISTOPHER S. STEPHENS,
farmer, near Waterloo, was born in Harrison County, Kentucky, August 28, 1825,
a son of Joseph and Rosa (Kirkpatrick) Stephens. His mother was born at Bryant
Station, Fayette County, Kentucky, and the father was an Englishman by birth,
who came to the United States during the war of 1812. He was drafted in the
English service as a packman, and sent here with the British troops. After
arriving he deserted from the army in Canada, and went to what was called the
Falls of the Ohio river, now Louisville, where he became a naturalized citizen.
He settled in Lewis County, Kentucky, where he built a woolen-mill, which was
afterward burnt down. He next went to Lexington, where he was employed by a Mr.
Smith for two years; then he went to Cynthiana, Harrison County, that State,
where he again established a woolen-mill, and his property was burnt down a
second time. He then moved to the village of Claysville, some county, where he
rebuilt the mill for the third time, and in the year 1832 he and his wife both
died with the cholera. In his family there were three sons and two daughters,
all of whom lived to be heads of families, except one.
Christopher S., the subject of this
sketch, was left an orphan at the age of seven years. His uncle became
administrator of the estate and guardian of the children, and leased the
factory to other parties and bound the children to the lessee for seven years,
during which all the children were working in the factory. After the expiration
of the lease, Mr. Stephens bound himself out to learn the millwright’s trade.
Having completed that course, he went to work in the mill for a year, during
which time the Mexican war broke out, and he enlisted in a company from his
neighborhood, but it was not received into service, as the regiments from
Kentucky had already been filled. Hearing that the Louisville Legion was not
full, he went there, but only to be again disappointed, as that company was
also full. Hearing the St. Louis (Missouri) Battalion was not full, he went
there by steamboat, and found that body also complete; and understood then that
Ball’s regiment at Fort Leavenworth was recruiting, and went there, also by
steamboat, but on arriving found that they had also completed their number and
had already started to Santa Fe. While relating to the Quartermaster the many
disappointments of his military ambition, the latter offered him a situation as
a teamster, which was accepted, and Mr. Stephens started for Santa Fe, overtaking
Ball’s command at Council Grove. When this regiment arrived at Santa Fe in
October, 1847, Mr. Stephens was selected to build a mill for the purpose of
grinding forage for the dragoons and cavalry. Going below Santa Fe, he found
stones, which he dressed and set running, this being the first mill ever set in
operation on the plains of the territory of New Mexico. He was afterward sent
to Albuquerque by the commissary department, to finish a mill that had been
partly built for the purpose of manufacturing flour for that department. Next
he was sent to another point in Mexico, and built the inclined wheel for
grinding gold quartz, which was mined there by Spaniards. Next General Price
ordered an express to be sent to Commodore Stockton, who was in command of a
fleet on the Pacific Ocean.
They made the journey through to San
Pedro, Los Angeles County, and he with others was sent in charge of some
pack-mules on a large ranch, to wait until the return of the party. With three
other men he was sent back with the express to Santa Fe, and on their return
trip the Indians attacked them and wounded one of the party in the left arm
with a poisoned arrow, and it swelled to an enormous size, entirely disabling
him from any further service of the company. Whether any Indians were killed or
wounded is not known.
Arriving at Santa Fe, Mr. Stephens joined
a party of traders and went to effect a negotiation with the White Mountain
Indians, and succeeding in this, they were directed by the Indians to take a
certain trail on their return, but expecting treachery, they pretended to camp
at a certain spring and ate their supper, and as soon as it was dark they
followed their Mexican guide along another trail, traveling all night and all
the next day. Considering themselves then out of danger, they lay down to sleep
and slept soundly until the sun was two hours high the next morning, when they
awakened by the yelling of Indians, who had tracked them and were driving off
their mules. They lost every mule, and had to go afoot to Santa Fe. On relating
this circumstance to the citizens there, they got up another outfit and made a
successful journey and a good trade, but on their return this time they
carefully avoided halting more than two hours at any one time. Many of the
mules belonged to the Government, and the Quartermaster took them from his
party, and all their labor and risk was without profit. Colonel Washington, who
was in command at Santa Fe, called into service four companies, and Mr.
Stephens volunteered in that of Captain John Chapman, and was elected First
Sergeant. He served as such until the company was disbanded, and he was
employed as a wagon-master for the military post at Santa Fe for eighteen
months, 1850-’51.
Returning then to Marion County, Indiana,
he began farming. In 1855 he built the steam saw-mill on the Indianapolis &
La Fayette Railroad, near the town of Zionsville, Boone County, and after it
was completed he operated it for several years, carrying on farming at the same
time. In September, 1860, he sold his interests there and started for
California. Wintering in Missouri, opposite Quincy, Illinois, he crossed the
plains in the spring of 1861, arriving at El Dorado, Calaveras County, October
8. After renting a place for a year near Lockeford, he came down and bought the
place where he now lives. It contains 200 acres of choice grain land, well
adapted also to fruit. Politically Mr. Stephens has always been a Douglass
Democrat, although not radical. He has been a member of both the State and
county conventions of his party. In 1882 he was elected to the State Assembly,
serving two years. For the past twelve years he has filled the office of
Justice of the Peace.
Mr. Stephens was married in 1852, in Rush
County, Indiana, to Miss Melissa Walker, a native of that State, who died in
1876, the mother of five children. Of these, two sons and two daughters are
living. Mr. Stephens was again married in 1882, to Lavina Potts, of Illinois,
and by this marriage there are a son and a daughter.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 486-487. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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