Lee Andrew Stephens (1905 – 1981)
Lee Andrew Stephens was born the 22nd of July, 1905, in St. Louis, Missouri. He lived there until his parents divorced, when he went with his mother to Wyoming. When his mother married for the second time, she sent him back to St. Louis to live with his older sister. There he married and raised a family, worked, retired, and died in 1981. He was a good father. May he rest in peace.
This chart shows some of the ancestors of Lee A. Stephens on his father’s side. The forebears of Lucy Covalt are numerous and so there is another chart especially for them. Likewise, his mother’s people have their own charts. It is on his mother’s side that he has lineages back to the Mayflower.
Sadly, we do not know much about John E. Stephens, only that he moved from Fountain County, Indiana to Knox County, Missouri. He and his first wife had five sons, the youngest of whom, Lafayette Stephens, is our ancestor. He outlived Elizabeth and married again. After the Civil War, we find no more records for John Stephens. His sons have moved back to Indiana, and he may have done that too. We do not know for certain when and where he died.
A simple gift from Lee A. Stephens to me got me interested in family history. He gave me hand-drawn charts and old family photos. I said “That’s nice, dad.” Much later I started this research. He would have enjoyed it.
Stephens Marriages
Lee Andrew Stephens + Elizabeth H Murphy
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Lee Andrew and Elizabeth married in Waterloo, Illinois. Later, they had the marriage blessed at St. Francis de Sales, St. Louis, Missouri. They always celebrated their anniversary on the earlier date.
Lee A Stphens
Elizabeth Murphy
Wilbur Lee Stephens + Edna Inez Stratton
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√ Parents of Lee Andrew Stephens
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Wilbur Lee and Edna were married in Clayton, St. Louis County, Missouri. They had four children, but their daughter Anna Margaret died in 1911 at age three. Sometime shortly after that, Edna and Wilbur Lee divorced. Edna married McLain Morgan and lived in Wyoming and later in Amarillo, Texas. She died in Amarillo in 1966.
St Patrick of Armagh, Catawissa, Missouri
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Wilbur Lee married a second time, to a woman with close ties to the Irish church at Catawissa, Missouri (St. Patrick of Armagh).He died in 1941 and is buried in that church’s cemetery.
Lafayette Stephens + Margaret Dove
√ Parents of Wilbur Lee Stephens
Grandparents of Lee Andrew Stephens
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Fountain County, Indiana
Lafayette married Margaret in Fountain County, Indiana. Their son Wilbur Lee was born there. Lafayette and Margaret were in St. Louis by 1900. He lived until 1931 and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, Kirkwood, St. Louis County. Sadly, we do not know exactly when Margaret died or where she was buried. She is shown in the 1920 census in Illinois. In 1930, her husband is widowed and lives in Alabama with their daughter.
James Dove + Mariah McKinney
√ Parents of Margaret Dove
Great grandparents of Lee Stephens
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Mariah was the third wife of James Dove of Fountain County, Indiana. Together they had four children. When he died there was a court record that appointed a guardian for his children by Mariah (including Margaret) who were minors.
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1906 marriage record proves Mariah’s lineage (left side)
Mariah McKinney Dove then married John Skillman. After his death she married William Mick, and that marriage record provides her birth date and place, her parents’ names and their birth places, and the year of death for her first two husbands.
John E Stephens + Elizabeth
√ Parents of Lafayette Stephens
Great grandparents of Lee Stephens
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Earliest Stephens record, a land patent, Knox County, Missouri. 1841
John and Elizabeth married sometime before their move to Knox County, Missouri. They hailed from Fountain County, Indiana. Lafayette was their youngest child. One of their sons, Samuel M Stephens, was killed at Vicksburg in 1863.
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There is a family story that says John Stephens owned slaves. There is no evidence to support that story. John does not appear in either the 1850 or the 1860 slave schedule of the U.S. Census, nor does he have a great deal of personal property, which usually indicates ownership of slaves.
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There is evidence that John was a Confederate sympathizer. His son Samuel was a Confederate soldier. John was investigated by the Union Provost Marshal for possibly meeting with a Confederate recruiter. And the area where he lived in NE Missouri is known as “Little Dixie” even today.
Hiram McKinney + Margaret Havens
√ Parents of Mariah McKinney
2G grandparents of Lee A Stephens
1906 marriage, daughter Mariah, Fountain County, Indiana (left side)
1822 marriage, Greene County, Ohio (upper left)
John Dove + Lucy Covalt
√ Parents of James Dove
2G grandparents of Lee A Stephens
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Descendants of John Dove
John’s grandson, David W Dove, provided information for an 1881 book about Fountain County, Indiana. In his biographical sketch, David names his father (Abram) and his uncle (James), as well as his grandfather, John Dove who married at Covalt Station, Ohio, in 1804. David Dove names his great grandfather, James Dove Sr., and says he was a “lad of eighteen years” who came from “the highlands of Scotland” and married in Virginia.
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Lucy Covalt was the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Abraham Covalt and his wife, Lois.