Memorials › Moses D. Stephenson

Moses D. Stephenson

8 May 1794 – 1866

Birth8 May 1794
Death1866
CemeteryPace Cemetery
Bonham , Fannin County , Texas , USA
Added byExplorer on 08 Mar 2026
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101393895

Bio

Moses D. Stephenson (8 May 1794 – bef. October 1866) Summary Moses D. Stephenson was a second-generation American frontiersman whose life reflected the westward migration of many Scots-Irish Presbyterian families during the early nineteenth century. Born in the Waxhaws region of South Carolina, he established himself as a farmer and landholder in middle Tennessee and later joined the Tennessean migration into North Texas. Over his adult life, he appears in tax and deed records, census returns, and local memory as a patriarch who managed family affairs and helped found a Texas branch of the Stephenson family. Birth and Family Background Moses D. Stephenson was born about 1795 in the Waxhaws settlement area of present-day Lancaster County, South Carolina, a frontier community that straddled the colonial boundary with North Carolina. He was the son of John Stephenson Jr (1764–1802) and Sarah Stephenson, who later remarried Felix Kirkpatrick. His parents belonged to the Scots-Irish Presbyterian community that populated the Waxhaws frontier — a region shaped by Revolutionary War activity and early American settlement. This cultural background placed Moses within the network of Presbyterian frontier families whose lives reflected the westward migration of many Scots-Irish households during the early nineteenth century, a movement that eventually carried him from the Carolina backcountry into Tennessee and later to Texas. Inheritance and Sale of the South Carolina Homestead (1823) Although Moses D. Stephenson had begun establishing his adult life in Tennessee by the early 1820s, he remained connected to the family's ancestral land in South Carolina. Evidence of this appears in a deed recorded in Lancaster County, South Carolina. On 26 September 1823, land formerly belonging to Moses's father on the waters of Cane Creek was sold for $700 to Rev. Thomas Kitchen. The transaction was carried out by attorney James H. Witherspoon on behalf of the heirs of John Stephenson Jr. The deed identifies the heirs and their residences at the time: Felix Kirkpatrick and wife Sarah (Stephenson) Kirkpatrick Moses D. Stephenson of the State of Tennessee James W. Stephenson John Stephenson of the State of Alabama The land described had originally been conveyed to John Stephenson Jr. through the will of his father, John Stephenson Sr., and included an additional four-acre parcel earlier deeded from Rev. John Brown. Because several heirs lived outside South Carolina, they authorized Witherspoon to execute the transaction through power of attorney — a common legal practice when heirs had migrated to distant states. The $700 purchase price suggests the Cane Creek property remained a substantial and established farm. Its sale marks the final dispersal of the Stephenson heirs from the Waxhaws homeland as family members settled across the southern frontier. For Moses D. Stephenson specifically, the deed confirms that by 1823 he had already relocated to Tennessee. Marriage and Children About 1820, Moses D. Stephenson married Mary Frances Blanton (abt. 1802 – 1870), daughter of John Dean Blanton and Fannie Howell. Together they raised nine children born between about 1820 and 1844: Mary Agnes Stephenson (abt. 1820 – 1900), married Anderson A. Cowsert William Benjamin Stephenson (9 Oct 1824 – 16 Aug 1888), early settler in Fannin County, Texas Eliza Ann Stephenson (1827–1853), married Moses D. Stephenson (1811–1877) Calvin W. Stephenson (abt. 1830 – 1894), civic leader in North Texas Julia A. Stephenson (abt. 1833 – 1856), married Newton Gilbert Pinkney Stephenson (abt. 1835 – 1870), farmed alongside his father Eugenia Stephenson (abt. 1837 – 1860), married William B. Underwood Leonidus Eliho "L. E." Stephenson (23 Jan 1840 – 1914), later administrator of his father's estate Elizabeth Stephenson (abt. 1844 – 1872), married John M. Biggerstaff A Bonham newspaper recollection later singled out Moses and his sons William B., Calvin, Pinkney, and Leonidus E., indicating the prominence of the family in early community memory. Tennessee Years (Williamson and Maury Counties) During the 1820s–1840s, Moses D. Stephenson and his growing family lived in central Tennessee, an area attracting migrants after statehood. Records place him in Williamson County, Tennessee, where he appears on the 1836 tax list, and in Maury County, Tennessee, where he is documented in deed and administrative records. These years likely involved small-scale farming and participation in Presbyterian frontier communities typical of Scots-Irish settlements. Increasing land prices and the lure of new opportunities farther west eventually encouraged many Tennessee families to relocate to Texas. Move to Texas and Fannin County Life By the late 1840s or early 1850s, Moses D. Stephenson joined the migration of Tennesseans moving into Texas after the Annexation of Texas in 1845. By 1860, he appears in the federal census of Fannin County, Texas, listed as "M. D. Stephenson," a 65-year-old farmer living in Beat 1. Land records show that he owned property on the waters of Davis Creek, including a tract originally purchased from Lemuel Blanton and forming part of the Isham Davis headright survey, an early Texas land grant. The headright survey system and this Blanton connection suggest that Moses and his family likely settled in a community network of relatives and former neighbors from Tennessee, which was common along the Red River frontier. Death and Probate of the Estate (1866) County court records indicate that Moses D. Stephenson died sometime between the 1860 federal census and October 1866 in Fannin County, Texas. At the October Term 1866 of the county court, proceedings were opened concerning the estate of "M. D. Stephenson, deceased." His son Leonidus Eliho Stephenson was appointed administrator and petitioned the court for authority to sell land belonging to the estate. According to records in Fannin County Deed Book O (pp. 613–618), the court authorized the sale of approximately 335½ acres of land owned by Moses Stephenson. This property included 50 acres located in the southeast corner of a 400-acre tract on Davis Creek, which Moses had earlier purchased from Lemuel Blanton and which formed part of the Isham Davis headright survey. The administrator carried out several land transactions under court supervision, recorded across multiple pages of the deed book. These proceedings are also summarized in Fannin County Probate Minutes, Book F (pp. 262–264). These records confirm his death by October 1866 and document the settlement of his estate during the years following the American Civil War. Historical Significance and Legacy Moses D. Stephenson exemplifies the migration pattern of Scots-Irish frontier families during the nineteenth century: moving from the Carolina backcountry into Tennessee and later into Texas. Across three regions — South Carolina, Tennessee, and North Texas — he appears as a farmer, landholder, and patriarch whose descendants carried the family into the civic and agricultural life of the Red River frontier. His sons, particularly William Benjamin Stephenson and Leonidus Eliho Stephenson, continued the family's influence in Fannin County, leaving a legacy remembered in local histories, newspapers, and family records. Primary Records & Sources U.S. Census entries (1850 Williamson County, TN; 1860 Fannin County, TX) Williamson County, TN — 1836 tax list Lancaster County, SC — Deed Book L, pp. 48–50 (1823 Stephenson heirs land sale) Fannin County, TX — Deed Book O, pp. 613–618 (estate land sale, 1866) Fannin County, TX — Probate Minutes Book F, pp. 262–264 FamilySearch / Ancestry compiled Stephenson family trees Bonham / Fannin County historical newspaper recollections Cemetery compilations for Bonham-area family burial grounds

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