Histories

As one of Austin’s colonists,[1] James Stephens petitioned for a land grant from the State of Coahuila and Texas on 26 February 1831, and it was granted on 8 March 1831 by Miquel Arciniega.[2] The land was situated in Washington County, on the Caney Creek, a tributary to the west of the Brazos, just southwest of Chappell Hill.
Stephens appeared before the Washington County Land Commissioners on 2 August 1835, and proved, “...to our satisfaction that he arrived in this country in the year Eighteen Hundred and Twenty-nine, that he is a married man and head of a family, and entitled to one labor of land (he having previously obtained one league)...”[3] Thus the Stephen family’s history became intertwined with the history of Texas.
Two of James Stephen's sons John Miller Stephen & William F. Stephen were pioneers instrumental in the formation of Erath County, Texas, and in particular Stephenville. In 1856 John Miller Stephen donated the land for the townsite which was laid out by George Erath; thecity was named for Stephen. [4]
William Franklin Stephen farmed cotton and raised cattle and horses near Dublin, Erath on Resley's Creek. In 1975 the Stephen farm was granted Century Farm status by the Texas Dept. of Agriculture, as it had at that time been continuously farmed for over 138 years by the Stephen family. A portion of the original farm was still in family hands as of 2018, a legacy of over 180 ears. [5]