The principal abbreviations used in these pages are:

b. standing for born.
m. standing for married.
d. standing for died.
y. standing for young.

For convenience and distinction, as in all genealogical works, each name is given a number separately. Without this it would be difficult to tell which Joshua Stephens is meant, for there are many of that name, as also others. The numbers are also valuable for tracing out any particular pedigree; for instance, suppose that William Stephens, of Camp Verde, should desire to know the full line of his paternal ancestry, he would find his name on page (41) 56, where his number is given as 275: then looking up the left-hand column of figures he will find No. 275 on page (21) 27, where he will find the date of his birth, and that his father is Samuel Stephens, No. 76; thence, running up the column to No. 76, which he will find on page (11) 12, he will find that Samuel was the son of Charles Stephens, No. 19; the latter figure is found on page (8) 8, where Charles is shown to be the son of David Stephens, No. 10; the last figure is to be found on page (7) 7, showing that David was the son of Joshua Stephens, No. 6; he is the son of Joshua Stephens, No. 3. His pedigree is:

Joshua Stephens, (3), father of
Joshua Stephens, (6), father of
David Stephens, (10), father of
Charles Stephens, (19), father of
Samuel Stephens, (76), father of
Williams Stephens, (275), father of

The name STEPHENS is of Greek derivation, and means a "crown". Just how it came to be adopted by the ancester of this family is unknown. The Welsh seldom used surnames at that period, one name usually sufficing; the son taking his father's name with the Welsh suffix "AP," meaning "son of"; thus STEPHENS AP EVANS, meaning Stephens the son of Evans, while the latter would be Evans Ap somebody else. W. H. Stephens, (41), son of the aforesaid E. D. Stephens, (16), once told the writer that the old family name was STEPHENSHIP. In a conversation between the writer, (182), and Rev. M. A. Jordan, a stepson of Col. John Stephens, (15), a brother of E. D. Stephens, (16), Mr. Jordan said that, according to his information, the original family name was STEPHENS O'BIVENS. Mr. Gilbert Cope, an eminent genealogist, living at West Chester, Pennsylvania, clears these discrepancies by stating that the name was STEPHENS AP EVANS; that is, Stephens the son of Evans. It is thus easy to see how easily one confused it into Stephenship, and the other into Stephens O'Bivens. Accordingly, it must be true that Joshua Stephens, Senior, (3), and perhaps his brothers, David, (5), and Ebenezer, (4), adopted the permanent surname of Stephens. In fact, a family tradition is that the emigrant ancester did adopt this name of Stephens. The father of Joshua Stephens, Sr., (3), who, it is supposed, remained in Wales, may have been named Stephens, (2), and his father's name may have been Evans, (1); indeed, this theory is reasonable both from tradition and the etymology as given in the foregoing. EVANS is a Welsh form of JOHN, a Greek word of Hebrew derivation, meaning "the grace of God."

This tradition is further strengthened by another: that the immigrant ancestors of the family, sometime after their arrival in Pennsylvania, fell heir to their father's estate in Wales. In court they were required to give additional evidence as to their identity by reason of their having changed their names, before their shares of the estate were distributed to them. Through these official channels should be found the missing links, which will connect the American Lines with the Welsh, and extend the genealogical tree across the Atlantic Ocean. By these means only can the family seat, ancestry, arms and name be discovered, for the item of the estate witnesses the fact that it was of no "common origin."

The indifference of the Welsh in the use of surnames is well shown by the transcript of some documents of an estate of an old Stephens in Pennsylvania, in the possession of the writer, wherein two brothers are named, one "Evans Stephens" and the other "Stephens Evans."

Searches in the offices of the Register of Wills, and the old Probate Courts of Pennsylvania, and the Doctors' Commons and the Herold's College, of London, as well as of the files of old Pennsylvania newspapers, and the archives of the various historical societies of Pennsylvania should throw more light on the early history of these immigrant ancesters, and possibly discover collateral branches which are now seemingly hopelessly lost. Such searches require the expenditure of more time and money than the writer now (1892) has, and if never done by him, it is to be hoped that some family historian will come to the front with the necessary abilities.

The family history, then, really begins thus: